Evening star., 1930-06-02
MOXLEY TRAGEDY
LAID TO ELECTRIC
IRON LEFT IN PLUG
Glen Echo Fire Probe BareS
Owner Had Difficulty in
Shutting 1t Off.
ESTABLISHES ORIGIN
OF BLAZE IN KITCHEN
Lone Survivor Tells of Futile Eff.
forts to Rescue Wife and
Five Children.

A faulty electric iron, loaned by a
relative to press the Sunday dresses of
the little girls, today is believed to have
been the cause of the fire which early
yesterday morning wiped out the family
OF William Moxley, killing his wife and
fVe children in their home adjoining
the Glen Echo Amusement Park.
The iron was one which Mrs Katie
Moxley had borrowed from Mrs. Daniel
Etzler, niece of Mr.. Moxley and a
neighbor. Mrs. Etzler said today that
she has had considerable trouble with
the iron in the past, finding it difficult
to shut it of.
Mrs. Etzler believes the iron, after
being used by Mrs. MoxIey Saturday
night, was left attached to an electric
plug and not properly turned off. That
it slowly overheated and set fire to the
kitchen of the Moxley home long after
the mother and her children had gone
to sleep is the belief of Mrs. Etzler and
the family's only survivor, Moxley, who
Is night watchman at Glen Echo.
Three Children Trapped.
Montgomery County authorities have
definitely established the fact that the
blaze started in the kitchen of the
house, where Mrs. Moxley is known to
have done her ironing Saturday night.
Three children, George, IA: Bessie IL.
and Valinda, II, were sleeping in the
back part of the house, over the room
IN which the fire is believed to have
started. They had no chance to es-
cape. 1t is believed the flames, licking
hungrily up from the kitchen below.
suffocated them before they could fee
to safety.
Mrs. Moxley and the other two chill
dren, Gordon, 8, and Eileen, 8, suf-
located In the smoke and flames while
Moxley. who had jumped from a Sec
ond-story window. waited below the
window for Mrs. Moxley to throw the
children out and jump herself. After
the flre had been brought under con-
troll by fire companies from Bethesda,
Kensington and Washington, Mrs. Mox-
ley, holding the two younger children
IN her arms, was found dead few
feet from the window out of which
her husband had jumped. The bodies
OF the other three children were found
among the charred remains of the back
part OF the house. The floor of the
room In which they had been sleeping,
eaten away by the flames, had fallen
to the ground and the children's bodies
were burned almost beyond recognition.
Moxley did not escape unscathed.
He was badly burned about his left arm
and received many cuts in his jump.
de was treated at Georgetown Hospital.
Last Evening Described.
As his relatives in Maryland, with
whom Moxley has been staying since
the tragedy pieced the story together
from broken bits from the fathers lips,
the family of five children spent their
last evening together with their mother
enjoying bit of recreation at the park
where their father worked Through
his position at the park, Moxley had
seen to it that they all had passes for
the attractions.
The family went over to the gayly
lighted park happy in anticipation of an
evening of pleasure. George stopped by
the shooting gallery while Bessie and
Linda had fine ride on the roller
coaster. Gordon and Eileen were led
by their mother to the ice cream parIor.
Mrs. Moxley and the youngsters re-
turned home early and the children
were tucked away in their beds while
Mrs. Moxley busted herself with getting
their clothes ready for Sunday, using
the iron which Is believed to have
caused the fire.
Moxley said he was awakened about
an hour after returning by the sudden
dealization that he was smothering He
started up and looked about him but
could see nothing in the dense smoke
that filled the room. He aroused his
wife and admonished her to look out for
little Eileen and Gordon while he went
to the back of the house to look after
the other children.
Rendered Almost Unconscious.
Moxley ran to the bedroom door and
wrenched it open and was met by
tongues of flame, which swept through
the door and almost rendered him un-
conscious. Seeing that the rear part
of the house was mass of flames, in
which the three children must have
already perished, he turned back toward
the mother and the two youngest
children.
Katie. follow me-" he cried.
Bring the two children and follow
me-" he repeated.
Moxley, who had lost one of his arms
in a sawmill accident several years
ago, thrust his remaining arm through
bedroom window and kicked the sash
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