DeCamp, Elmer

DECAMP, STURGEON, MOORE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 5/2/2011 at 13:14:58

The Grinnell (IA) Herald; Feb. 11, 1919

HELPLESS FIRE BURNS

E. DeCamp, Living Two Miles North of Town, Has Terrible Experience.

IS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS BY FRANK STURGEON

Had Knocked Lamp From Table And Fire Had Burned Through the Floor.

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Taken with the dread paralytic stroke, alone in a farm house with a kerosene lamp slowly burning a hole in the floor, E. DeCamp, a prominent farmer living two miles north of Snow's Corner, underwent a terrible experience last Friday night.

Mr. DeCamp, who lives alone on his farm had made a sale of some hay to Frank Sturgeon and it was this that called Mr. Sturgeon to the DeCamp home. He knocked and received no answer, and started an investigation. The lamp had been knocked from the table, all the papers on the table were burned and scorched and a hole in the floor was evident. Mr. DeCamp was sitting in a chair near the table unconscious. A big blister on one of his feet testified to the nearness of the blaze.

Medical assistance was at once summoned and Mr. DeCamp was taken to the city hospital where he is at the present time.

How Mr. DeCamp reached the chair he was sitting in when found and how the fire was extinguished will always remain a mystery.

Mr. DeCamp lost all power of speech and was unable to give any story of the accident.

Mrs. John Moore was summoned from Des Moines and came at once and his son, Will, is now on his way from Oklahoma.

Mr. DeCamp lingered until this morning when he died about 9:30 o'clock.