The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-04-08
CHARRED BODIES
FOUND IN ASHES
Bodies of Two Fire Vic
TINS Are Found in
Ashes.
BURNDD TO A CRISP


and Willie Wells, aged two and one
half and one and half years, respec-
lively, were found in the ashes of the
home of Mr.. and Mrs. Fred Truebner
on the Wood road about one mile west
of Kenosha, after a fire started by a
kerosene stove in the kitchen of the
home just before three o'clock We'd
nesday evening had burned the house
to the ground. The bodies were burn
ed to crisp and were found by Police
Officer William Schmitt and John Ortiz
about four o'clock in the ruins of the
kitchen, where the children had been
left by their grandmother, when she
went to a neighboring house on an
errand.
The charTed remains of the two
children were brought to the Hansen
morgue in Kenosha where they were
prepared for burial Edwin Block, a
boarder at the home, who awoke from
his sleep to find the house in flames,
was badly injured when he leaped
from second story window of the
house to the ground. Mrs. Truebner,
the grandmother Of the children was
badly burned about the face and hands
when she attempted in vain to rescue
the children from the flames.
The two children, who lived with
Mrs. Tony lori, 825 Erie street, the
mother of the older child, were spend
ing the day with their grandmother.
Mrs. Fred Truebner. The latter had
occasion to go to the home of John
Orth, across the road from the Trueb-
ner house and had left the children in
the kitchen of the home.
She declared that she had turned
down the fire underneath some vege-
tables she was cooking. 1t is believed
however, that the kerosene stove ex-
ploded and that the children not rea~
lizing their danger were trapped by
the flames. The smaller of the chill
dren, according to one rumof was
fastened securely in a high chair
so that it would not toddle into dan
ger while the grandmother was away
on her errand.
Boarder Awakened by Flames
Edwin Block boarder who is en-
ployed for night work at the Macomb-
er-White Rope company, and who was
sleeping in his room on the second
floor of the home was awakened by
the cracking timbers and found his
room filled with smoke. Realizing his
danger he jumped out OF the window
Of his room and was badly injured by
the fall. Not knowing that the chill
dren were in the burning building and
since the flames had already envelop-
ed the house, he made no attempt to
enter but fastened to summon help
from the neighbors. The grandmoth-
err was the first to arrive on the scene
and bring the word that the children
were trapped in the burning kitchen
of the house The two tried time and
again to enter the burning building
but were blocked each time by a wall
Of smoke and flame. Mrs. Truebner
finally fell from sheer exhaustion af-
ter she had been severely burned about
the hands and face in her attempts to
save the lives of the victims.
All Attempts Are Futile.
The blaze attracted large number
of people from Kenosha and from the
countryside but they were powerless
either to combat the flames or to
make any effectual attempts to rescue
the children. 1t is believed that the
two babies were suffocated shortly af-
ter the fire started as the position of
their. bodies showed that they had
never found their way out of the
kitchen of the house.
The grandmother, almost in dis
traction because of the tragedy, de-
clares that she was not away from the
house more than fifteen minutes and
that everything was in the best of con-
dition when she left the home.
The house and all of its contents
were completely destroyed and it is
declared that the loss, none of which
is covered by insurance, will reach
more than $1,000.
The whole city was shocked by the
first news Of the tragedy which was
carried in the latter half of the reg
ular edition of the Kenosha Evening
News on Wednesday evening and which
spread quickly over the entire city.
No definite arrangements have yet
been made for the burial of the charred
bodies of the victims of the fire,
but it is probable that the services
will be held Friday afternoon from the
Hansen chapel with interment follow
ing in the Green Ridge cemetery.
Tells Graphic Story of Tragedy.
A milkman by the name of Hansen,
residing near the Truebner home, told
Fire Chief Schwartz a graphic story Of
the pathetic death of the two children.
He was the first man to go to the home
after the fire was discovered. He went
to the door Of the house and when be
opened it he saw the smallest of the
children sitting in a high-chair only
three feet from the door. Il reached
for the child" Hansen told Chief
Schwartz, "but l failed to get hold Of
him and it seemed that the fire spread
so rapidly that I could not go into the
house" Hansen declared that he saw
the other little boy standing near the
window and that when he went to
make an effort to rescue him, he saw
him fall back, overcome by the fire.
The children, according to Hansen,
were horror stricken and they made
plaintive appeals for rescue.
Block Went Back for Clothes.
The fire chief also learned from Ed
ward Block that after he first escaped