Three Perish 35 Routed by House Fires

Article taken from The Lima News, April 27, 1932

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Mother, Two Children Burn to Death, Another Dies of Excitement

Baby Thrown to Safety

8 Buildings Destroyed with Damage Estimated at $25,000

Portsmouth, April 27 --- A mother and two small daughters were burned to death and a man fell dead from excitement early today when a sweeping fire destroyed eight ramshackle houses in the east end of this city.

 

Mrs. Mary E. Bentley, 41, and her daughters, Edith, 9 and Luta, S. perished when they were entrapped by flames in their home.

 

Fred Buckley, 75, a spectator, collapsed from excitement during the height of the conflagration and died of heart trouble.

James Bentley, husband and father of the victims, was overcome by smoke and toppled off a porch.  He was rescued 35 HOMELESS

Ten families were forced to flee in nightclothing from their homes as the fire whipped thru the dwellings, causing damages that were estimated at more than $25,000.

At least 35 persons were made homeless and most of them, being in poor circumstances, will have to be cared for by the city.  Buckley's family already was being assisted by charity organizations.

Fireman were unable to learn what caused the blaze, it was announced after a search thru the ruins of the bentley home.

The houses were located in the extreme east section of the city, adjacent to the N. & W. terminal.

The fire started in the attic of the Bentley home, firemen said.  It spread so swiftly from one home to another that by the time firemen had arrived at the scene they were almost helpless to bring it under control.

Becoming excited as the flames began eating at her home, one woman, Mrs. Olive Grooms, threw her seven-month-old child out of a second story window into the arms of Walter Nickles.  The child was uninjured.

Practically every fire department in the city was called to the scene to combat the raging fire which demolished the houses like paper boxes.

BODIES RECOVERED

When it was feared that the flames could not be quelled by local firemen, fire departments were called from New Boston and Sciotoville.

The charred bodies of the two little girls and their mother were taken at once to a morgue where the frantic father and husband attempted to make funeral arrangements.