Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 17, Number 12, DeMotte, Jasper County, 7 February 1947 — 1 Dead, 5 Missing In Flash Fire [ARTICLE]

1 Dead, 5 Missing In Flash Fire

Search Ruins For Bodies Following Negro Tenement Fire In Hammond Hammond, Ind. Feb. 5 A woman was burned to death and other victims are being sought in the smouldering remains of a twostory Negro tenement house destroyed today by a flash fire. Firemen working in near-zero weather recovered the body of Mrs. Mattie King, 54 years old, Hammond. Five other occupants, including Leroy Thomas, 3, are missing and may be in the ruins. Two were overcome by smoke and were carried from the blazing building. They are Mrs. Percy Bates, 24, and her son, Charles, 11 months. Both are hospitalized. Nineteen persons w’ere trapped on the second floor and were carried to safety by firement using ladders. Fire Chief Joseph Cheaerer said the building had been condemned five years ago, but the 31 occupants resided there because they could find no other quarters. The blaze broke out on teh first floor when a kerosene stove exploded. The flames spreaed rapidly to the second story as occupants opened windows to let smoke escape.