Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1902 — Man Falls Into Fire. [ARTICLE]

Man Falls Into Fire.

“Ham” Priester, a negro of Lowell, Fla., burned to-death Friday in the presence of twenty-five persons. He was “topping” pine trees near Martin. Fla. He had climbed into the top of the tallest pine, and had cut several limbs from it when a “brush burning gang” cried to him; “Danger, danger; come down." Confident that he was safe on his perch, he laughed at the warning. The flames leaped up the tree. Priester fell fifty feet into the fire below, and was literally cooked before the horrified witnesses. He lingered several hours before death came to his relief.