Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1895-02-08
THE STERLING FIRE.
A Whole Family Lose Their Lives
In a Burning Building.


A Whole Family Lose Their Lives
In a burning Building.
One Of the most horrible tragedies that
has ever happened in this part of the
country occurred near Sterling, Rurlcigh
county, on Wednesday morning of last
week. Peter Olson and his wife, their
three children and hired man named
Bathka lost their lives by the burning of
the house IN which they lived Mr.. o.
son was well known in Burleigh county
and 10 u limited extent in Emmons. He
was u candidate two years ago last fall
for sheriff of Burlelgh, in the triangular
fight in which he, Ed Taylor and Frank
Donnelly took part. the latter being sue
cessful.
For long time Mr.. Olson had been
manager Of farm owned by Judge
Dwycr, of Ohio, the farm being about u
mile south of Sterling. The house
caught fire about 2:30 u. Nor, rather,
that was the time when 1t was first seen,
by people on Northern Pacific train, Who
supposed it was q hay or straw stack.
and paid no further attention to it. The
flames were plainly visible until about Z
o'clock. About 1880 O'clock two young
men went out to the Olson place to asccr
tam what damage had been done And
they were soon horrltied beyond measure.
The house was story and a halt frame
structure, facing to the eastward Upon
the lover floor, in the main portion Of
the building, were four rooms-a kitchen,
sitting room, bedroom, and spare sleep
ingroom used for the accommodation of
strangers. In the northwest corner of
the house Was the bedroom occupied by
MIR. Olson. his wife and three children
They slept, ordinarily, in two beds, side
by side--in one Of these, Mr.. Olson, his
wife and the infant child; in the other
the two older boys, the oldest about
fourteen years of aye. In this room were
found the charred corpses of four per-
sons. From the relative sizes of the
bodies, it WAS seen that Mrs Olson ard
her infant child had fallen in tAc east end
of the room, side by side, as though the
mother had arisen from bed and stag
gcrcd that far with Ter infant child in
her arms. The oldest boy was found in
about the middle Of the room. The
other was found upon the spring of the
bed, as though he had persisted without
moving from his bed.
The hired man, Bathka, was found
among the debris IN the cellar. his bodv
upon bed-spring. as though he, alse;.
had never arisen from his bed, but had
p"rished where he lay.
The body Of Mr.. Olson, was found in
one corner of the wood shed. This shed
is on the west end of the house, across a
hall from the main building. To have
gotten where he lay, from the room IN
which he slept. Mr.. Olson would have
had either to leave his bedroom, pass
through the kitchen. out the kitchen
door, and into door leading to the
wood shed from the side of the hall,
room by the cast side OF the house, walk
around outside the no lse to the west
side, and enter at the end of the hail.
and from that into the door from the hall
already mentioned. Olson's body was
utterly unrccogniZablc, except from it's
greater size. The skull was broken, but
whether this Was from the heat, the fall.
Ing of timbers, or otherwise, cannot be
told The feet and parts of the bones
of the arms and legs were completely
burned off AS with the other bodies it
had to be lifted up with scoop -sho vel
and carried on a sheet of canvas
From appearances, Olson. at the time
OF his DEATH Was dressed only in his
night clothes. for his keys, watch, knife
and other articles which would have
btcn IN his clothes Were found in The
RUNS OF the bed-ro0m.. where, unduubt.
edy, his clothes had burned From This,
then, he appears to have arisen from bed,
alarmed in some way, and rushed from
The room in his night clothes, without
stopping to put on any of his outer
clothes. How he got to The place in the
wOod-shed where his remains were found
is Il mystery which can be accounted for
80 far as learned, only by theory. The
| ,ul,n 1oI l.;
woou-shed and the door which led out of
the house were but short distance
| apart. Did he, partially overcome by
flame and smoke, stagger through the
Kitchen door and INTO the wood shed,
blindly mistaking the door thereto for
tne door which led outside, and there
succumb to the flames and perish? Or,
did lie succeed IN getting outside on the
opposite end of the house. and then tFy
to get in at the kitchen door on the west
end. and make the same mistake, stag
gcrlng into the wood shed instead W
into the kitchen7
al first but the corOners Jury failed to
find any evidence to justify such sus-
picion. But there are great many peo.
pleas we are informed by one who has
| visited Sterling since the catastrophe
| who believe that Mr.. Olson had several
hundred dollars; that the family was
murdered, and that the house was burned
to cover up the crime Our informant
states that the reason for this suspicion
| is as follows: A char that had been in
| the house Was found fifty feet distant
! therefrom, the side away from the build
ing being scorchel that, if MIR. Olson
took the chair out there, he must have
gone through window and through
tive-wirc (barbed) fence in order TO reach
the wood-shcd, where his body was
found and that, to avoid the fence, he
would have been compelled to go around
by the stable. some rs yards distant.
THE following diagram of the first floor
of the burned building is taken from the
Bismarck Tribune, from which most of
the facts in this articl, a:c also obtained: