The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1876-07-22
Terrible Fate of Two Children and
Woman.

John E. Cameron lives on farm
one mile from Pittsvile. He has a
lime kiln quarter of mile from his
house, near the main road. On Mon
day he started a fire in it and went
away to his work in hay field. Two
of his children, boy niue yeats old
and girl aged five were playing about
the Kiln. Over the Mouth of the kiln Is
a windlass by which lapge bucket is
lowered to the bottom. The Oldest of
the two children thought it would be
nice to ride his little sister up and down
in the bucket She clambered in, ard
he let her down Into the pit, The fire
had by that time got under good head
way, and the stone WAS becoming heat
ed and emitting poisonous gas.
The little girl screamed to come up,
and her brother tried to pull up the
bucket, but could not start it. After
several attempts, he started on a run
for home, where he told his mother and
grandmother, who were alone in the
house, the situation as above. The two
women ran to the kiln. Mrs. Cameron
saw her child lying on the bottom. She
had fallen out of the bucket, being over
powered by the gas Thinking that the
child might be restored if taken out at
once, Mrs. Cameron drew the bucket
up. She placed her little boy in it, and
telling him to place the body of his lit
tie sister in it as quickly as possible, and
get lack into it himself, she lowered
him into the noxiOus pit. The little
fellow succeeded in placing the body in
the bucket, and, cinging to the side of
it himself, was drawn a few feet up.
ward, when he succumbed to the in6u-
ence of the gas and fell back uncon-
scious to the bottom.
Mrs. Cameron drew the body of her
little girl to the top and hastily remov-
ed it from the bucket and placed it on
the ground. She then gave the crank
of the windlass to her mOther>in-law, a
lady nearly 70 years old, and told her
to lower her quickly into the pit, to the
rescue of her other child. She then got
into the bucket. Her weight was more
than old Mrs. Cameron could control,
and the crank slipped FROM her hands,
and whirling round struck her on the
head and knocked her senseIess to the
ground. Her daughter in law, was
hurried violently to the bottom of the
kiln, and no doubt rendered unconsci-
gus before the gas affected her.
The Pittsville stage came along about
the time Mrs. Cameron was precipitated
into the kiln. John Kane, the driver,
seeing the bleeding body of the old
lady, and the apparently lifeless body
of the little girl, stopped the stage aud
jumped out. lie discovered the bodies
of the other two in the kiln. Calling a
gentleman in the stage to his aid, he
went down into the kiln by means of
the windlass rope, and placed the body
of Mrs. Cameron in the bucket. It was
drawn up, aud the bucket lowered,
Kane succeeded in getting into the
bucket with the boys body, but became
unconscious soon after, and was taken
from the bucket In that state. 1t was
some time before he was restored.
Old Mrs. Cameron was brought to
consciousness in short time, her
wounds not being serious. Her daugh-
ter-in-law and the two children were
dead. AS soon az Kane recovered sutii-
clently, the three bodies we're placed
in the stage and taken home, and Mr..
Cameron summoned from his work.
Mrs. Cameron was 30 years old. This
is the third time that deaths have oc-
Cured under similar circumstances at
this kiln during the past seven years.