John Danielson (-1894)

DANIELSON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 4/18/2011 at 22:23:12

From Story County Watchman January 19, 1894

Story City Herald: ....One of the saddest events we have ever been called upon to chronicle occurred at this place early this morning. At five o'clock the fire bell sounded an alarm and in a few minutes excited crowds of men and women were in the streets. The fire was discovered to be in the barn of John Danielson and, before anybody besides Mr. Danielson had reached th spot the whole structure was wrapped in falmes and in an incredibly short time was a mass of ruins. The being no water in the neighborhood, the firemen were powerless. The loss of he barn and contents--including one horse--counts but for little as compared with a greater disaster for, when the fire had partially died down, there in the smoking ruins lay the charred remains of John Danielson. Mr. Danielson, awakened by th noise hastily dressed and ran out to the barn, where he succeeded in untying two of the horses and getting them out of the burning building. What happened after this will never be known, but the body of Mr. Danielson, blackened by smoke and fire, his hands and feet burned entirely off and his flesh burned to a crisp, was found lying face upward only a foot from the door. He had probably started to leave the barn when being overcome by the smoke and flames, he dropped senseless to the floor. It may have been heart failure, or some like cause, but until all the mysteries of this world are revealed beyond the tomb the truth will never be known. What now remains of Mr. Danielson, once a kind-hearted traveling man, lies at the city hall awaiting the arrival of the coroner. In a few hours his body will have been given into the hands of the undertaker and prepared for burial. No one knows bow the fire started....