EXPLOSION FROM KEROSENE FATALLY BURNS MRS. ANNA BENTLEY
Mrs. Anna Bentley passed away at about 7:00 o'clock Tuesday morning at the home of Mrs. Chris Hanson, a neighbor, after receiving fatal burns in an explosion in an attempt to pour kerosene on a fire. The accident happened at about 8:40 Monday evening, the fire after the explosion almost completely destroying the little house where Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Bentley, Mrs. Anna Bentley and grand nephew Jesse Webb were making their home. The house is one of those in the Bucher estate.
Mrs. Bentley had been employed in the restaurant of Mrs. Madden and after the day's work had returned to her home where her daughter-in-law and grand nephew, who she was foster mothering, had preceeded her. While the fire in the stove hadn't gotten hot yet, it is generally thought by those who know the circumstances that she picked up the kerosene can accidentally thinking she had the coal bucket in her hand, as it was sitting along side the coal hod and immediately there was a terrible combustion which threw fire and kerosene over Mrs. Bentley and when she ran from the house she was a living torch, her hair and clothing ablaze. Mrs. Hanson, a neighbor, aroused by the explosion ran to the yard and found the woman, immediately gathering a quilt and smothered the fire, her clothing being completely burned except for a woolen sweater which protected her chest, every other inch of the body being burned very badly. A doctor was summoned and everything was done to sooth the pain and suffering until morning when The Great Healer claimed her.
Mrs. Clayton Bentley and baby were in the house at the time and rushed to safety without being hurt, while the 10 year old boy, Jesse Webb, was quite badly burned on his face and hands. He crawled on his hands and knees to the out-doors and frantically tore his burning overalls off and, but for a woolen sweater, he too would have perished.
The fire department had the fire extinguished in a hurry, but the interior was burned beyond repair according to Adolph Bucher, owner of house and furniture. Only a few pieces of clothing was saved. Neighbors and friends and the local Red Cross have given the family in distress some assistance until they can recover the shock. Mr. Bentley, son of the ill-fated woman, has been doing mining work at York and he was in the hills when the accident happened. At present they are with Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Carroll, while the two orphaned children, Jesse and his sister Erma, who came from Helena after the accident are being cared for by Mrs. Hanson. Jesse and Erma Webb are grand nephew and niece of the deceased Mrs. Bentley, who had cared for them since the death of their father in Helena last August. Miss Erma Bentley is being cared for and educated at St. Vincent's in Helena and arrangements have been made to send the boy to Portland, where Mrs. Bentley's son Bristol Bentley is to care for him.
Mrs. Bentley, a pioneer of Montana was 69 years of age, and had come from her birthplace in Nebraska to Montana with her parents. She was the youngest of a family of fourteen children, her oldest brother being remembered as Sol Deborde, the family living in White's gulch for many years. For many years Mrs. Bentley was a resident of Helena, only recently coming to Townsend. She was a kind and generous woman, and had been a good mother and foster mother, both to her niece, Mrs. Webb, whose mother was an invalid, and to her two children who now survive her. Besides the two children, Mrs. Bentley is survived by three sons, J.C. Bentley of Townsend; E. J. Bentley of Phillipsburg and Bristol Bentley of Portland. All arrived as soon as possible after the accident and will accompany the remains of their mother to Helena on the early train Friday where funderal services will be held from St. Mary's Catholic Church near the depot at 8:30 o'clock. HOME OBITUARIES