Luella Pace

1887  - 1906

YOUNG WELLS CO. LADY BURNED TO DEATH

   Miss Luella Pace, aged twenty-three, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Pace, living one and one half miles southwest of Nottingham, was the victim of a horrible death last Tuesday night, being literally burned alive at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde White. She lingered in terrible agony from 8:30 o'clock in the evening, at which hour her clothing caught fire, until 2:30 in the morning before death came as a relief from her sufferings.

   The accident happened while she and Mr. White, at whose home she worked, tried to catch a mouse under a bed on which Mrs. White and a four days old babe lay, and upset a light placed on the floor. In the excitement Miss Pace's dress caught fire and she became crazed from fright. Mr. White did all he could to save her life but the girl in her rage resisted him, until she had become exhausted.

   Meanwhile a blaze started in the room from the upset lamp and Mrs. White and babies came into imminent danger.  Mr. White extinguished the blaze in time but the girl had become injured beyond hope of recovery and died five hours later. Mrs. White is also in a critical condition from the exposure and shock.

Berne Witness, Adams County, Indiana;     Friday, Dec. 21, 1906
Contributed by Karin King

Buried in Hillside Cemetery