Newspaper clipping:

Two Young Girls Burned To Death

Mildred and Phyllis Sly of Comfort lose lives after pouring oil on fire

BROTHERS BADLY BURNED

“Aunt Mary, Kill Me,” Cries 10-Year-Old Child in Agony -- Buried at Forest Center.

Two girls, Mildred and Phyllis sly paid the death penalty at Comfort Sunday for the old-time error of using oil, poured from a can, to ignite a fire. On Tuesday the victims, aged respectively 17 and 10 years, were laid at rest in the cemetery at Forest Center. Two young brothers were also severely burned but despite their injuries, made heroic efforts to save the girls. They are being cared for at the homes of friends with good prospects of recovery.
Mr. and Mrs. John Sly reside at Comfort in the town of Weston. They are the parents of nine children. Mr. and Mrs. Sly joined a party of neighbors Sunday on a berrying trip, leaving Phyllis, the 10-year-old daughter at home with four younger children. Mildred, the 17-year-old daughter who was employed at the home of George Wade near by, came home in the forenoon to spend the day.
Preparing Dinner for Aunt.
Shortly before noon an aunt who is visiting in the neighborhood telephoned to Mildred that she was coming to take dinner with her. Without loss of time Mildred and Phyllis began to get dinner in an outside summer kitchen. Phyllis gave her attention to the preparation of the potatoes. The two older boys at home were playing in a corner and the two smallest lads were disporting themselves outside in the yard.
The fire not burning well, Mildred picked up a five-gallon kerosene can containing about two gallons of kerosene and poured the oil on the fire. The flames shot up the stream to the spout of the can, the contents instantly exploding.
The girls were immediately covered with burning kerosene and their clothes ignited. They rushed outdoors and Mildred fell about fifteen feet from the door. Phyllis with the clothing burned from her body, ran to meet her aunt, just arriving, and cried:
“Aunt Mary, kill me, quick! I am burning to death.”
Boys Did Their Best.
She fell near the road. Both girls were so terribly burned as to be beyond rescue. But the two little boys in the kitchen bravely made an effort. Their own clothes burning, they ran through the flames of the kitchen after their sisters. Then the older, Hugh, turning back into the kitchen, procured a basin, which as he afterward said, was red hot. this, as the marks on his flesh now show, burned him dreadfully. But he filled it with water, which he poured over Mildred.
Mrs. Louis Patnode and son Frank, who live close by, hearing the screams of the child, hurried to the scene. Other neighbors were quickly summoned and a physician from Elmwood called. The neighbors put out the fire in the kitchen and notified the parents, who, when they arrived, could not recognize their own daughters. Edward Eighmy and family of Forest Center, relatives of the Slys, were summoned and arrived in their car before the girls died.
Both Girls Conversed.
Both girls conversed with the family, relatives and friends for some time before they died. Mildred could not see but talked rationally with those about her. Phyllis’ body was burned more severely than Mildred’s and for that reason is said not to have realized the pain so greatly. Mildred apparently had inhaled the flames and her internal burns caused most of her suffering. The end came to Phyllis between 3 and 4 o’clock and Mildred passed away between 4 and 5. The parents are prostrated with grief and the calamity has brought a shock to the surrounding country.
The two boys, Hugh and Kenneth, aged 7 and 5 years, are terribly burned about the hands, feet and face, but will recover. They are now being cared for at the home of a neighbor.
The funeral of the two girls was held at 1 o’clock Tuesday afternoon from the Forest Center school house, the remains having been taken to the home of the girls’ uncle, Mr. Eighmy. Rev. Daniel Householder had charge of the services.4