The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1918-05-02
BOY MEETS A
TRAGIC DEATH
HARRY Balm SUCCUMBS TO
BURNS SUSTAINED
TUESDAY 4
INSIDE FACTS
8 ARE UNKNOWN
Worked at the Palace Cleaners and
Accident Occurred in Absence
of the Proprietor

Harry Balm twelve year old boy,
son Of Mr.. and Mrs. j. S. Balm re-
iceived burns which resulted, in his
death a few hours later at the Palace
Cleaning shop on North Kansas ave-
nue., Tuesday afternoon.
Just how the accident happened will
likely never be known, although there
are many theories.
Persons who happened to be near
realized the danger when the boy
in mass of flames ran from the rear
Of the shop and into the street. Sew
eral went to his aid, among the num-
Der being Chas. Sealey, ]. A. Maddox,
F. o. Matkin and Mrs. T. L. Gray.
Maddox was among the first to
reach the boy and with the assistance
of Mrs. Gray and Mr.. Sealey sue
ceeded in smothering the flames with
an. auto lap robe. He was taken in an
automobile by M. C. Mann and hur-
ried to the Liberal Hospital where ev-
erything possible was done to relieve
his suffering, but it was at once ap-
parent that his injuries were such
that he could not live. He died about
z o'clock.
Mr.. Matkin was likely the first per-
son to see the boy. He was sitting
in the window of the Keystone hotel
as the Unfortunate Boy ran from be-
hind the building but from that dis
tance it was hard to see just what
happened.
A. B. Mitchell, proprietor of the
cleaning shop had gone to the bank
and there was no one present so the
facts as to how the fire started is not
known.
Mr.. Mitchell and the boy had fin
ished cleaning something like thirty
minutes before and the. clothes were
on the line Mr.. Mitchell says that
there is little chance that the boys
clothing contained gasoline, as the
clothes on the line were completely
dry. When Mr.. Mitchell reached the
shop there was small fire in the
covering of the table on which he
works, an open box of matches was
near by also the stick of burned
match. It is theory that the boy in
some manner got his. clothes afire and
ran into the yard. There were two
buckets near the hydrant, one of
which contained gasoline just drain
ed from the cleaning machine, and
some think that he either mistook the
bucket of gasoline for water and at
tempted to put the fire out with it,
or kicked it over in running and sat-
urated himself with the gasoline. Ap-
pearances are that his clothing was
pretty thoroughly saturated as he
was ablaze from head to foot when
he reached the street.
We are told that before he died
the boy admitted to his father that
he struck a match in the building,
and that it was all his fault. Mr..
Mitchell says that before he left the
work was finished and there was no
occasion for the boy to handle either
matches or gasoline.
While it is a regrettable affair it
would seem that no blame could be
attached to anyone.
just how severely the boy was
burned was revealed by visit to the
undertaking parlor where he was TAX
en- to be prepared for burial. The
face was not seriously disfigured, only
a couple of small blisters being ap-
parent. But the whole body was lit
erally cooked. Here and there a
small patch of skin remained, but
they were small and few. The cloth
ing was completely burned from the
~, h., +ba tiroa tho hIaZe was 0X-
tinguished. /,
Nothing so shocking has occurred
in Liberal for years and the accident
has been the chief topic Of conver-
sation since.
The fuenral was conducted from
the Methodist church this morning
at 1890 and the remains laid to
rest in the Liberal Cemetery.
Mr.. Sealey sustained severe burns
on the hands and arms in extinguish-
ing the fire.