McLaughlin, adopted 13y/o girl died 1872

MCLAUGHLIN

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 8/31/2025 at 15:22:03

Clayton County Journal, 07 Aug. 1872.

A most distressing casualty occurred at the house of Matthias McLaughlin, five miles east of Strawberry Point one day last week. An adopted girl, 13 years of age, and a girl of more-than usual intelligence for one of her age, was left in the house to do the work. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon the little girl took a notion to build a fire, for what purpose it is not known, but she had evidently read in some newspaper about lighting fires with kerosene, so she got the kerosene can and applied it to the fire and no sooner had she done that than her clothes caught fire, and in an instant she was all in a flame. She rushed out of the house and ran about a hundred rods and when the old folks came up she was burned to a complete crisp and expired in a few minutes. The contents of the house were almost entirely consumed, and the house was only saved by the hardest of work. The two other children of McLaughlin's were fortunately out of the house at the time and were consequently saved -- The unfortunate girl was scarcely recognizable when found, and we hope this will be a lesson to all our readers that it is extremely dangerous to use kerosene in kindling fires. We are indebted for these particulars to Dr. A. B. Hanna.