A Graphically Gory Letter-Frontier House Fire.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2017

A grisly and rather frightening frontier house fire letter, 2pp. 4to., written by John Martin Conger, Sugar Valley, April 2, 1854, in part: "…the old house that Whitton lived in was burnt to the ground last Friday night…two of the little girls was burnt with it. The oldest was seven and the other 4 or 5 years of age. The younger burnt all up, but the jaw…teeth and a hip bone or 2…the other's legs and neck and the fore part of the body was also consumed. The back, hart…liver and ribs was found next morning. There was none but the old woman at the home at the time. All the rest were to the exhibition…at the school house. There was about 20 or 25 persons theater. The alarm…broke it up…there was some running to get there. Marin May and I waded the swamps and 8 of the girls followed…the ground was in a flood. It had rained all the evening hard and about an hour before the fire. It was light enough to see every little limb…of the trees…some of the relations took it very hard…the children carried the fire up stairs when they went to bed. They undressed and was going to leave their dressed down. Their mother told them to take them up with them for fear some company might come in and they would not like to come down naked. They was…as;eel when Miss. Whitton heard one of the children scream. She run to the door and went to go up, but it was all in a blaze so that she could not get up. The blaze rolled down the stairs. She hollowed to the children to run out on the porch, but she said Oh, mother I cannot. She run in the south room to the south west corner and burnt to death. The mother took the baby and run to Uncle Moses barefooted. Her feet was in a blister of blood. Two of her nails [were torn] off. The children screamed and was heard when the boys got there…they have got up a subscription and got money enough to buy more things then they had before. The meat, wheat, corn and flower and sugar was all destroyed. The smoke house did not burn…John Martin Conger." Light soiling, else VG.

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