The daily gazette., 1880-03-24
FIRST EDITION.
A COAL OIL HORROR.
FEARFUL RESULTS OF A LAMP
EXPLOSION.

A MAN AND HIS WIFE TERRIsLY
BuRNED-MIRAcUL ESCAPE OF
THEIR LITTLE CHILD--A TERRIBLE
SCENE.
A fearful visitation fell upon the house
Of John Sauerlander, No. 513 French
street, last night, by which he and his
wife were made the victims Of coal oil
explosion, a1d their little girl, aged five
years, narrowly escaped the same fright
full affliction.
1t happened about twelve O'Clock. Mr..
and Mrs. Sauerlander were just going to
bed. She was ahead, holdi, In her
hand the deadly, but as yet unsuspected
coal oil lamp, and he close behind, lead
ing their little girl by the hand. They
proceeded up stairs by the back stair
way, and just rs they reached the second
floor, the lamp In Mrs. SIS hand ex-
ploded, throwing the
BROKEN GLASS AND BURNING OIL
in all directions. In an instant tho
clothes Of the man and woman were on
fire, and then began their terrible strug-
gle for life.
Mr.. Sauerlandcr, Notwithstanding hls
terrible situation, at once noticed that
the little girl was unharmed, and with
rare p 90 nee Of mind he picked her ND
aud threw her into the bed room, on the
bed, and then. lying down upon The
foor, he drew the bed clothes OVER him,
aud rolled over, In an endeavor TO ex-
tinguish the flames that by this time en-
veloped the entire upper part of his
body.
Meanwhile, his wife rushed frantically
to the window, and attempted to leap
out into the yard below. The window
being rather small, however, she did not
succeed, though some parties aver that
she really did make the leap. The more
probable supposition is that she rushed
down by the font stairway and went
out by the street door. Marks of blood
on the steps and floor indicate this means
Of flight, and blood stains are also ON the
| window OF the room where she evidently
attempted to leap out. At any rate, she
picked mp her child before leaving, and
on reaching the street proceeded to the
residence Of Mr.. Samuel Barker,
few doors above, where she deposited
her child on the front steps and knocked
loudly at the door. Then, without
waiting for any response, she started for
her house again, but overcome by ex.
citement and suffering, fell down upon
the pavement In front Of the door, her
clothing still burning fiercely about her.
| Here she was found by Mr.. Barker, who
at once set to work sxiinguishing the
fire, and with the assistance of Joseph
Brady and Edward Lynch, who just
then arrived, he succeeded. The three
men then carried Mrs. Sauerlander into
the house, where they found her hus.
band blindly cropping his way about, and
suffering dreadful agony. His clothes
were not then burning, his efforts to ex
tinguish them by rolling in the bed
clothes having proved successful.
The three men after laying Mrs
Sauerlander upon lounge In the back
room, proceeded up stairs, where they
found the bed on fire. This fire they
soon extinguished with a few buckets
of water, though their forethought and
timely efforts prevented what might
have been serious confiagration.
Meanwhile the excitement and smoke
had occasioned an alarm of fire to which
the Washington and Reliance compa-
hies responded, but their services were
not required.
BY this time the entire neighborhood
was aroused, aud people came flocking
to the house. Physicians were sent for,
and DR.. Blocksom, the first to arrive,
went at once to work to relieve the two
nnfortunates. DIR. Kirscbner, the faml-
ly physicif u, soon came, as did also Drs.
Bush aad Springer, and with their unit
ed efforts the patients were made as
comfortable as possible. Linseed oil
and cotton were applied to the burns, ,and
/ al Cd
ministered. Mrs. Sauerlander lay upon
the lounge. suffering intensely, as was
evident by her pitiful groans, and all
band sat in chair beside her, ,herocally
sitting all expressions of his torture.
He bore up with great fortitude until
bed was,made for him, and as he lay
down he complained of great pain.
Much Of his strength Of nerve as well as
body, was gone by this time, and as DR..
kirschner administered a hypoderrnia
injection into his arm, he evidently did
not understand the meaning of the
pricking sensation and said, reproach-
fully, "Oh, doctor, you shouldn't do
that"
The examination by the physicians
showed that both parties We're fearfully
l uuTncu anu SOIn6HDbl Cub ny Gne UTOkeH
glass. Mrs. Sauerlander's hair was
burnt TO q crisp, and the left side of her
; face, her left breast, arm and shoulder,
aud right hand we're terribly burned. A
puncture, evidently inflicted by piece
Of broken glass, was discovered in her
elbow joint, and had severed the med
ium vein, which accounted for the pro-
fusion of blood around the premises.
Mr.. Sauerlander's back was charred
and he was also burned around the
head, arms and upper part of the body.
There was also slight cut upoon his
right temple. The skin and part of
the flesh peeled from his shoulders as
he was lifted from chair to bed on
the floor. He suffered great pain for
a couple of hours, and then began to
sleep fitfully, apparently sinking into
: lethargic condition. Mrs. Sauerlan-
der suffered great pain continuously,
and rested very little during the night.
At s o'clock this morning. the pa
tients were visited by Drs. Kirchner
and Blocksom, who spoke hopefully of
their condition. The physicians said
that as the sufferers had evidently in
haled none of the flame, there were
strong hopes of their ultimate re-
covery.
About two o'clock in the morning,
Mr. VIM Vandenhrack drova nm IN