The Dailey Courier, Connellsville, PA
Saturday Evening, August 29, 1914
FIVE FAMILIES MADE HOMELESS BY FIRE; TWO ARE DEAD AND A THIRD MAY DIE FROM BURNS - Matthew Hayes Only One of His Family to Escape Injury.
BLAZE CAUSED BY OIL STOVE
Explodes While Mrs. Hayes is Preparing Breakfast and Flames Trap Aged Woman and Child in Upper Floor; Mother May Not Recover.
Two persons were burned to death, two were injured, one of whom will likely die, and five houses totally destroyed in a fire which swept Indian Creek early this morning. Five families were made homeless. The fire was caused by the explosion of an oil stove in the home of Matthew Hayes which stood in the middle of a row of houses owned by the McFarland Lumber Company. THE DEAD. MRS SUSAN C. BOWSER, 65 years old, mother of Mrs. Matthew Hayes, MADELINE HAYES, 5 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Hayes. THE INJURED. MRS. SEVILLA HAYES, 22 years old, badly burned about face and body; condition critical. MABEL HAYES, 3 years old; painfully burned, but will recover. All of the injured persons were taken to the Cottage State Hospital the Duquesne Limited being stopped for that purpose at Indian Creek. The fire originated in the Hayes home shortly after 5 o'clock. An oil stove which neighbors say had not been working properly for several days past exploded as Mrs. Hayes was making breakfast. In an effort to extinguish the flames, Mr. Hayes threw a bucket of water on the stove which started the fire and caused it to spread rapidly. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes and their little daughter Mabel were in the kitchen at the time. This saved them from being burned to death. Mrs. Bowser, Mrs. Hayes's mother, and little Madeline were asleep upstairs. So quickly did the flames spread that it was impossible for anyone to reach the upper floors and save the two imprisoned persons. Mrs. Bowser is believed to have been rendered helpless from fright. She was seen at the bathroom window vainly endeavoring to raise it and escape. Little Madeline was also seen at a window before flames enveloped the whole house. The last person to see Mrs. Bowser alive was Mrs. Charles Thorpe. She says she saw the aged woman at the window and later she was seen struggling on the bed. For a time the entire town of Indian Creek was threatened, but the arrival of the Connellsville chemical wagon reinforced the local volunteers and the flames were thus checked but not until the entire row in which the house stood was totally destroyed. All of the persons living in the row with the exception of the Hayes family saved their household goods. The families made homeless and who are now being taken care of by their neighbors were George Warrick, Charles Thorpe, Simon Burkholder and Grover Widener. All of them not only had time to escape safely and save their effects, but to aid in fighting the flames. Indian Creek is without fire protection. It was early apparent that nothing could be done to save the row of houses owned by the McFarland Lumber Company, and efforts were then centered upon preventing the flames from spreading to other properties. As it was, some damage was caused in the home of Mrs. Lena Bigam and Bruce Miller, and two vacant dwellings, but it was not of a serious nature. One engine of the Indian Creek Valley railroad was used to pump water on the flames, and helped materially in preventing the fire from spreading. Had the wind been blowing down the valley the residents say the entire town would have been wiped out. Stickel's store and other buildings would then have been in the path of the flames. Fortunately the stiff breeze which blew carried the fire in a direction which did not seriously threaten property. Mrs. Hayes' condition is regarded at the hospital as serious. She was severely burned about the face, arms and chest, and her chances of recovery are further complicated by the fact that she is in a delicate condition. It was stated at the hospital that Mabel Hayes, who accompanied his wife and daughter to the hospital, had also been burned, but he did not require treatment. Mrs. Bowser, it was said, was subject to fainting spells, and it is believed that she was attacked with one of these when awakened by the flames, or the warning of those on the lower floor. One day during the fireman's convention here Mrs. Bowser had a spell in the West Penn waiting room and did not recover for an hour or more. Only the bones of the two victims resisted the flames, their bodies being almost totally consumed. The entire row of frame houses was laid in ashes. All of the furniture in the Hayes home was consumed. Great praise is given the Connellsville fire departments. Chief Haddock and his men performed splendid work and that for their efforts other houses would have been destroyed.
Obituary - Fire Victims' Funeral. The remains of Mrs. Susan Bowser and Miss Madeline Hayes, who were burned to death in the Indian Creek fire Saturday morning, will be shipped to Somerfield tomorrow morning on Baltimore & Ohio train No. 48. Services will be held at the cemetery at that place.