The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1870-12-13
THE MARKELvILLE TRAGEDY, /,
Coroner's Inquest, and The Verdict OF
The Jury.

kelville that an inquest was requested by
Thos. j. Boyer. Coroner Clemson accor-
dinghy held an inquest on Thursday and
Friday last, the remains of the deceased
being raised for that purpose. Below we
give an abstract of the testimony taken,
and the finding of the jury.
Thos. j. Boyer was sworn and testified as
follows,-Before going to bed / and my
mother put some wood in tho oven to dry
and filled the coal oil lamp as sister Bessie
was not very WELL and mother wished to
leave light burning. About o'clock /
was walked by some means, and looking out
of the window / saw that the house was on
fire. thon IAN to the stairway and the
flames and smoke was coming up and l
turned and went into myroom again raised
the window and jumped out. The window
was at the MOI tn end ofthe house, fell in
the gutter and laid there some time, l do
not know how long as / was stunned, got
up as soon as | could and ran around the
house. ] thought could get into the house
at the hind door. The back porch was
at the bee house and knocked in the bed
room window where the family slept, and
called for them several times do not know
how often, | then threw crock which was
hanging on the fence, in the same window,
called again, but heard nothing, | then ran
to the,house of Mr.. Lesh my brother-in-law,
walked him and ran back calling for help.
When / got back the house seemed TO be
ailre all over. When | knocked in the
window of the bedroom the smoke and
sparks came out, and prevented me from
getting to the window. Mother and
had rendered tallow at the spring house
the day previous. The lamp was set on the
kitchen table by my mother before l went
to bed but where she put it afterwards do
not know The kitchen door was always
left open into the bedroom where they
slept The front porch was on fire when
l came back to the house. The window
that jumped out of, was about 90 feet
from the ground, my clothes were all burnt
up. / cannot tell how the house caught
fire.
DR.. Ard, sworn,-I mace an examination
of the persons, one male, one female, the
sex of the other persons, was not recogniza-
Bile. | found nothing 30 indicate death ex-
cept fire. should think to the best of my
Judgment that it would be impossible for
death to he produced by smoke or fire with
out change opposition, or mighty strug-
gle. | missed on last Wednesday a week
about o'clock in the evening y ounces
of chloroform, am in the habit Of leaving
my Office open. The effect of chloloform
is TO produce inseasibility and destroy ner-
vous sensation. The amount Of y ounces,
splinkled in an ordinary room would pro-
duce insensibility to as many as might be
sleeping there.
Dr. Van Camp, affirmed,-l examined
the remains of the persons said to be
John Boyer and his wife and 3 children.
/ could not tell by the appearance, by what
means Ghey came to their death. The re-
naming portions of the lungs gave evidence
of congestion which might have been pro-
duced by suffocation from smoke or gasses.
/ was present at the taking out of The bod
les and nv impression is that none of them
had moved except one, which seemed to be
toward the foot of the bed, / also agree
with DIR. Ard as TO the effect of chloroform,
OF gasses.
A. b. Clouser, sworn,-I saw Thomas
Boyer go into the Office of Dr. Ard, on the
30th of November.
James G. Lesh, affirmed, On the end of
December, | borrowed my father-in-law' s
gun, as l was going to butcher. Returned
home about II o'clock p. m. My intention
was to leave the gun at Mr.. Boyers, as
had a heavy load in it, and was afraid my
children might meddle with it. I looked in
the window from the road on the west of the
house, saw no light, passed to the east
along the road, and saw no light, went
home not wishing to disturb them. ~ ~
was awakened by Thos Boyer rapping at
my door and calling fire. I got on my
clothes, ran OUT and up the road, and
Thomas was crying all the time for help.
caught up with him at the cherry-tree be-
tween my house and the fire, and asked
him whether the family were in the house,
and he said they were. l then saw that
both the windows at the east end of the
house were dark, and thought there was
hope. / therefore ran to Che window at
the east end of the bedroom and knocked
it in with my hand. Just as / was about
jumping in was met by a dark volume OF
smoke. / suppose the window was from
to 5 feet from the ground. In moment
the window was encircled with fire. / ran
to the next window in the same side Of the
house and broke in that, and smoke and
fire came from that also. then remarked
TO Thomas that it was over, and was i'm.
possible to save them. y n When / came
up the road the fire made great light-it
was at twenty-five minutes before 4o'clock
W. S. Blain, orn,--I came to the fire
between and A o'clock. The fire wal