Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1885 — FOOD FOR FLAMES. [ARTICLE]

FOOD FOR FLAMES.

A Detroit Family of Four Persons Perish in Their Burning House. An Oregon Crazy Woman’s Insane Act —Other Fatalities by Fire. A DETROIT FAMILY CREMATED. Frank Knocli, His Wife, and Two ChlUtrei Perish In Their liumlng Building. Detroit special. The house of Frank Enoch, a market gardener living in the suburbs of Detroit, was destroyed by fire at an early hour this morning. In the flames perished Frank Enoch, aged 26; Susan Whitman Enoch, his wife, aged 22; George Enoch, their eldest child, aged 3 years; Frank Albert Enoch, a babe. The origin of the fire, the hour of its beginning, or any of the circumstances attending its outbreak, or the efforts of the family to escape, are alike unknown. The fact of the sad fate of the entire family is apparent in the three charred and blackened bodies, out of which every semblance of humanity has disappeared. These are the bodies of the father, mother, and one of the children—which one it would be impossible to say, for the shriveled little form has nothing distinctive. A few bones of the back and a twisted limb are about all that remain. Nothing could be more horrible than tho sight of these remains as they were laid together in a heap beside the smoldering ruins in which the search for the other child was being prosecuted. It is learned that B. Joseph Eana, George Laurain, and James Whipple were returning from their lodge meeting about 1:30 o’clock. The house of Enoch was burning and they raised the alarm, but it was too late. The entire structure was in flames, and by the time they reached it tho roof had fallen in and the walls had begun to fall. There was nothing to be done in the way of suppressing the flames. Tho water supply was limited to the well, which was inclosed in a kitchen. Tho creek below was a full quarter of a mile distant and covered with ice, and the men were helpless. They gathered snow and ice and attempted to beat out the flames, but their efforts were futile. For a moment the floor of the house withstood the flames, and in that instant they saw the remains of the family, which almost immediately sank into the cellar. Willing hands cast aside the charred rafters and beams, and in a few minutes the bodies of Enoch and his wife, apparently clasped in each other’s embrace, were exposed. The effort to lift tlidhi out was attended with difficulty, as they crumbled away on being touched. But by slipping beneath them some planks they were tuken up and brought into the snow. Then it was seen that the body of a child was between them, but only one. Shortly after ten o’clock the searchers came to what they supposed to be the remains of the other child. There was scarcely anything left; certainly nothing by which it could be distinguished as being the younger or older one. What remained was taken out and placed with the rest. The Enoch family were sober, industrious German Lutheran people. Frank Enoch was known to have money in the house, which he had been saving to make some payments. The searchers in the ruins found a revolver, and it is said Enoch never owned one. These two factß led to the suspicion that murder was committed for the sake of robbery, and the building then fired to cover up the crime. The position in which the ashes of the family were lying would seem to oppose this opinion. However, nothing is definitely known, everything about the house having been completely consumed. One body was not at first found, and it was thought the flames had entirely devoured it. Later the searchers found the crumbling ashes of what had once been the youngest chikl. The Coroner’s jury met and adjourned till later in the week.

A CRAZY WOMAN’S IIEEI). She Fires Her House and Cremates Herself and Four Children. Olympia (Wash. Ter.) telegram. At Long Prairie, about eight miles from this place, a deplorable event occurred. Mrs. Miner, a relative of Mr. David Chambers, had for some time manifested symptoms of insanity, and, according to report, she last evening saturated papers with coal oil and distributed them around the house, telling one of her children, on inquiry, that she was wetting them with water. Early this morning she made the remarii that she was about to destroy the whole family, and her husband, fearing that she was about to attempt his life, proceeded to put her out of the room, but on opening the door discovered the house in flames. Reaching the front door with one of his children, he found it locked and the key removed; thereupon he ran to the back door and found it nailed up. Finally he and his little daughter succeeded in escaping through a window, but were both badly burned. The unfortunate woman, with her four other children, was burned to death. LOCKED THE DOOR. A Colored Father’s Imprisoned Children Burned to Death. Starkville (Miss.) dispatch. A negro man, by the name of Bladen, living near Starkville, absented himself from his home several hours, locking his three little children in the house. When he returned the building was reduced to ashes, and all that was left of his-children were a few bones and charred flesh. DEADLY GASOLINE, A Little Boy Burned to a Crisp at Cleveland. Cleveland dispatch. William White, a telegraph operator, living at No. 36 Ontario street, was engaged in cleaning his little son’s dress with gaso line. The father had stepped from the room for an instant, and when he returned he found that the fluid had ignited, and that his child, aged three years, had been burned to a crisp. The mother was away from home at the time.