Explosion of Gasoline In Old Car Fatal To Two Masters Children

TWO OTHERS AID YOUNGER BROTHERS

Two Kennard farm children died at the Methodist Hospital in Omaha this week only a few hours apart after suffering “severe” third degree burns when gas fumes from the tank of an old abandoned car in which they were playing somehow ignited.

Fatally injured in the accident was 6-year-old Billy Masters and his 5-year-old brother, Tommy. Parent of the youths are Mr. and Mrs. Paul Masters, who live on a farm five miles southwest of Blair on Highway 30.

Billy died about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and Tommy succumbed about 1:10 a.m. today, (Thursday). Doctors described the boys’ burns as severe third degree burns covering more than 50% of the body surface.

The tragedy occurred last Tuesday afternoon about 3 o’clock while the boys were playing near their farm home in an old car. Just what actually caused the explosion will probably never be known, but it is believed that the gas fumes coming from the tank were somehow ignited.

Cries for help attracted the attention of 11-year-old Bobby Masters and his sister, 12-year-old Mary Lou, who immediately went to the recuse of their brothers.

Displaying great presence of mind and caring, Bobby and Mary Lou worked feverishly to put the fire out on the boys’ clothing and to get their burnt clothes off. Bobby suffered slight burns on his hands in rescuing his brothers.

He then ran almost a mile to the nearest phone and called Blair for a doctor. The Bendorf ambulance, accompanied by Dr. Robert Foley, was rushed to the Masters’ farm and the boys were brought to the Blair Hospital for emergency treatment and then immediately taken to Omaha.

Survivors besides the boys’ parents include two brothers, Bobby 11, Johnny 14; three sisters, Mary Lou 12, Betty 16, Ruby 17; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Miller of Kennard; three uncles, Fred Masters of Kennard, Roy Masters of Lincoln, Ned Miller of Louisville, Ky; three aunts, Mrs. Sara Stevens of Omaha, Mrs. O. L. Welker of Lincoln, Mrs. K. Petersen of San Francisco, Calif.

Arrangements for the funeral have not been completed at this writing. The bodies are at the Bendorf Funeral Home.

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