The Saint Paul globe., 1897-05-02
FRYGHTFUL DOUBLE FATALITY IN
AN EXPLOSION AT ST. PAUL
- PARK.
ONE A HELPLESS CRIPPLE.
FORE HER SISTERS
EYES.
For n Few Hours, but Is Too Ter
ribly Burned to Permit Her
Recovery.

The village of st. Paul Park was
visited by sad catastrophe shortly
before II o'clock yesterday morning,
when, in the burning of the residence
of Charles Eichorn, his sister-ln-laW,
Miss Boettscher, was cre1nated Eefore
the eyes of friends and relatives, pow
erless to render her assistance, ara
Mrs. Eichorn, in heroic effort to save
the lives of her three small children,
was so badly burned that she Gied af-
ter intense suffering at o'clock in the
afternoon. The calamity has cast
pail over the suburban settl ,lnent,
where the fire fiends victims were
among the best known and most Ligh-
ly respected residents, and the SYM
pathy of the community at large is ex-
tended to the bereaved husbae.4 in the
double afflietion which has befallen
him.
The fire started from the explosion
of a coal Oil stove in the kitchen, where
Mrs. Eichorn was engaged about her
household duties, while her sister, Miss
Boettscher, who has for some years
been cripple and unable to walk. kept
her company in an invalid's chair
wheeled near the stove. Suddenly, as
Mrs. Eichorn passed near her sister,
the oil in the stove exploded, shooting
a volume of flame about the room ard
throwing burning oil over both women.
In an instant their clothing was ahame
and the house doomed. Even in her
own perilous position Mrs. Eichorns
first thought was. of her three small
children, the Oldest a boy of six years,
and the youngest a baby girl, two
years old. With wonderful presence Of
mind she rushed to an adjoining room,
where the little ones were playing, and
threw them from the ground floor Win
dow outside to a place of safety. With
her own body burning to a crisp, the
heroic mother then endeavored to reach
her sister, but the kitchen was by this
time mass of flames, in the midst Of
which the helpless cripple was Icing
incinerated.
Miss Boettscher had, it is thought,
tainted at the explosion Of the stove
and was thus mercifully spared the
realization of the fiery death to which
she was doomed, though Mrs Eicnorns
torture, beyond human conception, was
not lessened.
Finding she could be of no assistance
to her sister, the now nearly uncons-
clous woman staggered from the house,
her clothing ablaZe, and screams Of
pain issuing from her lips. Elden Link
young man living at the park, who
was plowing a piece Of land about forty
rods from the burning house, heard the
frenzied wOman's cries, and seeing the
flames PnVa1Oninp ,,,,l,i itol,c
his team and dashed to her assistance
The mothers only thought, however,
was of her children, who, when thrown
from the window, not realizing that
the house was on fire, had again en-
tered the building by the front door,
and when Link reached her side she
begged him to look after the little ones.
telling him the baby had just gone in
the front door. The young man search
ed the part Of the house not yet in the
embrace of the flames, but could not
find the babe, but as he was emerging
from the house found a neighbor with
the child in his arms. Seeing her child
ren safe Mrs. Eichorn endeavored to
reach the house Of neighbor, when
persons attracted by the fire picked her
up and carried her to the home of
Frank Penny. Every stitch of clothing
was burned from her body, and her
suffering was terrible Dr. Boxell was
Immediately summoned, and though
easing her pain could not save the life
that had been so heroically given for
those she had loved. Shortly after 2
o'clock Mrs. Eichorn was removed to
the home of her parents, Rev. and Mrs
Boettscher, living near by, and in the
presence of her husband, who had been
notified of the accident and had reached
the park at 1:30 o'clock, Mrs. Eichorn
died shortly before o'clock
When young Link saw Mrs Eichorn
being cared for he ran to the rear Of
the house hoping to be able to rescue
Miss Boettscher, but the kitchen was
veritable furnace by this time, and
he and other friends of the family, who
had gathered about, could do nothing
but stand by. knowing her body was
being burned to a crisp within. Only
the charred bones of the invalid were
found in the blackened ruins The
house, which was two-story frame
dwelling, valued at $1,500, was totally
destroyed. Miss Boettscher was thirty
five years of age, the sister of Mrs
Eichorn and Mrs. w. A. Miller, wife Of
Mr. Miller, of the First National bank
She and her sister, Mrs. Eichorn, were
daughters of Rev. Mr. Boettscher,i a
professor in the German Methodist col
lege at ST. Paul park. The bereayed
husba nd. Charles Eichorn, has for many
years been in the employ of Farwell
Ozmun. Kirk & Co., where the news Of
the misfortune which had come to him.