The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-25
THOSE ALIVE HAVE
CHANCE FOR LIFE
Some One of Adults Prob
ably Tried to Boil Some
Coffee During the Night
and Left the Gas Running.

Two persons were asphyxiated and
two others are at the City hospital as
the result Of breathing in gas fumes in
a two-room fat on the second story OF a
tenement block at 10 Merchant street to-
day.
The Dead.
ARTHUR KEEzER, aged so, Webster.
vile.
JOHN SMITH. aged 6, Barre.
Those who were taken to the hospital
were Mrs. Mary Il. Smith and Frank
Mitlin, both of Barre. The doctors say
that they have a chance to recover
The tragedy was discovered at about
l0:30 o'clock this forenoon but not until
some time after gas had been detected in
the building, which is occupied by many
families, it being the old Jackman house
enlarged and remodeled. The family Of
Frank Fernandez were the first to detect
the gas at $3.50 when they arose. They
notified A. Tomasi the owner of the
building, and he came and traced the gas
to the fiat rented by Mrs. Smith. Tn
locking the door he was met by rush of
gas which was escaping from a small gas
stove. The windows were all tightly
shut and the rooms were filed with the
gas although the flow had been nearly
exhausted from the 25-cent meter.
AS soon as possible the windows were
opened and as much fresh air as possible
was introduced into the fiat.
But it was a CHASTITY sight which met
the eyes of Mr. Tomasi and the tenants
H,,s1 IL L.,I 4-J
lounge in the first of the two rooms
lay Keezer with the pallor of death upon
him. In the nextroom were Mitlin, Mrs.
Smith and the six-year-old child. The
child was dead but there were signs of
life in the others.
The police station was notified at
about ii o'clock, Officer Henderson re-
spending, apd being followed shortly by
Chief Sinclair. Doctors were summoned
and they responded as soon as possible,
Drs Lazell, Stewart, Goodrich and Stick
ney coming the last-named being the
city health officer First aid was given
to the living and soon Mitlin and Mrs.
Smith were removed to The hospital.
States Attorney Davis was later called.
The Smith woman, Mitlin and the
child, who, by the way, was an Italian
boy who was taken in charge by Mrs.
Smith when one of his parents died re-
Gently, were occupying the bed in the
small room off the entrance room. Keez-
er, who lay in the first room, was fully
clothed except as to his coat and hat.
His hat was on a table and his coat lay
across chair in the same room. Mitln
had been living in the fat, according to
tenants in the building
On the gas stove was a pot of coffee,
and it is presumed that someone, prob
ably Keezer, had endeavored to boil some
coffee when the gas fame went out, al
lowing the free gas to escape into the
rooms II is possible that Keezer may
have become sleepy while waiting for
the coffee to boil and that while he slept
the fame went out.
Mrs Bridget Butler, who occupies
fiat just under the death chamber, says
that at about o'clock she heard a ehild's
voice crying and other tenants in the
building report that they heard a person,
evidently a man, stumbling up the mar
row stairs at an early hour this morning
Probably this person was Keezer The
man had been seen in the basement of
the building last evening, and it was said
that he was somewhat intoxicated.
Keezer was well known in Barre and
the quarry district, having been employed
on the quarries and also as a section
boss on the local railroads He made
frequent visits. to Barre and had been
stopping in the city recently, it is under
stood.
Chief Sinclair and States Attorney
Davis made a hasty search of the prop
erty in the rooms Among the articles
found were two life insurance policies,
one of which was made out to John p.
Smith. Besides the coffee on the stove
there was a pitcher of milk on a table
and, of course, the other usual articles
for ordinary housekeeping. Underneath
a sink was q considerable quantity Of
bottles in various stages OF emptiness.
Net much is known of the regular oc-
of the fiat, the woman being
known TO some of the tenants as Mrs.
Smith and Miss Smith, No one seemed
to know anything about the little brown
haired boy except that he had come there
to stay after one of his parents had died
during the epidemic last fall. Mtlin is
said to be a granite worker His work
ing clothes were hanging in the room
where lay the body of Keezer
The body of the last-named was
stretched full length with his head, shoul-
ders and body resting ON the lounge and
his feet on the floor. His left arm rested
on the lounge and his right was partially,
in midair, the position into
which it went as he slumped down on the
lounge, The boy lay fiat on his back in
the bed in the adjoining room, covered
with bed clothing,