A Father’s Desperate Dash Through the Flames
In Snohomish County, a father saved his three young children from a burning home just as the roof collapsed, leaving the family physically scarred but alive.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Three little children of J. J. Schmidt, of Snohomish county, narrowly escaped burning to death recently, having set fire to the house while both parents were absent. When the father reached the house, the youngest, one year old, was on the bed with the house in flames. He grabbed the child, and stumbling over the three-year-old boy, who was almost stifled on the floor with smoke, put them both outside the building. He entered again for the five-year-old who was under the bed, and taking her in a small trunk rushed out with them just as the roof fell in. Mr. Schmidt was now himself on fire, and by the aid of his wife extinguished the fire on his person, and as evening closed in, the little burnt family stood like mourners over the smouldering remains of what was once their home and their fortune. The baby's arm, neck, face and hair were badly burnt, but not fatally. The other two children were considerably injured by inhaling the smoke. Mr. Schmidt’s hair, beard, hands, and arms were badly burned.
“The little burnt family stood like mourners over the smouldering remains of what was once their home and their fortune.”
While this 1880 incident highlights the constant dangers of early frontier life, it mirrors the ongoing vulnerability of families in the Pacific Northwest, where home fires and the lack of accessible, safe, and fire-resistant housing remain a persistent struggle for many in under-resourced areas.
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