1964 — Sep 12, Farm House Fire (Bowdish/McConnell children), Kasota, MN — 10
–10 Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “10 Children Die in Fire…Swept Farm Home.” 9-14-64.
–10 NFPA. “Bimonthly Fire Record,” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 1, Jan 1965, pp. 43-44.
Narrative Information
NFPA: “Eleven children, ages 3 to 16, were left at home while the parents went to a nearby town to pick up some furniture. All the children were in bed in the second story of the two-story wooden dwelling except the 16-year-old boy, who had gone to the basement to build a fire in a wood-fired furnace. At about 10:00 pm, the 14-year-old girl heard a crackling noise, got out of bed, and was starting to investigate when the boy ran upstairs and told her there was a fire and to get the children out. Both of them started to awaken the sleeping children. Instead of leaving the house, the children ran back and forth from room to room in panic until fire had blocked the open stairway. The girl opened the upstairs windows, jumped out, got on her bicycle, and rode 1½ miles to the nearest farmhouse, where the occupants called the fire department. By the time fire fighters arrived from several miles away, parts of the house had collapsed and there were no signs of life. None of the other ten children had escaped.” (NFPA, Jan 1965, pp. 43-44.)
Newspaper
Evening Tribune: “Kasota, Minn. (AP) – Ten children, ‘so scarred they ran around in circles and didn’t know what to do,’ died in a fire that swept through their farm home. Another child, Joanne McConnell, 14, was the only occupant to escape the burning home Saturday night. She jumped from a second-story window and, barefoot and wearing only a nightgown, pedaled a mile on her bicycle to the nearest telephone.
“Joanne and nine of the victims were children and stepchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Bowdish. The other child killed was an orphan boy who lived with the family. Bowdish is an unemployed auto mechanic.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bowdish were not home when the fire broke out. They had driven to Minneapolis to pick up some appliances which friends had given them.
“The victims were Daniel Bowdish, 3; Loretta Bowdish, 4; Lucretia Bowdish, 5; Kenneth Bowdish, 6; Linda McConnell, 9; Marvin McConnell, 10; Richard McConnell, 11; Mary McConnell, 13; Robert McConnell, 16; and Roger Brown, 15. The McConnell youngsters were Mrs. Bowdish’s children by a previous marriage.
“`It’s no one’s fault,’ the weeping mother told Joanne. ‘Just be thankful you got out. It was meant to happen, or it wouldn’t have happened.’
“Joanne said all the children except Robert were in bed when the blaze broke out. Robert was in the basement lighting the wood-fired furnace. ‘I heard a crack like a jar breaking or something,’ Joanne said. ‘I got up to find out what it was. Robert said there was a fire and to get the kids out. I tried to wake them up.’ The children all were upstairs, the girls in one room and the boys in another. ‘They were so scared they just ran around in circles and didn’t know what to do,’ Joanne said. “I opened all the windows.’ Robert came upstairs and told the children to flee. The fire flared into the stairway, and all the children were trapped upstairs. ‘I jumped out the window and got on my bike,’ Joanne said.
“Mrs. Bowdish has borne 13 children. Her first five children, with surname Pouchow, are grown and living away from home. Her second husband, Robert McConnell, is dead. The four youngest of her children were by Bowdish….
“Bowdish had moved his family to the rented house just outside Kasota about a week ago and had been making repairs on a house the family owned in nearby Mankato.
“The blaze was fought by firemen from Kasota and St. Peter. Flames had engulfed the house by the time firemen arrived.” (Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “10 Children Die in Fire that Swept Farm Home.” 9-14-1964, p. 1.)
Sources
Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “10 Children Die in Fire that Swept Farm Home.” 9-14-1964, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=35815116&sterm=kasota+fire
National Fire Protection Association. “Bimonthly Fire Record January 1965,” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 1, Jan 1965, pp. 43-44.