Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1920-03-31
GAS EXPLOSION
AT DURN| HOME
LAMP IGNITES FUMES IN
CLOTHES DRYING PLANT.
HOUSE A WRECK.

ne francis Durni home on East
Cherry street was Quilted by fire re-
sultlng from gasoline explosion last
Wednesday night The house and IFS
1 contents are almost wreck but luck
! ily the occupants escaped without
scratch.
| Inc cause Of the fire is easily trae-
! ed. Leroy Durni, a son, in business
! a fennmore, used the premises TO
| oly clean clothing. The cleaning ma
cnlne proper was located in the barn
some distance from the house ana
tnls apparatus had nothing to do with
the nfe. In the summer kitchen at
tacned TO the house was installed 2
drying machine This consisted of .
boiler and necessary pipes leading to
a small galvanized iron cabinet known
as the dry ROOM The cleaned
clothing was brought from the clean
er III the barn and placed in the cab
met for drying by means of heat from
the boiler.
On the day of the fire Leroy was en-
gagged in cleaning. His mother was
at Fennlmore looking after the bust
ness and at home were the sisters.
Ena and Mrs. Albert Keller. and the
flatter's two children At sumner
time Roy was in the kitchen. Thomas
carroll, young friend, was out in
the summer kitchen with the DRIVING
apparatus hanging up a garment. so
ne says. A kerosene lamp was burn
ing in the little room. The garments
hung up for drying contained gaso-
/ line in suspension and the air was
heavy with fumes.
Suddenly there was a terrific ex-
! plos1on. The wall of the summer
kitchen was blown away and follow
ing 1t IN perfect time came Thomas
VINO landed on the sod outside dazed
put without scratch. In the house
Leroy heard the explosion He ran
TO the summer kitchen and found il
full OF smoke and flame. He rescued
/ what he could of the garments maxi
ing TWO trips and then attempted to
call central but was unable as the
wires were down. The alarm went in
minute later from a neighbours.
The neighbors came and assisted
the family in removing piano, book
case and some chairs. Soon the fire
department arrived and they worked
valiantly to extinguish the blaze and
prevent its spreading.
/ The fire was short but terfifically
hot. 100 feet north is the home of
VIM. Lorenz. Several times the roof
/ OF the house caught so hot it was. BY
1880 the fire was over The father
who was at his son Lloyd's IN Ellen
boro, and the mother at Fennimore.
were notified and the rest of the fam
/ lily went to Mrs. Keller's for the night.
The value of the building and fur
nlture before the fire was about
! $4,000. $4,000 insurance was carried
on both. The. upper part of the house
was spared and two bedrooms are in
tact. Leroy's loss in the drying room
was also considerable. He had two
mems suits, two ladies, coats, a silk
dress and pair of trousers that he
knows of. In addition to this the Pro-
| gressive Cleaners of this city had
numerous garments that they had
hired Leroy to clean for them They
! do not know their total loss.
/ 1t would be safe to place the loss
on the residence at nearly its total
value. The loss in furniture is about
$500. The loss in the cleaning appar-
atus and contents is around $1O0C.
The Durni home had recently been
! deliberately refnished in honor Of the
wedding of Leroy to a Delavan young
/ lady. Disastrous as the fire was the
wedding will proceed.
The morning after the fire a collec-
ton was taken UP around town to as
sist Messrs. Faye and Lorenz, the
/ cleaners, who lost considerable goods
/ belonging to customers. On Satur-
day Mr.. Durni and the local firm
made settlement for the losses sus-
| tanned by the latter parties.