Earlier this morning it was reported that 71-year-old John Swain confessed to burning down the Bryant Park Corporation's shoe shine booths on both March 22nd and April 6th, which he was charged with two counts of fifth-degree arson.
The BPC's Jerome Barth now tells us that Swayne never actually worked at the Bryant Park stand, "he worked only at the Grand Central Stand, which our company put in place years ago when our team ran Grand Central Partnership. We had no dealings with him whatsoever at Bryant Park." So it seems his motive wasn't a soured relationship, but rather a rivalry! (Unsubstantiated!)
Anyway, with the elderly arsonist caught, the BPC told us they'd have a new stand ready by May... except we just got a call from Barth, who told us, "At 3:30 p.m. [today] one of our staffers observed John Swain, the arsonist, shoe shining in front of Grand Central Terminal. We have no idea how he got there, or how an accused arsonist could be on the street." We've contacted the NYPD to find out just that; and in the meantime, we're guessing Swain might want to keep a close eye on his own booth tonight.
