The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-04-04
SATURDAYS ACCIDENT
Particulars of the Sad Death of Mrs
Gallagher.

of the place. An explosion of gaso.
line vapor occurred in the rear rooms
of the house that was OF sufficient
force to carry out the east end of the
building. The entire room was in a
blaze in an instant and the unfortu.
nate woman who was working in the
place had no means of escape. She
fell at the side of the room where
the wall had been pushed out by the
explosion and was roasted to death.
Room Filled With vapor.
Mrs. Gallagher had been cleaning a
coat and had-washed it in solution
containing a large portion OF gaso-
line, probably several gallons. The
coat was thoroughly wet with the liz,
uid, absorbing all that it would hold.
Mrs. Gallagher took it out of the
washing machine and the bath of
gasoline and had hung 1t up in a
doorway to permit the gasoline to
drain out. 1t seems this is the man.
ner of cleaning this class of gar
ments. The place was small and
close and the evaporation of the gas
oline quickly and completely saturat,
ed the atmosphere of the rooms. A
ten per cent mixture of gasoline in
air becomes explosive if confined.
Explosion Follows.
A small gasoline stove sitting on
the floor was being operated in heat.
ing water. The gasoline vaporizing
from the dripping garments reached
the fame of this stove, ignited and
the explosion occurred The doors
and the windows of the place were
closed and the explosion of the vapoT
which filled the entire space of the
rooms carried out the end of the
building. The entire rear part Of the
building was instantly on fire. The
garment dripping with the gasoline,
the clothing of Mrs. Gallagher and
all other garments in the place were
and burned very rapidly, communi'
eating the fire to the wood work OF
the house.
The explosion was not loud and it
was not heard in the brick building
to the south, Mrs. Aliens Beauty Par
lors, where number of ladies were
engaged.
Explosion Heard.
Mrs. Elizabeth BarnheiZer who &C.
cupies the rooms next north of the
pantatorium, heard a dull sound fol.
lowed by the repeated screams of the
burning woman. She ran out of her
rear door and saw that the entire in
side of the house was in flames. The
lady called for help, tried to get into
the room but was driven back by the
fire and dense smoke that came pour
ing out. Several young ladies, oper
ators in the Home telephone office
who were in the front rooms, chanc
ed to be at the window. They heard
a crash; breaking of glass, and saw
a flare of smoke and flame. The alarm
was turned in Immediately and the
fire company, which had run OF
only two blocks, was on the ground
before the fire had any start to speak
of and the flames were out before
the house was much damaged by fire.
Rescue Attempted.
George w. Gordon, one of the fire
men, was at the telephone office
when the alarm was turned in and he
was at the place within minute fol
lowing the explosion. Mrs. Smith
and Mrs. Barnheizer implored him to
get Mrs. Gallagher out. He went in
to the rear of the burning rooms but
could not see her, the unfortunate
woman having fallen so that he
could not see her. He returned to the
air but again hearing that some one
was in the building penetrated the
rooms three different times, one time
f,,t,N OF ".
IRENE corner of the house. The last
time he made out the form of the
PROSTATE woman fairly sheathed in
fire lying up against the wall that
had been blown out. He could not
possibly reach the helpless victim
from the inside but ran to the rear OF
the building where were two closed
windows in the wall that had been
moved by the explosion.
Body Is Recovered.
In the meantime a crowd had
gathered at the front of the building
but only "a few had gone to the rear.
Rem Smith, a colored lad, hearing
that some one was in the building
thought of the rear, and breaking the
glass of a window, peered through
the flames and saw the foot Of the
PROSTATE woman, who had long since
ceased her screams. Will Gallagher
the sixteen year old son Of the wo'
man, was at the side of Smith. He
smashed the window and unmindful
of the fame and smoke that poured
fourth, started to enter the red hot
furnace into which the interior had
now been converted. Young Smith
had just time to grab the lad to pre-
vent what would have been a double
tragedy. Gordon had come to the
window now and Chief Gochee had a
stream of water playing in the room
Gordon crawled in and picked up the
woman. Willing hands were near to
assist and the form was pulled out
of the window. The skin and flesh
dropped from the feet and legs as the
body was lifted. The limbs gave a
couple of convulsive movements as a
blanket was quickly thrown over the
naked form, but life had fled some
time before. The corpse was taken
to the McCurdy undertaking place
for attention almost before the crowd
at the front of the building knew
what had occurred. The body had
been .frightfully burned excepting
where protected by thicker clothing
and on the side that was against the
Hnpr A Fau moro rnpmanfc' axpOS