The times., 1899-07-08

Mrs. Marguerite Bates Dickins, the wife
of Capt: Francis W. Dickfns. of the Bu-
reau of Navigation Of the Navy Depart
meRG was instantly killed and her body
frightfully disfgured by an explosion of
naphtha in the third story of her home at
1884 Nineteenth Street yesterday morning.
The force of the explosion was such that
the strong walls OF the upper part of the
dwelling were shattered and blown into
the street. and the top stories OF the house
wrecked.
simultaneously with the explosion, the
volatile fluid ignited and the building
caught fire, suffering damage TO the extent
Of about $1,000. Fire water. and smoke
found their way TO other parts of the
house and wrecked much CT the valuable
bric-a-brac and the magnificent ceramic
collection. which always endeared the
Dickins home to friends and art lovers
Much OF this was secured at great ex-
pense by Captain and Mrs. Dickins during
a cruise on the American naval vessel
Tallapoosa in South American waters. and
was OF inestimable value by reason of the
fact that it could not be replaced or dupli-
Gated.
The catastrophe was as sudden and dis
tressing as the fire which resulted in the
death of Mrs. Tracy the wife of the for
mer Secretary of the Navy. in this city
in 1890 and was a great shock to the wide
circle CT acquaintance and friends of the
popular captain and his wife.
The explosion occurred about 16:40
O'Clock and was such that the physicians
! think the shock must have caused instant
death. The heat and fury of the blaze pre-
vented the rescue of Mrs. Dickins' body
! until after the flames were eXtinguished by
the fire department. Captain Dickins was
at his desk al the Bureau of Navigation
at the time and did not reach his home
until some time afterward. He was al
most Frustrated at the sad occurrence.
a Threc-story RricI. House.
The Dickins home is built of brick and
is three stories high. In the third story at
the front part of the building Is a. small
room used for storage purposes. The room
is entered from small hallway, which is
very narrow by reason of the width of the
staircase leading up from the second floor.
Over this stairway is a large skylight.
which was opened yesterday morning as q
means of access for two timers who had
been engaged to repair the roof of the
dwelling. Mrs. Dickins possessed a num-
Der of valuable rugs which she was de-
slrous of storing in the small front room
until fall. Early yesterday morning she
decided to devote several hours of her
time TO storing these rugs where they
would be free from moths during the sum
mer. One Of her servants assisted her.
who held can OF naphtha while Mrs.
Dickins sprinkled the rugs before packing
| them. AS Mrs. Dickins applied the in
fiammable liquid freely the volatile sub
| stance quickly evapOrated and soon filled
| the third story of the house, which was
| tghtly closed, with the exception of the
| transom in the roof. Only slight fame
! was necessary to ignite the gas and cause
! an explosion.
The timers at work on the roof were
Joseph Vaughn and Hollis L Cook They
! completed their job about 1890 O'Clock
and Cook. who was in charge of the work.
! descended through the transom opening
first Vaughn followed him, carrying a
/ lighted charcoal irepot such as is used by
timers for heating their soldering irons.
When the small hallway was reached. Just
without the room in which Mrs Dickins
was engaged spraying the rugs. the fire Of
the tiny charcoal furnace of the workmen
came in contact with the naphtha vapor
and terrific explosion followed, stunning
the timers and knocking cut the front
walls OF the upper portion of the house.
The Alarm of Fire.
The servants were in the lower part OF
the house, having been sent there by Mrs.
Diekins, and as soon as they heard the
noise they rushed into the street and their
cries resulted in the sounding of a fire
alarm from the box located at the corner
of Twentieth and Streets northwest
Vaughn was knocked to the floor by the
force of the explosion, and his assistant
barely escaped, by being blown out an
4 opening in the wall. It is believed that
Mrs Dickins, who held the naphtha can
at the time, was instantly killed. the can
exploding also, and expending its entire
force upon her body. When Vaughn re-
covered his senses he caught glimpse of
Mrs. Dickins' body lying PROSTATE upon
| the roor of the small room He made an
effort to save her. Notwithstanding the in
tense heat of the fire and the flames which
transformed the room into furnace He
dragged her as far as the door leading
downstairs, but, finding that life was ex-
tlnct and thinking that It would be useless
TO make any further effort, he himself
fed to escape the fury of the flames.
The sounding of the alarm brought the
entire hre department and the reserves of
the Second and Third precincts to the
scene The fire gained great headway
within an Incredibly short period. and
when the engines reached the burning
house il was mass of flames. The light
brie-a-brae in the different rooms upstairs
served as so much kindling wood. and the
gas from the naphtha spread through the
house. assisting the work of the flames to
a very large extent. The aperture in the
| upper part of the house, caused by the
wrecking of the front walls. permitted the
| fireman to play several large streams upon
the fire. and within a short time they sue
eeeded in eNtinguishing the flames.
When the fremen entered the dwelling
| the first thing that met their gaze was the
charred body of Mrs. Dickins. which had
been left az the entrance to the upper hall
way where the timers had been compelled
to abandon their attempt to rescue it. It
was not al first known that the body was
that of Mrs. Dickens. Neighbors and the
servants soon identified the corpse by bits
of clothing which they knew belonged 10
/ Mrs. Dickins. The servants also knew
that she was in the third story with the
raphtha can and the rugs.
Captain Dickins Notified.
4 messenger was despatched to Captain
Dickins, who was at his desk at the Navy
Department. He was not informed of the
real extent of the terrible affair, and hur-
ried home in 4 carriage. When he reached
his home the fremen were bearing the
body of his wife from the front entrance.
He was oyerpowered with grief and almost
protrated by reason of the fatality The
body was conveyed TO the home of Sur
geon Dixon. of the Navy, adjoining the
Dickins residence on the north. Physi-
clans were summoned. and after an exanri-
nation of the body they gave the opinion
that Mrs. Dickins had been kilIed a,ttri prht