Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-06-24
Madison, Wiz, June 2O.ls93.


yesterday
About 4:25 o'clock in the afternoon
the residents along and about Clymer
street, about two blocks west Of the
Capitol Park were startled by an tx
plosion which sounded like the discharge
Of a shot gun A cloud Of smoke, dust
and ashes was seen issuing from the
summer kitchen door in the rear Of
the house Of Mr.. Absalom Van Deuscn,
332 Clymer street, and almost immedi-
atcly the whole rear of the structure
was in flames. About the back yard
the servant girl was running vii lily,
with her garments burning, her body
enyeloped in an angry mass Of flames.
Mr. O. S. Vaughn, who lives at 337
West Main street, and the rear Of whose
lot adjOins the rear of Mr.. Van Deu.
sens was working in his garden and
Immediately upon hearing the explosion
jumped over the fence A horrible sight
was before him Lying in the middle
of the floor of the burning room was
Mr. Van Deusen's 1Smonths- old little
boy, apparently burned to death at
that time, at least beyond the reach of
hands willing TO give aid Rolling in
the grass before Mr.. Vaughn, fully
sixty feet from the scene Of the explo-
sion, was Miss Theresa Rink, the fam
lily servant. At that time the clothing
had been almost completely burned
from her body, and by the time the
flames had been entirely eXtinguished
but small portion Of her under gar
ments and parts Of the bands about her
neck and waist were intact. Her body
presented Il shocking appearance, the
skin coming Of in streaks from her
neck downward. The unfortunate girl
was carried to Mr.. Naughns house
where everything possible was done to
lessen her pain Doctors Collins and
Evans were summoned and her wounds
were quickly dressed. Late in the
night the physicians had succeeded in
getting her to sleep. She is dangerously
burned, however. Miss Rink is about
Is years Of age and had robust con
stitution Her parents who are weil-to-
do people, live on farm about eight
miles from NazOmanie They arrived
in the city late last night.
A frightfuE scene was presented when
little Della Mr.. Van Deusen's 4-ycar-
old daughter ran out of the burning
kitchen with the back of her dress ali
ablaze. She ran 20 The side Of the
house and entnred the sitting room de-
spite the calls of Mr. George W. Hyland
who heroically rushed into the house
grabbed the child. and took her
out into the yard where he
rolled her in the grass until
the flames which cnycloped her were
cxtinguished. In doing this 8fr. Hy-
lands right hand ana arm were pain
fully burned. His efforts. hOweyct
saved the child's life. Her back was
quite badly burned She was taken to
Il neighbours house where her wounds
were dressed by Il physician Later in
the evening she was removed IN ear
riage to Mr. Van Deuscn's SIStcr-in-
laws residence on State street where
she rested easy ami viii get along nice
~. The little boy, Austin, met Il hor-
rible fate i'm the burning buildiH-. The
flames shot up on al sides with terrible
rapidity and assistance 10 the poor lit
tie one was impossible to give. He was
burned beyond recognition
Perhaps the saddest feature Of the &C
cfdent is the fact that the mother vas
visiting at Barneveld this state at the
time. A telegram was quickly sent
to her, but it arrived too late for the
last train that left that place for Mad
ison yesterday. The poor mother, whose
misery can we'll be imagined, will he
Obliged to remain in Baneveld until
this noon. with the knowledge OF the
terrible truth Of the accident to haunt
hr- 9Th father, VINO is proprietor Of
a secondhand goods and furniture es-
tablishment on South Carroll street,
vas IN the city at the time and was
quickly at the scene Of the accident
where the sights that presented them
sa,vcs 10 him compile ely unsrung nm
and he tainted away
AS to She cause or nature of the ex-
plosiou nothing definite can yet be
learned. It IS certain that a FIVE gallon
can nearly full Of oil was in the kitchen.
In some way this must have been Il.
nited and an explosion ensued. A small
oil stove was in the room, but whether
81 not It was burning is not known.
. The strlant was ironing clothes md 7
anlcars that IRE was burning In a
common kitchen wood stove, for after
/ the accident fatirons were found upon
tha broken lids 1t is possible that the
servant in endeavoring to secure a
hotter FIRE poured kerosene into the
stove. AT all events the rapidity with
which the fire spread would indicate
that it was the can Of oil that exploded.
After considerable delay in turning in
the alarm. due to MadiSon's unmetro-
politan system, the FIRE laddies arrived
ana dill effective work in combining the
fire to tic rear Of the building.