People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — BURNED TO DEATH. [ARTICLE]

BURNED TO DEATH.

Several Fires la Which Uvea Were LoefTwo Children Cremated in Chicago. Chicago, Nov. 29.—Alice and Clifford Vessey, two children, the former 3 and the latter 6 years of age, were burned to death by a fire at 36 Edge wood avenue Monday. Their mother, who attempted to rescue them, was severely burned and James Heaney was badly injured by broken glass. The home of the family is a story and a half-frame building, in the attic of which the two children were asleep. A lighted kerosene lamp was in the room and it is believed that this was overturned in some manner, setting fire, to the house. The blaze was not discovered until it had gained great headway. In the excitement the children were forgotten until the other occupants of the house had reached the sidewalk.Then the mother remembered them, and with the frantic cry: “My children are still in the house,” rushed into the building only to be driven back by the flames which, by this time, were licking up the whole interior. Her hair caught fire and her face and neck were severely burned. The flames which enveloped the mother were quickly extinguished by the crowd which had gathered and she was taken to the house of a friend where her injuries could be dressed. When the firemen reached the little attic-room where the children had been sleeping a horrible sight them. On the floor near a burned table lay the charred fragments of the body of a child. When the firemen attempted I to raise the little form it crumbled like charcoal This body was that of Willie Vessey. It is supposed that the little fellow was awakened by the flames and tried to get out and met his 1 death in the attempt. Amid the J charred fragments of the bed lay the little girl, Alice Vessey. She, too, had been burned until she was wholly unrecognizable, and it was with the greatest difficulty that her remains could be gathered up. Milwaukee, Nov. 29. After setting fire to a carpet at his home, No. 114 Locust street, Monday morning Edward Seykora lay down in the flames and was burned to death. Seykora, who was 34 years of age, was alone in the house. Shortly after 9 o’clock neighbors disebvered smoke issuing from the house. When the firemen reached there they found Seykora’s dead body in the midst of the fire. The flames i did little damage to the house, burning only the carpet and a hole in the floor. Seykora was an invalid and had been confined to the house for four years. Middleton, Conn., Nov. 29.—Three men and two women were burned to death here Saturday night in a tobacco barn owned by John Hubbard on the old fair grounds. The victims were umbrella menders. It is supposed they were drunk and set fire to a small amount of hay, the only contents of the barn. The barn was totally destroyed. The fire apparatuses were unable to reach the structure, which was fully insured. Nov. 29.—The residence of Samuel Yates, near this city, was destroyed by fire. Yates perished in the flames. He was a miser and was reputed to have a large sum of money concealed in the house. The origin of the fire is unknown.