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Ogle County
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Buried Alive for 8 Hours.
Albert Fixter had a thrilling experience near Grand Detour, Ogle county. He was digging a well on the farm of James Warner and when down 30 feet the earth caved down on him. After being buried for 8 hours he was rescued alive. A flagstone had lodged above his head and supported the dirt that would have certainly crushed him to death. He was much weakened and bruised. [The Newton Press, Jasper County, IL, July 19, 1893, submitted by K. Torp]

THE ROCHELLE HERALD
Rochelle, Ogle County, Illinois
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1930
Vol. L. No. 16

Father Fails in Frantic Effort to Save Babies

Flames which early Sunday morning swept the humble boxcar home of Ira Himes, local railroad section worker, at Oregon, snuffed out the lives of three of his four children in one of the most gruesome tragedies ever recorded there.

The dead are:

PAULINE HIMES, age 5
BETTY JANE HIMES, age 2 years
ETHEL MARIE HIMES, age three weeks.

Himes and his wife escaped from the seething furnace which had been their home, by climbing through a small window above their bed. In the terror of the moment, Himes forgot the three weeks-old infant which had been sleeping by their side. Outside he realized that his three children were burning to death and then came the horrible realization that he had locked himself out, the door having been bolted from the inside. By the time he smashed the door down, the angry flames defied every effort he made to snatch the three children to safety. Clinton, age 4, a fourth child, is alive today because he spent the night at the home of an aunt, Mrs. Maude Behrends, on Fifth Street. E. J. Miles, C. B. & Q. night operator, summoned the fire department, but down on the tracks no water was available and there was little to be done. From the smoldering ashes the firemen raked a handful of whitened bones that had been one of the children, the blackened torso of another, and the seared body of the infant. Monday afternoon the heartbroken parents stood at a single grave in the cemetery at Lighthouse—the final scene in the tragedy. Brief services were held from the Farrill Undertaking parlors at Oregon, the Rev. E. Y. Knapp officiating. Sunday afternoon a coroner’s jury composed of John S. Samey, William A. Beck, Albert Selfarth, Seiger Cirksena, Charles Reed and Harry Camling, heard from Himes, the story of the fire. Himes told how he had retired about 1:30 p.m. , first banking the fire in the stove. He described the interior of the boxcar home which consisted of only one room and was plainly furnished. He and his wife and the infant, he said, slept in one corner of the room, while the other two children slept in the opposite corner. Above the bed in which he and his wife slept was a small window which he opened part way for ventilation and this, he believes is the only reason he and his wife are alive today. Had the window been closed he is certain they would have suffocated in their sleep. It must have been two hours later, he testified, when his wife, aroused by the gas fumes, awoke him. The entire room was already in flames. Swiftly he aided her in escaping through the window. Then he crawled out himself. He told how he was forced to batter down the door----the only entrance to the structure, and how he tried to get to his children. In his attempts to reach them his feet were badly burned. He expressed the belief that the children died from suffocation and that their bodies were then consumed by the flames. Accumulation of gas in the tightly checked stove, authorities believe, l may have caused a minor explosion which possibly forced open the door and scattered embers about the little room which quickly set fire to the fixtures and furnishings. Sobbing, Himes told the jury that he and his family had lived in the little boxcar home for six years and that all of his four children had been born there. He never dreamed, he said, that it could thus be turned into a death trap. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict finding that the cause of the death of the three children was from suffocation and burning.
Contributed by Pat Esterday - g.esterday at comcast.net

HARRISON TO CELEBRATE 100TH BIRTHDAY

Glendale, Ariz. - Margaret Harrison, of Arizona, will celebrate her 100th birthday this Saturday with a visit from family members. She was born Nov. 15, 1906 in Dixon. Margaret’s mother was Gertrude Odenthal Snellenberger. Margaret’s father died when she was a young child. Margaret graduated from John Marshal High School in Chicago in 1923. She married Joseph Bernard “Red” Harrison in June of 1929 at the Methodist Church in DeKalb. Margaret and Red owned and operate Stone Harrison’s Grocery Store on Lincoln Highway in Rochelle for many years before they moved to Phoenix, Ariz., in 1956. Most people will remember Margaret from the store. She and Red were always willing to help folks out in their time of need during financial hard times. They left many friends and family in the Midwest when they moved for Red’s health. Margaret worked until 1971 when she retired from the Glendale School District. She worked in the food service cafeteria cooking and serving to all the students who loved her. The “Big Bash” will be Saturday, Nov. 18 from noon to 5 p.m. All six of her children are expected to attend, as well as her nine grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. Family members will be coming from Rochelle, California, Oregon, Germany and France. There will be a light lunch served and lots of games for all ages. There will be no surprises as she has been excited for months about her birthday. She says she always knew she would live to be 100. Margaret still lives on her own. Her son, John, comes from Los Angeles every two weeks to spend time with her and help her out. She gave up driving at 90 and prefers to watch NASCAR instead of being behind the wheel of a car. Margaret now resides in Glendale, Ariz.

Taken from: Rochelle News-Leader, Rochelle, Ogle County, IL., Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006, Page 8 – Sect. 1 – Col. 1-4 (Contributed by Pat Esterday who says: "Margaret is my 1st cousin once removed. My father, Paul Lower, and Margaret were first cousins.")

This accident occured in Lanark, Carroll Co IL - but the parties killed lived in Ogle County..

ACCIDENT NEAR LANARK
Two Girls Run Over in a Buggy by a Milwaukee Train.

A terrible accident occurred at a crossing o n the C. M. & St. P. railroad near Kittredge and Lanark Thursday [04/03/1902] might at about 9 o’clock which caused the death of three persons, two young women and a young man of 17.
The Misses Shipman, aged 17 and 19 years, were being driven home to Brookville by Earl Kahl, they having been at Shannon during the day taking a teacher’s examination. At the crossing mentioned their rig was struck by the fast mail train, running from Savanna to Chicago. Both the young women were killed outright and the boy received injuries, from the effects of which he died at Lanark Friday. The horses were killed and the buggy demolished.
An inquest was held Friday morning and the remains of the unfortunate young people were taken to their homes.
Young Kahl was the son of Henry J. Kahl, a well-known resident of Brookville, and a brother-in-law of F. W. Heofer, of Freeport. His funeral will be held Sunday morning at 10 o’clock. [The Sterling Evening Gazette, April 5, 1902, page 4, column 1, Contributed by Larry Reynolds]

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