Newspaper

A Horrible Affair

Just before we go to press, through C. A. Van Ness, we learn of the details of a sickening disaster that occurred Sunday in Lincoln township (Sedgwick County)  whereby two men lost their lives and a woman was badly burned.  Mr. Ed Felter, who has been married but a short time, and who lives on a place adjoining Mr. Van Ness, where he has lived since 1871, was being visited on Sunday by his brother-in-law, a Mr. Knight, and his wife, from Harvey County, a few miles north.  About noon, during that high wind from the south, a fire was discovered rapidly approaching.  The brother-in-laws, with their wives, got the stock secured by which time the flames were upon them when the two men rushed behind a stable to pull out a new wagon.  While in the act the flames enveloped the stable and the two men fell from suffocation and were roasted alive.   Mrs. Knight, in trying to save her husband, was badly burned.  Mrs. Felter ran into the house, which in a moment was in flames, and from which she escaped unburned.  The whole affair is a horrible one, and another chapter to the sickening disasters that have occurred in different parts of the State this spring through the careless putting of prairie fires.  The fire swept over the entire township, destroying an immense amount of property, hedge fences, grain, hay, and buildings.  Mr. Van Ness lost several miles of four year old hedge and five thousand forest trees.  The farms of L. N. Woodcock and many others were badly damaged.  The whole affair is too horrible and sickening, and somebody should be made to suffer for starting these fires.  - Wichita Eagle.  Published in The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson KS.  April 3, 1879.  Page 2.