Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-28
MRS. PERSH|NG IS DEAD
IN FIRE AT ARMY POST
Wife OF Brigadier-General and Three
OF Her -Four Children Burned
to Death.
FATAL BLAZE IN THE PREsIDIo
Stricken Husband and Father. in
Command of Troops on Mexican
Border, Expected to Arrive in San
j. ..EranctsrosS SUNDAY. q SF,~- 'sNs$

81 70 ~ ~ sSl.e $3.50 ss-r.
SAN FRANCISCO august 91.-Mrs.
John j. rcrshins. wife Of Brigadicr-
General John j. Fershing. was burned
10 death with three of her four chill
drcn ai hcr quarters in tho Prcsidio,
San Francisco. early to-day The chill
drcn burned are Mary. Margaret and
Helen.
Warren rcrshul, five years old. sur
wives.
Explosion OF night lamp is believed
to have caused the tragedy Mrs
Pershing was daughter OF Senator
Warren. of Wyoming.
General PershinG. commanding troops
on tho Mexican border, left FL Paso
when informed OF the fire. lie will
arrive here OH Sunday.
Senator Warren will come from
Cheyenne. Wyo.
Warren was being cared for to-niGht
by nurses at the Lettermann General
Hospital At the Presdio lie was taken
there to-day when he was picked up
unconscious on the floor Of his bed
room by rcscuers who crawled through
the burning house searching for Mrs.
f'rshIne and her four children. War
ren revived quickly. The others were
dead when the rescucrs reached them,
suffocatcd. and their heads, hands and
feet burned.
The house occupied by the Pershings
was one of several old frame buildings
scattered about the main post.
MRS. PERsHING DEVOTED
TO HOME AND CHILDREN
General and Mrs. Pershine were mar
ried in Washington. January 26. 1905.
The general fought in the Indian wars
IN the early days and in the Spanish
american War. He became briCadier-
general in 1906. Mrs. pershing was
devoted to her home and children and
took an interest in suffrage and other
women's movements
The origin of the fire has not been
determined. Apparently il started in
the dining room Oh the first floor II
destroyed one corner. burned to the
roof and caused il to collapse.
Major Whitney. commanding the
Presidio, appointed board Of inquiry
10 report on the fire. The board found
that two CRATE fires had been burning
in the house last night.
Lieutenant W. .. Boswell. whose wife
escaped. is in Georgia on sick leave
Mrs. Boswell was the first to dis
cover the fire. She was aroused by the
'li'Nt. sNit dNtueu neT Cnllufell md
called to Mrs. Pershing. She took the
children to tho stairway. but found ii
cut off by fire. and retreated 10 the roof
of the front porch.
The noise OF the flames aroused sew
eral soldiers. who broke in doors, but
were forced back by the flames Then
Mrs. Boswell from the porch roof threw
her two children, Philip and lanes
three and six years old. TO the men
below and jumped herself She fell
in Il flower bed. wrenching her back
She was taken TO the Presidio hospital
FOUND UNCONSCIOUS
BY AGED NEGRO SERVANT
Warren pcrshing was found uncon- :
scious on the floor OF his room bv
Johnson" tho Pershings' aged negro
servant, who led II rescue party into
the house.
In the corner most burned the
rcscuers found Mrs. PcrshinE dead on
the floor with her arms across one OF
the children on the bed. On another
bed was another child; the third lay on
the floor. The bodies Of all were con-
siderably burned
a burst Of flame from the roof Of
the generals big two-story frame house
which stands on the parade ground
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