Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1882 — Five People Burned to Death. [ARTICLE]

Five People Burned to Death.

A dispatch from ’Gffirton, Mo., says the house Of George C. Smith, at Lewis, five miles north of there, burned at 3 o’clock in the morning, and five of the inmates perished, viz.: Elizabeth Smith, aged 17 ; Rachel, aged 13 ; Ellen, aged 6'5 Theodore, aged 16, and the mother, aged 43. The fire is supposed to have started from clothing hanging by the kitchen stove, or from a coal-oil explosion. Mrs. Smith was first to awaken, when she aroused her husband, who made his escape with the little girl of a neighbor who ,was staying there for the night, and one of his own daughters, aged about 8. Smith and his daughter were seriously burned. The house was a story and a half, and the family were all sleepng in the second story. A Mr. White, who was the suitor of Elizabeth Smith, was at the house until after 1 o’clock, and thinks the fire caught in the kitchen from clothing by the stove. Mier Smith was to have been married in a few weeks. An inquest was held, and a verdict rendered is accordance with the facte. Mr. Smith was emr ployed by the Osage Coal and Mining Company