3 newspaper articles

# 1 - - from the Pilot-Tribune, January 10, 1935

WOMAN BURNED FATALLY WHEN LAMP EXPLODES

MRS. LESLIE B. THOMPSON, 26, VICTIM OF ACCIDENT NEAR BLAIR

VICTIM DIED WITHIN 2 DAYS OF ACCIDENT

WIFE OF BLAIR DAIRYMAN FATALLY HURT AS LAMP EXPLODES FRIDAY; WINDOWS OF HOUSE SHATTERED BY FORCE OF DEAFENING EXPLOSION

Terribly burned when a gasoline lamp exploded directly in front of her last Friday morning, Mrs. Leslie B. Thompson, 26, wife of a Blair dairyman, died at Court View hospital at 2:30 Sunday morning. She had lived only 36 hours after receiving third-degree burns.

According to Mr. Thompson, he had brought a gasoline lamp into their farm home just southwest of the Blair golf course at breakfast time Friday, and set it on a small kerosene stove in a pantry, adjoining the kitchen, not knowing the stove was being used.

Mrs. Thompson, however, had just turned the stove on. When she walked through the doorway from the kitchen to the small pantry, the lamp exploded with a deafening roar that was heard in Blair two miles away.

The force of the explosion blew out all the windows of the house and scattered flames over the pantry.

CLOTHING CAUGHT FIRE

Her clothing enveloped in flames, Mrs. Thompson rushed screaming out of the house. Her husband dashed after her, jerked off the blazing clothes, wrapped her in a blanket, and sped towards the hospital with her. His hands were burned painfully.

While speeding into town with his injured wife, he met Blair firemen answering a call to his farm. Firemen put out the flames before they had done much damage. The explosion was more disastrous to the house than the fire, they said. Large pieces of glass from the windows were found as far as fifty yards from the house.

Mrs. Thompson’s condition was so serious that attendants held but little hope for her recovery. Her death was not unexpected.

A NATIVE OF BLAIR

Mrs. Thompson was born in Blair March 25, 1909, as Ruth Compton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Compton. The early part of her life was spent at the Compton farm four miles north of this city.

Following her graduation from Blair high school with the class of 1927, she attended Dana College for one year. She was married to Leslie B. Thompson of Blair May 25, 1928. To them were born two children, Lila Jean aged 6, now a first grade pupil at Central School, and Peggy Ruth, aged 4 months.

Possessed of a sunny disposition, Mrs. Thompson was loved and admired by all who knew her. Always a home lover, her presence will be sadly missed, not only by her family but by her many friends. The unusually large attendance at the last rites were truly indicative of the respect in which she was held.

Of the immediate family and relatives, survivors are the husband; the two small children; the parents; one sister, Betty June Compton; two brothers, Gilford of Boise, Idaho and Gifford, who lives at the parental home.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Blair Methodist Episcopal church, with Rev. D. A. McCullough, the pastor in charge. The church was packed, it being one of the largest funerals there in several years.

The remains were laid to rest in the Blair cemetery following the last rites.

# 2 - - from The Enterprise, January 10, 1935

EXPLOSION FATAL TO MRS. LESLIE B. THOMPSON

BLAST CAUSED BY GAS LANTERN EXPLOSION CAUSE OF SAD TRAGEDY

FARM HOUSE SAVED

Mrs. Leslie Thompson, 26, was fatally burned about eight o’clock last Friday morning at her farm home two miles southwest of Blair on the Kennard road when a gasoline lantern that had inadvertently been placed on a lighted kerosene stove exploded and showered her with the blazing gas.

Mrs. Thompson died early Sunday morning at Court View hospital, where she had been taken immediately after the explosion. Although her condition had been critical from the time she entered the hospital, some hope was held for her recovery and as late as Saturday evening it was reported by relatives that “she was holding her own.”

The gasoline explosion occurred at the Thompson home. Frantic, with the flames from her clothing almost reaching to the ceiling, Mrs. Thompson rushed through the kitchen, attempting to beat out the flames, and it was a moment before Mr. Thompson could catch her and pull the flaming clothes from the body of his wife. The Thompson hired man, working in the dairy barn, heard the explosion and seeing flames shooting from the pantry windows, he ran to the house, where he aided Mr. Thompson in extinguishing the flames.

Mr. Thompson wrapped his wife in a blanket and brought her to Court View hospital here at once. There doctors classed her burns as of the third degree type. She was horribly burned about the face, arms and body. In treatment of the burns, a recently-developed cradle, said to furnish heat from electric light bulbs was placed over her Friday afternoon.

Responding to the alarm from the Thompson farm, the Blair Fire Department succeeded in saving the house from destruction, although the two men at the farm had virtually brought the blaze under control before the department’s arrival. Though there was less than a gallon of gasoline in the lantern, the force of the explosion blew out and cracked windows in all parts of the house, piles of broken glass being scattered about the farmyard for a distance of 50 feet.

When the lantern exploded it was thrown up against the ceiling, where it tore off the plaster and cracked the lathing. In making an examination of the lantern, fire department members say it did not appear to be defective and are inclined to believe with Mr. Thompson that heat from the oil stove caused the blast.

According to Mr. Thompson’s version, he had arisen and gone to the barn, where he and his hired man did the milking, taking the lighted lantern with him. The morning was somewhat chilly and Mrs. Thompson had lighted the kerosene stove in the pantry to heat it, shortly after she had arisen.

A short time later Mr. Thompson returned to the house. The lantern was placed on the kerosene stove, which had been turned down very low, Mrs. Thompson apparently having forgotten it had been lighted.

She was standing in the kitchen, almost in the doorway to the pantry, when the explosion occurred. All parts of her clothing blazed immediately and the flames, shooting upward, burned some children’s garments that were stretched on a line across a corner of the kitchen.

The lantern had been in use only for ten days, Mrs. Thompson having given it to her husband, the operator of the Early Dawn Dairy farm, as a Christmas gift.

One of the saddest features of the tragedy is that Mrs. Thompson in addition to her husband, leaves two small children. They are Lila Jean, who is attending Central school here, in the first grade, and an infant child, only two months old. The latter are now staying at the home of their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Compton, north of Blair.

# 3 - also from The Enterprise, January 10, 1935

MRS. L. B. THOMPSON

Ruth Compton was born March 25, 1909, in Blair, Nebr., and departed this life at the Blair hospital, Sunday morning, January 6, 1934.

She was graduated from the Blair high school in 1927 and later attended Dana college for one year. On May 25, 1928, she was married to Leslie B. Thompson and to them two children were born, Lila Jean, age 6 years and Peggy Ruth, age 4 months.

Of the immediate family and relatives who remain are, the husband and two children; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Compton; a sister, Betty June; two brothers, Gilford of Boise, Idaho and Gifford at home.

The funeral services were held on Tuesday, January 8th at the Blair Methodist church at 2:00 p.m., conducted by Rev. D. A. McCullough and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

Special Dispatch to the World-Herald

Lantern Blast Victim of Blair Dies from Burns

Blair, Neb., Jan. 6 – Horribly burned Friday when a gasoline lantern exploded, Mrs. Leslie Thompson, 26, died Sunday at a hospital. The blast occurred at the farm operated by Mr. Thompson a mile south of Blair when the lantern was inadvertently placed on a lighted gasoline stove. Her clothing ablaze Mrs., Thompson was saved from dying at once when her husband caught her and tore the flaming clothes from her body. Surviving Mrs. Thompson are her husband, two children Lila Jean, 5, and a baby less than two months old, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Compson*. Rites will be Tuesday afternoon from the Blair Methodist Church.

*Should be Compton

Special Dispatch to The World-Herald

Blair Housewife Near Death After Lantern Blows Up

Blair, Neb., Jan. 4 – Mrs. Leslie Thompson, 28, wife of a local dairyman, was critically burned at her home today when a gasoline lantern that had been placed on a stove, exploded.

Her clothing afire, Mrs. Thompson ran outdoors and her husband had difficulty catching her and extinguishing the flames. She was rushed to Courtview hospital, where she lingers near death.

Although there was less than a gallon of gasoline in the lantern, the blast shattered all windows in the house.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~