Fire Traps Sisters In Farm Home
VINITA, Feb. 7.—A flash fire that apparently started in the
room in which they were sleeping claimed the lives of three
children and destroyed the Roy Bennett farm home seven miles
south of here early Friday.
The dead are Elizabeth Angeline, 11, Violet Maxine, 9, and
Dora Mae, 8, daughters of MR. and Mrs. Roy Bennett.
Arthur Heard, a cousin of Bennett, was painfully burned in a
futile attempt to save the children. Six other Bennett
children, the parents, and Ross Bennett, a brother, escaped
uninjured from the blazing 12-room frame house.
Heard, the first awakened by the fire, aroused the others in
time to get out. The blaze was so fierce he was unable to
enter through the door to the downstairs corner room where
the three girls were sleeping in one bed. He then tried to
get in through a window from the outside, but it was locked.
The Bennetts had bought and moved into the home about a
month ago from another farm nearby on U.S. 66. County
Attorney George Pitcher and Sherriff W.H. Thomas said that
the house and all the Bennett’s belongings were destroyed.
A small heater which was left burning for the night was
listed as the probably cause of the fire. There was fire in
the living room, but it was believed to have caught in the
girls’ room first.
Funeral rites for the three will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday
from the White Oak schoolhouse where they were pupils.
From The Oklahoma, 2/28/1947
Donated by:
Emily Jordan
