Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-02-03
DEATH
OF VIM. LIEHE
The Unfortunate Man Becomes I'm.
conscious in a Bath Tub and Hot
Water Fatally ScaIds Him.
AN OLD RESIDENT OF FERGUS
The Victim Of a Most Peculiar and
Horrible Aeeident-WeIl Known
in This County.

An unusually peculiar accident oc-
CURED last Thursday at midday in
the bath rooms Of William jenkins
barber shop by which William Liehe'
a Iaborer who has resided in Fergus
county for several years, was so bad
~ scaldcd that his death resulted
Sunday,
Liehe came into the barber shop
Thursday just about noon and asked
TO have a bath. Mr.. jenkins pre-
pared the water for him and then
went from the bath room to the shop,
where he resumed his work. A few
minutes afterward a cry. seemingly
as of a person in great pain, was
heard in the bath room; a moment
after a second cry was heard from the
same direction. and Mr.. Jenkins, his
assistants. and other persons in the
shop hurried into the bath room TO
find Liehe in the tub, unconscious,
body scaldcd in a most horrible man.
ner. and the boiling water from the
hot water faucet still pouring over.
and cooking his insensible form.
Liehe was removed from the tub
and taken at once to the city hospital,
where he received every aid posi-,
. Bile. but Sunday at noon, just three
days after the awful occurrence. he
succumbed to his injuries.
He was unable to tell anything
about how ii came about, and Mr.,
!: Jenkins is very positive that the wa,
Ter was properly tempered before
L.iehe entered the tub, SO that the
can only be conjectured. Liehe had
been drinking for several days be
fore. but was not drinking on the
day he was scalded. Persons around
the barber shop think that he may
have gone to sleep in the tub with
the water still running and that in
some way he closed the cold water
faucet with his lect. leaving the hot
water running; this may have been
the case as his feet were both fairly
cooked when he was taken oui of the
tub. Further. when he awokc il APP
pears that he made an attempt Ia
close the hot water faucet with his
bands. rs he still had hold of tho
faucet with his left hand when hC
was found unconscious in the tub
lie may have tainted while trying "a
close this faucet. all appearances
pointing toward this theory. His left
arm. shoulders and back. over which
the hot water was running when HI
was found. were cooked for a depth
of nearly an inch. and his feet ant
, ankles were in the same condition
While he was being taken from tho
, tub large pieces of skin sloughed of
! from the arm. ankles and other
places, and after he was moved t.
: the hospital it was scarcely possible
TO move the poor fellow without hav
ing pieces of skin and flesh fall away
from the cooked places. His suffering
was almost uncomfortable at first, but
later he became easy.
Liehe had been in Fergus county
about II years and had worked or
several of the large sheep ranches
He was employed on the j, ID. Waite
ranches near Utica for about five
years, He was a hard working man
and at different times had accumulat
ed quite a little property. At the
time of his death he owned some rea
estate in Lewistown and had SOM
money loaned at interest. He vas {
German by birth and was about 5!
years old. He served in the German
army AT the time of the Franco-Prus
/ sian war.