Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-21
yoUR LIVES L0sT I'M FLAMES.
Terrible wsrk OF IN idissic Nsishtsr-He is
Held 20 Answer.

Terrible wsrh OF IN idIsssc Nsishtsr-He is
Held 20 Answer.
A Reading PAL special Of Sunday
says: At 7 O'Clock this morning four
charred corpses were taken from the
ruins Of building which had been de-
stroyed by FIRE on the truck-farm OF
Jesse b. Vented, about two miles be-
low Reading, and laid side by side in
wagon-shed near by. The names Of the
dead were as follows Charles Went
eel, aged thirteen; Harry Vented,
aged twelve; Frederick Hettinger, aged
twenty-six; Charles Hettinger, aged
sixteen.
The two Hettingers were brothers,
and had lately arrived from Germany.
They were employed on the Wentzel
farm. The Vented boys were brothers,
and sons Of August Vented, who
worked the farm. All four had been
in the habit Of sleeping in frame
summer kitchen. The father gave the
boys permission to sleep there, as they
were much attached to the Hettingers
and were teaching them to speak the
English language.
FRANTIC CRIES OF ALARM.
At 4 o'clock this morning Mr..
Vented was aroused by an alarm given
by Frederick Hettinger, who stood in
the yard in his night-clothes, shouting
&" fire J" at the top of his voice. Mr..
Vented fastened downstairs and
found the summer-house in flames. In
trying to get in at an upper window by
means of ladder Mr.. Vented was
badly burnt about the face. Nothing
could be seen or heard Of the three
persons in the second story. Hettinger
had by this time become frantic, and
rushed into the flames, determined to
wake up the sleeping ones within, as he
had forgotten to do so when he first
smelled the smoke and leaped from his
bed to run downstairs. He was no
sooner in, however, than he was over
come by the smoke and fell unconscious
to the floor.
The flames spread rapidly, and Mr..
Vented was Of course unable to enter
the building. In short time the struc-
ture was destroyed, and shortly after
ward the assembled neighbors took the
four blackened bodies out of the ruins,
while the nearly distracted family and
friends wept and moaned beside the
still smoking flesh.
WORK OF sIMPLETON.
At this time man named Daniel
Noll, aged forty-three years, appeared
on the scene. He is the son of the
neighboring farmer, and is slightly
idiotic at times, though harmless. He
at once confessed to the sorrowing
father that he had stealthily visited the
Vented farm about ii o'clock at night
and crawled into the wash-house to
sleep that he made himself bed out
of some clothing, but the fire was near
ly out. He said he put wood on the
fire at 3 o'clock A. NJ, shut the door,
and then concluded to visit another
neighbor, one and a half miles away,
leaving more wood near the stove. This
explained the cause of the fire. The
stove, having been heated red hot, set
fire to the wood. Noll says he saw the
blaze and got back as soon as he could.
Noll was taken into custody by order
Of the coroner, as he had no business
at the farm and no authority to inter-
fere with the fires. The prisoner has
frequently acted very queerly, but he
is not known to have had any ill-feeling
toward the Vented family. The jury
rendered verdict against him, and he
was committed to await the action OF
the court. Thousands of people visited
the scene to-day.