KLISE, Mrs. John: Died 1908

KLISE, NIXON

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 12/19/2013 at 05:07:50

A FATAL ACCIDENT

WOMAN MEETS DEATH IN BURNING HOUSE

MRS. JOHN KLISE OF UTICA.

House Discovered to Be on Fire Middle Afternoon Saturday.
**Handwritten: d 31 OCT 1908

A frightful accident happened to the John Klise family Saturday afternoon by which they lost their large two story residence half a mile east of Utica and Mrs. Klise lost her life.

The Klises are old and wealthy residents of that part of the county. Saturday, Mr. Klise and his only daughter, Mrs. Nixon, went to Bonaparte, leaving Mrs. Klise alone at home. About 3 o'clock a peddler passed the Klise premises and noticed an unusual quantity of smoke issuing from the house. The peddler had not gone far when he met a neighbor and imparted to him that he suspected that there was something wrong at the Klise house because of the smoke. The two hurried back and by that time neighbors were coming from the opposite direction.

However by this time the interior of the house was ablaze and no one could enter it. A window was broken open in the front part of the building where it was thought Mrs. Klise might be and water was thrown in but no impression could be made on the cruel flames. The dwelling was destroyed in an incredibly short time and with it the wood house and other out-buildings.

As soon as possible search was made in the debris for the body of Mrs. Klise, and it was finally recovered. The head and both limbs and one arm had been burned off.

Parties immediately set out to meet Mr. Klise and his daughter and break to them the terrible and heartbreaking news.

Of course no one knows how the fire occurred. It is conjectured that Mrs. Klise had started a fire in the kitchen stove and then gone into the front room and laid down, she not being very well, and had fallen asleep. The stove stood near a partition which might have taken fire, and the fire gotten under such headway that when Mrs. Klise was finally awakened the smoke was so dense as to immediately overcome her and prevent her escape. The castors on the sofa were found in the debris near the body, which would indicate that she had been lying on the sofa.

Mrs. Klise was 72 years of age. Her husband came from the state of New York with his parents to this county in 1841. The owned a farm of about 200 acres, finely improved in one of the best parts of the county. They have only one child, a daughter, who is the wife of Alonzo Nixon, whose father was a wealthy neighbor of Mr. Klise. They were prominent people and are held in the highest esteem.

Funeral services were held at the Baptist church at Utica Monday at ?? a.m. and the remains were laid to rest in the Nixon cemetery.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book C, Page 379, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA