Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1891-07-02
HORRIBLY BURNED.
MRS. LEMUEL p. JOHNSON
FATALLY INJURED.

While Working About the stove
Her Dress is Fired by Fall
ing Live Coal.
About half.past nine o'clock Saturday
morning, both the city fire alarms
were sounded, but there was no need
of the La France engine and the great
reels of hose. It was the most skilIful
treatment by physicians desired, there
being no real estate in danger of
flames, but the life of woman, that
was hanging in the balance.
Mrs. Ella Johnson, wife of Lemuel
P. johnson, of Vine street, was busy
with her culinary duties in her kitchen
this morning, and was in a half-sitting
position before her range, in which
was burning good coal fire, when in
some unexplainable manner live coal
or two fell from the CRATE, out of the
stove, and before she was aware of it
had fred the light gingham dress she
was wearing. Instantly her clothing
was ablaze, the flames leaping demon
iacally upward until she was living
burning mass.
Her agonized screams rent the air
and startled the neighbors, quickly
calling to her aid those who live in
that vicinity.
But not soon enough. When her
sister, Mrs. John H. Naglee, who lives
just opposite and who was the first to
arrive, reached the house, Mrs. John
| son was lying prone upon the floor,
the flames cruelty feeding upon her.
With almost Herculean strength Mrs.
Naglee carried her sister out of doors
and tore from her the blazing clothing.
Only the waist bands of ter skirts
and the neck band of her bodice re-
manned upon her person.. Everything
was burned from her body. While
the fire alarm was ringing, physi-
clans were hastily sent for and DR..
Appelgate quickly arrived. Mrs
johnson was carried in the house, laid
upon lounge and covered over with
a quilt.
Her body and face were horribly
burned AID blackened. In some parts
the skin came off in shreds. Her eyes
and hair were terribly singed and
burned. During all her intense suf-
fering she never once lost conscious
ness, and she told her sister how the
terrible accident occurred.
DR.. Appelgate at once gave her the
most skilful atteLtion and did every
thing possible to relieve her suffering.
She directed to certain extent, the
movements of those about her, and
asked her sister to send word to her
mother that ''it was all right" Neigh
bors and relatives assisted the physi-
clan in relieving her pain. Her body
was bandaged from head to foot, and
external and internal applications of
remedies were constantly admins
tered.
Mr. johnson was on his way to Err.
rickson's brick yard. when he hear
the fire alarm. He thought immedi.
ately of his property on Vine street. as
the alarm indicated the presence of
flames in that ward. He buried
toward home, and when nearly there
he was informed of the terrible calan-
ity that had befallen his wife. He
pressed through the great crowd in
front of his residence, and in a mom-
ent more was at the side of his suffer-
ing wife, and she recognized him inn
mediately and spoke to him.
A PIONEER reporter went out in the
kitchen. He found good fire in the
range, and damper door in front
opened. The fire was away below this
| door, and it does not seem possible for
the Goals to have fallen from this aper-
| ture. She said she was taking some
baking from the stove, and she might
have opened one of the lower doors of
the stove, from which the Goals might
have fallen. The Goals which probably
caused the terrible accident were seen
upon the oil cloth. One of them was
still warm when picked up by the re
porter. A small hole had been burned
in the oil cloth by coal.
The floor and carpet, where Mrs.
johnson fell, were quite much burned,
The boards outside the shed upon
which she was afterward laid were
also burned.
The report soon spread and gained
credence that the explosion of a
| gasoline stove caused the accident.
There was an oil stove in the room,
but there had been no fire in it to day.
The fire in the range Was started by
Mr.. Johnson this morning before he