The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-11
MRS. HAzEN HURT
Wife of District Judge Is
Frightfully Burned.
Injuries Such That She May
Not Recover.
GASOLINE THE CAUSE.
Using 1t in Kitchen to Clean
Clothing.
Went to Stove to Warm Her
Hands.
CLOTHING WAS IGNITED
Bystanders Moved to Tears by
Her Suffering.
Lyndon Hazen Severely Burned
Helping His Mother.

Mrs. T. T. Hazen. wife of Judge
Hazen of the district court. was prob
ably fatally burned this morning about
1O:45 o'clock by an explosion of gaso-
line with which she was cleaning a
dress.
Her son. Lyndon Hazen. was also
seriously burned while trying to help
his mother.
Mrs. Hazen's face, arms and body
were all horribly burned. and her hair
was nearly all burned off. Great
masses of skin as large as a sheet of
letter paper fell from her arms and
shoulders. ard her agony was indie
scribable. Her face was so badly
burned as to be almost unrecognizable.
Judge Hazen was engaged in the
hearing of the Lowe murder trial when
the news was brought to him. He i'm
mediately adjourned the case and ar
rived at the house almost as soon as
the fire department had succeeded in
extinguiShing the blaze, which did very
little eamage to the property
There was considerable trouble in
finding doctors for the injured mother
and son. DR.. w. S. Lindsay was the
til five minutes after Judge Hazen.
Dr. H. H. Kieth next arrived, and went
to work with Dr. Lindsay on Mrs.
Hazen- DR.. Frank Martin came a few
minutes later and took charge of I.yn-
don Hazen's injuries.
The fire started in the kitchen of the
Hazen home at sos Monroe street. Mrs.
Hazen had pan of gasoline at a small
iron sink at the south side of the room,
and was cleaning a dress. Her hands
became cold, and she stepped across the
room to the range, in which a hot fire
was burning. She held out her hands
over the range. to warm them, and in
stantly the gas ignited, her clothing
took fire, and the whole room was in a
blaze. The gasoline which Mrs. Hazen
had been using at the sink took fire,
and ignited the woodwork.
Mrs. Hazens daughter-in-law, the
wife of Lyndon Hazen, was in the
kitchen when it happened. She seized
a piece of carpet and tried to throw it
around Mrs. Hazen, but Mrs. Hazen
ran out of the back door and down the
ing in flames. Mrs. Lyndon Hazen
rushed out of the kitchen the other
direction, and up stairs to call her
husband. Lyndon Hazen came down,
bringing a heavy portiere with him,
which he tore from a doorway as he
ran through. With this curtain he sue
ceeded in smothering the fire on his
mothers clothing, but in doing so,
burned himself badly below the knees
and on the hands
Mrs. Hazen was lying on the ground
by the back porch. Some. of the neigh
Dor women had wrapped blankets
around her. She was screaming and
Wailing in the most excruciating agony.
Chief Wilmarth at once directed that
she be taken into the house. the work
of extinguishing the fire in the kitchen
being quickly accomplished. Five or six
men carried Mrs. Hazen in through the
front door, and laid her on the bed in
the room next to the kitchen. There
some of the women tried to remove hel
clothing, which was still afire in some
places. To relieve her suffering, large
quantities of soda were placed on the
wounds.
Mrs. Hazen begged those standing
around to kill her. Il can't livei' she
will recover! Oh, what terrible pain!
Don't let me live and suffer this wayi
Just see that arml oh, I'm all burned
to pieces. 1 fought it, and roleld on it,
and couldn't stop it. 1t burned me up:
Let me stand up let me stand upi
can't lie herei" Her sufferings were so
pitiful that men wede moved to tears.
Mrs. Hazen broke away from several
men who were trying to hold her on
the bed and gained her feet on the
floor Just as her husband, Judge HaZen,
entered the room. The scene which en-
sued was very pitiful. Mrs. Hazen in
sisting that she was sure to die from
her injuries.
Meantime Lyndon Hazen was up
stairs attending to his own burns.
which were serious but not dangerous.
He refused all offers of assistance. and
sent everyone to the aid of his mother.
I'm not hurt much,'' he declared.
''You attend to mother. and get some
doctors for her.'
The damage to the house amounted
merely to the scorching of the wood
work around the sink and the almost
total destruction of a large clock which
hung above it. 1t was extinguished
with chemicals.
STATEMENT OF THE DOCTORS.
DR.. H. H. Kieth, who has been in
charge of Mrs. Hazen, said at noon to-
day:
Mrs Hazen's chance of recovery is
very slight. She is just about as badly
burned as it is possible for a person to
down below her waist. In some places |
skin, but the flesh, is slufflng off. Her
fingers are SO badly burned that her !
finger nails are coming off. Her condi- |
tion is very serious indeed"
DR.. Frank Martin, in charge of Lyn-
don Hazen. says: Lyndon is not dan
gerously burned, though his injuries |
are very painful. Both limbs are burned
and scorched below the knees, one foot
Aside from these burns, there are minor
burns on other portions of his body. He
will get well all right. however,
HOW THE FIRE STARTED.
Mrs Lyndon Hazen is the only per-
ginning of the terrible affair. She made