GORMAN, Thomas – Died 1896

GORMAN, CAREY

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 2/17/2021 at 11:55:26

Source: Decorah Republican Oct. 8, 1896 P 3 C 2

Burned to Death—Liquor the Cause. Says last week’s Waukon Democrat:— The news reached us Sunday of the accidental and horrifying death of Thomas Gorman and Matthew Carey, two farmers residing in Lafayette township, about seven miles south of Lansing. Saturday night the two men were seen by several of their friends at a lonely shanty in the woods about a mile north of the Wexford church. This was the home of Gorman, who was a bachelor, and a place where the young men of the neighborhood often gather to while away the evening hours. The men were last seen by Peter Rhinehart who left the cabin at about six o’clock. Gorman and Carey were at that time somewhat the worse for liquor and had a good supply still on hand. About nine o’clock, Tom Brennan, who was the nearest neighbor to the Gorman shanty, noticed that the building was in flames. He immediately gave the alarm, and, with a few neighbors repaired to the scene of the calamity. No trace of the two men was found about the premises, which fact gave rise to the dreadful suspicion that they were yet in the building, now a seething mass of coals and flame. This was soon verified by the discovery of the charred and disfigured body of Gorman. For some time no trace of the other man could be found, and it looked very much as though there had been foul play, until the removal of a sod wall which had caved in revealed the body of Matthew Carey. The coroner was summoned, but the inquest cast no light upon the manner in which the terrible accident was brought on. The general supposition, however, is that the two mon becoming hilarious upset the lamp, and were too much stupefied by the liquor they had drank to realize their danger upon the approach of the flames.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows Mr. Gorman died Sept. 26, 1896 and is buried in Wexford Immaculate Conception Cemetery.