Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-12-05
FIRE. DESTROYS Family
Mother and Four Children Perish
in Burning Home.
HEAT DROVE REscuERs BACK

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HEAT DROVE REscuERs BACK
Screams Of Victims Heard Above Roar
Of Fiames-Husband Nearly crazed
With Grief and Is Destitute-cause
Of Fire Is Unknown.
Altoona, Pa, Dec. 2.-Between /
and 2 o'clock yesterday morning five
persons, mother and her four chill
dren, were burned to death at. Gwin
Station, on the Wopsononock railroad,
three miles north of this city. The
husband escaped.
THE DEAD.
MRS. MARY c. BURK, AZ years old.
ADAM GUSTAYE BUEK, l6 years
old
MARY E. BURK, 13 years old.
JOANNA BURK, IL years old.
JOSEPH VICTOR BURK, 8 years
old.
Carl w. Burk, the husband, is
burned about the back seriously, but
not fatally.
Adam. retired at the usual hour on
Saturday night. Mr.. Burk, who was
in Altoona. did not get home until
late. The lamp was burning in the
kitchen for him. Before he went up
stairs he turned it low. A lunch was
left for Adam on the kitchen table,
who is stage hand at the Altoona
Opera House. 1t is not known what
time he turned in.
About 1.30 o'clock Mrs Burk was
awakened by dense smoke in her
room. She awoke her husband. He
dressed hurriedly and fastened down
stairs. Opening the kitchen door. he
found that the room was ablaze. The
draft caused by the open door accen-
tusted the fire, and with roar the
flames swept through the house.
Rurk's clothing was irnited, and he
sprang outside and rolled in the snow
to extinguish the tiny tongues of fire
that in moment We're licking pain
fully at his flesh. He then SUNNI oned
the assistance of the neighbors There
was no hope of saving the house when
they arrived. To rescue the inmates
Was impossible, for every time they
tried to enter the intense heat drove
them back.
Burk, in mad frenzy, tried to rush
through the flames, but was prevent
ed. 1t would have been sure death.
Meantime the agonizing screams of
the inmates could be heard above the
roaring of the fire and the cracking
of the burning timbers. For one brief
second Mrs. Burk appeared at an up
stairs window. In her arms she car
ried a child Then the flames arose
around and about her. and she sank
back and was seen no more. The
neiehbors gathered outside were hor-
rified and turned away. Burk was
mercifully sent away to the hospital
about this time crazed with grief.
The house, which was a two story
frame structure. was soon consumed
and the search OF the ruins com.
menced. AS there was nothing left but
the foundation stones. the bodies,
charred and blackened, were speedily
recovered. One corpse could not be
distinguished from the other, They
were brought to a mOrgue in this
city.
The fire robbed Burk of his family
and all his personal property, He is
left without penny. He escaped
scantily clothed. He is so destitute
that the funeral expenses Of his loved
ones will have 10 be borne by the
county.
The kitchen stove shows evidences
of hot fire. but the gonerel opinion
seems to be that Adam forgot to put
out the lamp when he retired, and the
family dog, in search of something to
apppease his hunger, upset the lamp.
West Point II; Annapolis, s.
Philadelphia, Dec. 2.-On Satu day
in the presence of 10000 spectators,
including President Roosevelt and
many government officials the West
Point football team defeated Anr apo
lis by score of IL to 5. West Point
caught Tartar in the Navy t,aTl.
Such a magnificent exhibition of tack
ling as given by Annapolis on Frank
lin Field has rarely been seen. Two
surprises were afforded, the spirited
offense Of the Middies and the slespy.
unconcentrated defense of the Army
lads. The Middies' eleven seemed
timed to a higher chord than the
Army's. Yet they could not reach
the supreme key Of the soldiers. DAILY,
West Points quarterback, played one
of the greatest games ever seen in
this city.
Said President Should Be Shot.
Philadelphia, Dec. "A. II. Mueller.
arrested on Saturday evening at Broad
and Chestnut streets, charged with
having declared that President Roose-
welt should be shot the same as was
Mckinley. was held in $500 bail for