AN OLD MAN BURNED
Alex Blair of Burlington Tried to Make Gasoline Burn
BURLINGTON July 6 – Alexander Blair is today confined to his bed by a lot of horrible burns all over hi body received last Saturday. The old gentleman earns his living by selling oil and gasoline. He had sold some gasoline to Mrs. Tom Wiseman and it didn’t burn satisfactorily, so he was sent for to examine it. It seems that he drew the gasoline from the stove into a dish pan, and was experimenting with it when Mr. Wiseman’s little boy in some manner lighted it. The blaze at once rolled up out of the pan and spread over the entire kitchen. Mr. Blair then attempted to carry the pan out and received the burns from which he now suffers. The beard was scorched from his face, and he was very deeply burned about the face, neck, breast and on the hips and legs. The Wiseman boy was also slightly burned on the legs. Mr. Blair is in great pain, but his injuries are not thought fatal. The Kansas Semi-Weekly Capital, Topeka, Kansas. Friday, July 9, 1897. (c) Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.
