Three Children Die in Seattle Fire as Father's Rescue Fails
A morning blaze destroyed John Simpson's Seattle home, killing three children asleep upstairs while Simpson and his wife escaped with their baby. Simpson was badly burned in several failed attempts to reach the children.
SEATTLE, Wash., Feb. 29. — Three children, Orpha Strader, Zoe Strader and Ray Simpson, perished in the flames which destroyed the residence of John Simpson early this morning. The children were sleeping upstairs. Simpson and his wife, together with a two-year-old baby, who were sleeping downstairs, escaped with difficulty. Simpson made several ineffectual attempts to rescue the children and was severely burned. The flames started in the upper part of the house from an unknown cause. Orpha and Zoe Strader were children of Mrs. Simpson by a former marriage.
“Simpson made several ineffectual attempts to rescue the children and was severely burned.”
The fire was a private tragedy, but it belongs to an era when wooden houses, kerosene and crowded sleeping arrangements made domestic fires a constant danger. Modern building codes and fire departments have changed the odds, yet house fires still turn ordinary mornings into catastrophe, and the image of a father trying and failing to reach his children remains immediate.
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