Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-08-31
FATAL FIRE.
A Woman Burned to Death by
Coal Oil.
A CHILD BADLY BURNED
Two Residenees ON First street
Destroyed : The Fire De-
partment save other Build
ings-A sad AFFAIR.

Yesterday morning there was contia-
grafton on First street that was followed
with the most distressing results. The
alarm Of fire was sounded about half
past eleven o'clock, and 10th fire engines
and the hook and ladder companies
quickly repaired to East First street
the scene Of the burning. Two
houses, 53i and 533, were found
to be in flames, and as they were both
wooden structures, were beyond salvation
when the engines got ready for action.
Good work was done, however. in saw
ing the buildings on either side of the
houses burning. The late arrivals at the
scene of the fire were startled at hearing
that there was
WOMAN BADLY BURNED.
Ascertaining that it was lady who
had been lodging at 53l and who was
conveyed to the house Of neighbor, Mr..
Matthews, near by, the reporter went to
the house and saw horrifying sight
such as the eye of man seldom falls on.
The injured lady was under the care Of
DR.. Owen, who was doing all in bis
power to alleviate her intense snfferings.
She was burned to crisp from head
to foot and the odor Of burning fesh
which filled the room was positively
sickening. 1t was apparent at the first
glance that there was no hope for her.
but everything possible was done for her
relief. She bore the fearful pain with
out murmur, and although she was
burned beyond all recognition she talked
patiently 10 the doctor while he was
dressing her injuries. In an adjoining
room of the same house was DR.. Bird
caring for the lady's
LITTLE CHILD,
Which had also been burned in the fire.
The child's injuries were, however, a.
COM Rred with the woman's, slight, still
it w{ severely burned about the legs
and arms. The poor little fellow did
not seem to suffer much pain and even
crowed and laughed while DR.. Bird was
applying cooling lotions to the burns.
The child's burns are not at all danger
GUS and II will soon recover.
Attention was then directed to ascer-
tanning the
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE,
with the following result: The lady SO
badly bnrned, Mrs. Robert Darling, was
doing some cooking on coal oil stove
in her room at 53l. The stove needed
filling, and she attempted to rep!slish
1t from two.gallon can Of oil while the
lamp OF the stove was burning. The
stream Of oil pouring from the can to the
stove ignited, and both the stove and
lamp exploded. The burning oil was
thrown all over Mrs. Darling, portion
of 1t on the child, and the
remainder scattered around the room
As soon as Mrs. Darling realized that
she was on fire she rushed out the door,
where the wind famed the flames and
in almost an instant her clothes were
entirely burned oF of hsr. Henry Gripp,
a neighbor, who saw the flames, seized
Mrs. Darling and conveyed her to Mr..
Matthews, not before, however, the
flames had done their deadly work be-
yond repair.
The child was burned on its bare arms
and legs and its clothing did not ignite.
The flames spread rapi lily in residence
53l and quickly communicated to 5S3.
The crowd that had gathered worked
with will and succeeded in sewing the
greater portion Of the household goods
IN both residences.
The rasidenca in which Mrs Darling
lodged was the property Of and occupied
by Mrs. C. H. Liederman, whose hus-
band went down on the Inflated Cimbria
last year. Her loss is about six hundred
dollars.
The other residence belonged to Will
liam Stephenson, who with his wife is at
Santa Monica. His loss is probably five
hundred dollars.
MRS. DARLING DEAD.
Tho unfortunate victim Of the accident
fingered until about four o'clock in the
afternoon, when she died from her in
iuriss. Coroner Nadeau empanneled a
Jury, and the following facts were elicit
ed: The lady's name was Mrs. Robert
Darling, she was twenty-three years Of
age, came here last March from ArkaR-
sas, and came to her death from the ex-
plosion Of coal oil can.
DR.. Darling, Of this city. is brother
in-law Of the dead woman.
This should certainly be warning to
ali, Of the great danger of the careless
use Of coal oil. Hardly day passes
that accounts Of the direful effects Of
coal oil explosions are not chronicled.