| Since the exact death date was not given, the date of a newspaper article was used.
Pilot, December 12, 1923
Same article also printed in Tribune, December 13, 1923.
ARLINGTON CHILD DIES AS RESULT OF BURNS
After hanging on the verge of death for eight days, Nina Schlapfer, 14-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Schlapfer, of Arlington, died at the home of Mrs. Emma Toft Sunday evening at eight o’clock, death being due to burns received when a lamp the child was lighting, exploded on Saturday, December 1.
Following the explosion, the girl and her little sister, Betty, 4, who was in the room, were enveloped in flames. The father, mother and brother, Herman, came running from another room on hearing the girls’ screams and managed to extinguish the flames, but not until the entire family received painful burns. Nina was the most seriously injured and was removed to the home of Mrs. Emma Toft, a neighbor, while neighbors extinguished the fire in the house.
Nina’s condition was so serious that she could not be moved from the Toft home and has been there since, while medical attendants did everything possible to relieve the pain and sustain life. Since the night of the explosion she had been on the verge of death. For a short time it was believed she would recover but her condition gradually grew worse on account of the serious burns. Sunday night the end came.
The affair was one of the saddest occurring in Arlington in years, and the entire vicinity mourns the death of the beloved little girl who met such a tragic death.
The other members of the family will recover. Betty was burned seriously, but is recuperating slowly. Mr. and Mrs. Schlapfer and son, Herman, received painful burns about the hands and arms in extinguishing the burns from the children’s clothing but these did not prove serious and all have recovered.
|