The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-10-06
CARRIED LIGHTED LAMP.
Into a Cellar Into Which Gas Had
Leaked from the Street Mains.
MOST MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
or the Woman who Carried the Lamp
First Occurrence of the Character
In Canton and It Naturally E1-
cites Unusual Interest
Among the People.

Among the People.
In the history Of this city there never
occurred an explosion Of the character
of that which happened Monday night
about 7:15 in N. Cherry street, this city
There have been large fires and deadly
the fatal accidents, but possibly none
of those have attracted the absorbed
attention of the citizens generally as
the occurrence of Monday night. AL
though not attended with any loss Of
life, 1t was miraculous that at least one
person wa not blown to atoms, and
the manner in which that person escap-
ed fatal injury indicated providential
assistance. AS q result the home Of one
of the best known families in this city
is complete wreck, possibly irrepara-
BILE, and the contents of the building
has been totally destroyed, rome of it
being crushed beyond recognition.
Just what caused the accident is yet
to be truthfully learned, although it Is
assumed that leaking gas in some form
was responsible for the explosion which
occurred.
At 1925 o'clock Monday night the citi-
zens generally were excited by an alarm
of fire turned in from box 72 at the
intersection of Lawrence avenue and
Spring street. The various apparatus
of the central engine house and other
hose houses responded, and their at
tention was directed to the residence
Of George ]. Neher, at 9O7 North Cherry
street, just north Of Washington
avenue, by people who lined the streets
when the apparatus arrived in that
vicinity. However, the assistance of the
firemen and their apparatus was not
required, as no fire of any nature, ex-
cepting a blue flame in the front yard
caused by burning gas was to be seen,
and the alarm was sounded that the fire
was out. r-he firemens' efforts, how
ever, were trained toward removing
from the building, which looked as
though it might collapse at any moment
such furniture or other stuff as they
saw was not altogether broken.
1t appears that for several days resi-
dents passing along that portion of
the street have strongly noted the smell
of gas in that vicinit'', without knowing
ust where the leakage occurred or what
should cause leak at that place. 1t
was known that the pipes of both the
natural and artificial gas companies
had been laid along there and the
escaping gas was attributed by some
to one main and some to another.
The Neher family at home is compos-
ed of Mr.. and Mrs. Neher, both advanc-
ed in age, and Miss Leah and William
Neher, both we'll known young people.
Shortly after supper Monday evening the
members of the family made neighborly
visits or went down town on errands,
leaving Mrs. Neher alone in the house.
Fortunately they left home at the time
they did. for had they remained and
occupied any Of the other rooms of the
house excepting the one in which was
their mother at the time of the explo-
sion, they certainly would not have
escaped uninJured, probably killed in
stantly by the force of the explosion or
some fallen walls or heavy furniture.
Mrs. Neher had just completed washing
the supper dishes and decided to remove
the eatables to the basement. A large
hanging lamp hung to the northeast
part of the ceiling of the kitchen nearly
In front of door leading down stairs.
The woman advanced to the door to
throw 1t open in order to carry the stuff
down the steps. Suddenly as the door
flew open she was precipitated to the
| floor and there occurred a most violent
Explosion. With rare presence of mind
the good woman believing that her
clothes which had been ignited by the
streak of flame which shot in the room,
came from the explosion of a lamp,
without looking back she made her exit
out of the rear kitchen door and ran
into the yard Justify crying for assist
ance. Her cries attracted attention
Immediately, for citizens for squares
/ or i,,fn n la
state Of excitement by the terrific force
of the explosion not knowing what had
occurred nor where to go. A few of
the immediate neighbors, however,
who had received more or less shocks
were soon at hand and they noted with
palled feeling the results of the shock
which they had experienced and heard.
The first person to arrive to assist Mrs.
Neher was Assistant City Electrician
John Imhoff, who had been a visitor for
| a few moments It the Gottshall resi-
dence q few houses above the Nehers'.
He saw the terrible plight OF the woman
and he also saw that flames were leap
ing up the sides of the kitchen walls.
He quickly succeeded in helping Mrs.
Neher to a place Of safety and placed
her In the care Of neighbors, and then
ran back to the kitchen and entered It,.
After all there did not appear to be
much fire. The curtains covering the
kitchen windows only were burning,
and he caught these and threw them out
of the rear window and with two
buckets of water he succeeded in ex-
tinguishing the flames he saw within
the house. 1t was not the fire so much
as the disastrous appearance of the
building which attracted his attention,
for everything within was thrown over
upon the floor and covered with huge
piles of plaster. Doors were torn from
their hinges and the glass In all the
down stairs windows was literally
crushed to fragments.
| A News Democrat reporter visited the