Man found dead in strip club torched it himself, police say

This would be a great story if the guy didn't kill himself.

June 21, 2006 (KENNEY, Ill.) - DeWitt County authorities say a man found dead last month in the rubble of a fire-gutted nightclub appears to have set the blaze himself in an attempt to prevent a young woman from pursuing the life of a stripper.

An autopsy showed William Hubble died of smoke inhalation in the fire that destroyed the Wildside Cabaret on May 12th.

DeWitt County Sheriff's Detective Rick Hawn says the man's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the state's legal limit for driving.

Authorities say Wildside patrons and employees said that Hubble had met a woman the evening before the fire and spent three hours talking to her.

They say she was stripping for the first time, and Hubble wanted to talk her out of that line of work.

Hawn says when the girl insisted on stripping, Hubble apparently decided to remove the situation from her.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)