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Archiver > INMONROE > 2001-03 > 0984659093


From: Randi Richardson <>
Subject: [INMONROE] George W. Smith
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 07:42:14 -0500


Bloomington (IN) Daily Telephone, April 30, 1908, p. 4.

Because she thought her brothers and sisters were only playing
hide-and-seek with her, little Inez Smith, whose sad death was chronicled
in Wednesday's Daily, remained in the burning home and perished in the
flames. The children were all alone in the house when a stove door flew
open and hot coals flying about the room caused the whole inside to burst
out in flame.

The parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Smith, were out on the farm when the
terrible accident occurred and were not called by the children until too
late to save either child or dwelling. They reside two miles north of
Unionville and are former residents of Redkey, Illinois, where he was a rug
manufacturer.

The story of the death, according to one of the four remaining children, is
that the baby sister refused to run from the burning room as the others did
and when they coaxed her, tried to lay hide-and-seek with them by creeping
close to the death dealing flames. The children did not think to give the
alarm until the little girl had been suffocated and the house was past saving.

A frantic alarm by the parents upon their arrival called the neighbors
whose combined efforts succeeded only in getting little Inez' body out
after it had become an unrecoognizable mass. The sad funeral rites
resulting from the tragic affair are to be held Friday.

The bereaved famly have had more than their share of misfortune within the
past year. They came to Monroe County from Redkey, Illinois, a year ago,
the husband and father giving up a flourishing rug manufacturing business,
to live in the open for their health. They were victims of lung
trouble. Living in a 2-room cottage, they experienced many hardships and
this affair is a said climax to it all.

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