COUNTRY HARBOR MINES, Jan 17 -
Flames that destroyed the three-room
bungalow
of Mr. and Mrs. Parker Gay
here at 11:30 this morning claimed
the lives of
three of their children, a fourth escaped the fate
of her
brother and two sisters.
The dead are:
Stewart, 4 years.
Joyce, 2 years.
"Tiny", one year.
Thelma, 6, is the only survivor among the four children;
it was she
who fled from the house
when Stewart's clothing became ignited,
and ran
a few hundred yards
to the home of her uncle, Garfield Hodgson,
where
her mother had gone,
and raised the alarm.
According to the story told by Thelma,
the little boy had been playing
at the front opening of the kitchen stove,
and his clothing had ignited
and burst into flames.
Mrs. Day, accompanied by Mrs. Hodgson
raced to the scene over the
slippery road across the fields;
but they arrived too late.
The frantic
mother sought to beat her way through a window.
Her hands were severly
slashed by the breaking glass.
Even when greeted by flames which licked
out,
she continued efforts to reach her children.
Her face was painfully
burned.
Francis Hayne, the only man then in the vicinity,
who joined
neighbors at the fire when the alarm spread,
also tried to enter the
doomed house,
but was driven back by dense smoke.
They had to stand and
see the building reduced to a pile of debris.
When some hours later the charred bodies were recovered,
grouped
together, it was apparent they had left the kitchen,
where the boy's
clothing had ignited, and had been trapped in the bedroom.
Tonight an inquest was held in the uncle's home,
Vincent MacKeen,
Aspen, presiding.
A verdict of "accidental death" was returned.
Members of the jury were Archibald Hingley (foreman),
Mrs. Oswald
Hudson, Wilmer Hodgson, Mrs. Fred Hayne,
Mrs. Garfield Hudson, Edgar
Jordan, Lawrence Hallett, Mrs. Sadie Barkhouse,
Mrs. Murray Hodgson,
Mrs. G. Jones, Harry Hodgson and Mrs. McR. Hayne.
Representatives of the Sherbrooke R.C.M.P. detachment attended.
The mother was unable to attend, being still under the affect of
sedation
supplied to ease her suffering from the severe burns,
but she
is expected to recover.
Tonight the father arrived home from Pictou
where he was employed in the shipyards.
The remains of the three little victims rest tonight in the Church of
England,
and the funerals will be Wednesday.
The Gays moved here about
seven years ago.
Mr. Gay is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Gay,
his father
living in Cape Breton and his mother now residing here.
Mrs. Gay is the former Miss Lillian Stewart,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
George Stewart, Ashville, near Stellarton.
Thanks to George Newbury for this obituary.
