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Obituary- Page, Adra

The Fatal Match
That was a shocking affair, the burning of the barn of W. W. Page on the old John A. Lauck place, 9 miles northwest of Rossville, at noon June 25th. Mrs. Page was preparing dinner and smelling fire she went out to find her three children, Adra, aged 5 years, 6 months and 4 days, Lottie, age 4 ½ years, and Marcellus, age 2 past. She found the barn was on fire, and believing the children were in the barn she began to call pitifully for them. After continued calling she saw the little boy crouching out of the choking smoke, and wrestling him to a place of safety, she rushed back for the others. She saw far in among the burning contents what she took to be the form of Lottie, which proved to be correct, and she brought the child out in al all but suffocated condition. The eldest child, Adra, she could not find, but after the barn and contents were consumed, all that remained of the child were found in a sitting posture, with hands over face as though attempting to beat back the flames. Adra was a good sized girl for her years but the little bundle of shrunken, charred remains, hardly recognizable, went easily into a little casket hardly two feet long. Mr. M. Reser, Mr. Page’s father-in-law, 4 ½ miles south, got out to the fire only to find his little granddaughter, Adra, dear to him, a little smoldering cinder. He hastened to St. Marys to get a casket of Undertaker Helm, and then hastened back to render what further assistance he could. In taking some corn and hay out to Mr. Page’s the following Monday, Mr. M. Reser’s wagon was overturned and he received serious injuries in the back, disabling him from further work, and for a time it was feared there was internal injury which might prove fatal.
The funeral of Adra occurred at the Rossville M. E. church the next day. In going into the barn to play, Adra climbed up the ladder into the hired men’s sleeping quarters, and seeing a man’s vest hanging up she looked in the pockets and said, “Here are matches.” She struck one of the matches and called down to her brother and sister that the match was burning her fingers. The match did its fatal work rapidly, and the child must have fallen down into the manger, where the remains were found.
Four horses were in the barn, only one of which escaped. Some 850 bu. of corn, 4 tons of hay, 3 sets of harness, a buggy, spring wagon and a cultivator were also destroyed. In fact, none of the traps in the barn were got out. The loss was about $1,000.
In the very sad and severe loss, the neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. Page did everything in their power to soften and alleviate their sufferings. Adra was much beloved, and in their sore affliction the parents and grandparents have the tender sympathy of this entire community.

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