WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH SCOURING CEMETERY STONE

Cleaning Fluid Ignited, Fatally Burning Anna Hagenbuck

BODY FOUND IN ARLINGTON CEMETERY

Tragedy in one of its ugliest guises stalked the Arlington cemetery Monday when Miss Anna Hagenbuck of Fremont met her death there. A former Arlington resident, she was burned to death while cleaning the headstones in the family burial plot in preparation for Memorial Day.

Equipped with a bottle of gasoline and a box of scouring powder, Miss Hagenbuck evidently was at work when the fluid became ignited, resulting in the accident which took her life. Dr. R. A. Davies of Arlington stated that Davies death probably occurred during the morning.

Although the grave where Miss Hagenbuck was working was in full view of the road, nothing unusual was noticed until late afternoon. At about four o’clock J. H. Dorbecker of Arlington drove into the cemetery to visit his family plot and saw a strange object upon the ground. He investigated and found it to be a body so badly charred that it was unrecognizable. Nearby stood an automobile belonging to Miss Hagenbuck’s sister, Mrs. Dan Daily of Fremont, and Dorbecker noted its license number, returning immediately to Arlington where he reported the death. Deputy Sheriff C. E. Clements of Blair was summoned to the scene of the accident at once.

Born in Arlington on October 9, 1889, Miss Hagenbuck was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Hagenbuck, early Arlington pioneers. She grew to womanhood in that vicinity, finishing the Arlington High School; after being employed for a time in the telephone office, she assisted in the office of Dr. R. A. Davies and later took nurses training in the Nicholas Senn Hospital in Omaha. She was graduated from the course and went to Fremont where she was nurse in the office of Dr. W. Howard Heine for a number of years. At the time of her death she was devoting her spare time to teaching red Cross First Aid classes in Fremont and nearby towns.

Besides her sister, Mrs. Dailey, with whom she made her home, Miss Hagenbuck is survived by two other sisters, Edith of Montana and Mrs. Helen Osterman of Bristol, Colorado and a brother, Charles Hagenbuck of Monroe; among more distant relatives is listed a nephew, Superintendent Otis Decker of Kennard.

Miss Hagenbuck was a past Noble Grand of the Arlington Rebekah lodge; a member of the Congregational Church, later transferring her membership to Fremont; a member of the Ruth Milliken Club and Nurses’ registrar. Groups from each of the organizations plan to attend the funeral.

Services are being held at four o’clock this Thursday afternoon at the Dan Dailey home in Fremont where Miss Hagenbuck has resided for a number of years.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #44780927