Harrison - Margaret
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal February 11, 1898
Mrs. Margaret Harrison of this city, died Tuesday afternoon at the Soldiers' Home in Lafayette as the result of an accident she sustained Monday evening. Her only son, John Harrison, resides here and the funeral took place in Crawfordsville. Monday one of her thumbs was injured and she had saturated a rag with turpentine, wrapping about the sore member. In the evening she struck a match to light her pipe and the rag accidentally ignited. The old lady thoughtlessly threw her hand to her head and the flames spread to her hair. In an instant her head and upper part of her body were enveloped in flames and she was shrieking for help. Mrs. Theodore Sargent was first to reach her side. She threw a quilt about the head of Mrs. Harrison in the effort to smother the flames. Other help arrived and a rug was quickly thrown about the old lady, the flames being extinguished. Mrs. Harrison had been fearfully burned about the head and shoulders, the flesh on the face being almost cooked. She suffered intense agony until noon Tuesday, when she sank into unconsciousness and passed away in that condition. Mrs. Harrison was sixty-three years old and was born in Harrison county, Indiana. She was the widow of Bladen A. Harrison, of Montgomery county, who served through the rebellion as a member of Company F, Sixth Iowa Infantry. She was admitted to the Home from Crawfordsville on March 20, 1897, and the greater portion of the time spent by her at the Home was passed in the hospital. - thanks to Kim H