1963 — Jan 20, Home fire, thought related to coal stove, kills family, Calhoun, OK — 8
–8 Associated Press. “Fire Kills 8; Bride is Victim.” Ada Evening News, OK, 1-21-1963, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Jan 21: “A wedding day fire swept through a small tar paper-covered house in the remote eastern Oklahoma mountain community of Calhoun Sunday [20th] killing a family of seven and a 14-year-old bride-to-be. The victims were Bert Brown, 67; his wife, Maggie, 49; their five children — twins Carl and Shirley, 12; Gary, 17; Terry, 10, and Johnnie, 8, and a visiting neighbor girl, Christine James. Neighbors said Gary and the James girl were to be married Sunday.
“Theories to the cause of the fire — one of the worst residential blazes in the state’s history — centered around a coal stove in the front room of the four-room frame house. LeFlore County Sheriff Hosea Austin said the blaze may have started when coals from the stove spilled onto the wooden floor. Neighbors said Brown had a habit of overfilling the stove on cold nights. The temperature dropped to 8 degrees during the night. A relative, James Montgomery, who once lived in the house, said he had had trouble with a stove flue slipping from its connection. County Atty. Cull Bivens theorized the wobbly stove flue may have set the roof afire.
“The fire was first noticed by A. W. Copeland, a night watchman at a store across the street from the Brown home. He said he awakened and saw the house afire ‘from end to end.’ Since there are no telephones in Calhoun, a remote community of about 15 families, Copeland sent a neighbor to the nearest telephone — at the town of Shady Point nine miles away — to sound the alarm.
“It was 90 minutes after the fire started before first word reached Poteau, 14 miles to the southeast. Poteau firemen decided it would be useless to send firefighting equipment, the sheriff said. When Austin, Bivens and other officers arrived at the scene only smoldering ruins were left of the house.
“Brown’s body was found near a rear window, indicating he might have tried to escape. A daughter’s body was found near the front door. The other bodies were in the beds. Authorities said one of the house’s three doors was blocked by a bed….” (AP. “Fire Kills 8; Bride is Victim.” Ada Evening News, OK, 1-21-1963, p. 1.)
Source
Associated Press. “Fire Kills 8; Bride is Victim.” Ada Evening News, OK, 1-21-1963, p. 1. Accessed 3-2-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/ada-evening-news-jan-21-1963-p-1/