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The Madison Daily Leader
Madison, Lake County, South Dakota
What is this article about?
Two daughters, aged five and six, of James Cochran burned to death in a tent fire near Mitchell on Oct. 20. The blaze, likely from an overheated stove pipe, occurred while their mother fetched water from Rock Creek. The family's possessions were destroyed; parents returned to Nebraska.
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Two Children Burned to Death in Tent Near Mitchell.
Mitchell, Oct. 20.—A very sad catastrophe occurred this morning about 9 o'clock up on Rock Creek, about six and one-half miles north of this city, in which two little girls were burned to death.
James Cochran is the foreman of one of the bridge gangs of the Iowa Bridge company which is constructing some bridges for Hanson county. Mr. Cochran has a camp up on Rock creek, where he is constructing a bridge across the creek. He brought his wife and two little daughters out with him to make something of a home for him during the summer and fall. They had a tent about twelve feet square where they lived, and in which they had a stove, the pipe of which went up through the top of the tent. The usual protection was afforded to keep the tent from catching fire from the heat of the pipe.
This morning, however, the dreaded accident came. The mother built up a fire, after the men had gone to their work at the bridge, a half mile away. She left the two little girls, who are five and six years old, to take care of the tent while she went to the river to get a pail of water. While she was gone the tent took fire, and in a very short time it was burned to the ground. Just how it was that the little girls were unable to make their escape is not known.
The men working on the bridge discovered the fire and headed by the father started for the camp, only to find the tent in ashes and the bodies of his two little daughters badly burned and charred, life being extinct. When the mother returned from the river it was to find her children dead and torn from her in a very short space of time. She was prostrated in her grief.
The supposition is that the pipe became overheated and set fire to the tent and that the flames spread so rapidly that the little girls became bewildered and could not make their way out of the tent.
Everything in the tent was burned, clothing, food supplies and all that the family possessed. A brother of Mr. Cochran came to town during the day and purchased sufficient clothing for the present.
The bodies of the children were brought to the city this afternoon and this evening the parents left for their home in Nebraska via the Omaha road.
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Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Rock Creek, Six And One Half Miles North Of Mitchell
Event Date
Oct. 20
Key Persons
Outcome
two little girls, five and six years old, burned to death; tent and all possessions destroyed; mother prostrated in grief; bodies brought to mitchell; parents left for nebraska
Event Details
James Cochran's family lived in a tent near Rock Creek while he worked on a bridge. Mother built a fire, left children alone to get water. Tent caught fire, likely from overheated pipe; children unable to escape. Workers, including father, arrived too late.