1964 — Feb 22, Home fire, living room stove malfunction, ~Cheraw & Society Hill, SC–   11

–11  Bugbee. “Fire Protection Developments in 1964,” Fire Journal, V59, N2, March 1965, 10.

–11  Florence Morning News, SC. “Society Hill Fire Claims 11 Victims.” 2-23-1964, p. 1.

–11  National Fire Protection Assoc. Large Loss of Life Spreadsheet (as of Feb 2003).^[1]

Narrative Information

 Bugbee/NFPA: “In residential buildings there were two cases  [in 1964] in which 11 people met death in a single disaster: in a Chicago apartment house, November 4, and in a poor sharecropper’s cabin in Cheraw, South Carolina, February 22….In the Cheraw fire, malfunction of a stove in the living room caused total destruction of the one-story shack, killing parents and children.” (Bugbee. “Fire Protection Developments in 1964,” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 2, March 1965, p. 10.)

 

Newspaper

 

Feb 23: “Society Hill — A man, his wife and their nine children were burned to death in a roaring fire which swept their frame residence five miles northwest of here along Highway 52 in Chesterfield County about 3 a. m. Saturday. Chesterfield Sheriff Don Hill identified the victims as Moses James, 34; his wife, Mary Agnes, 35, and their children, Mary Frances 13, Lola May 12, Moses Jr. 11, Mary Alice 9, Ollie Belle 7, John Robert 5, Mitchell 4, Earl 3, and Patsy 1.

 

“Late Saturday morning officers were still sifting ashes for parts of bodies. Sheriff Hill reported that nine bodies were recovered “and parts of two more. There are nothing but bones.” He said all bodies were burned beyond recognition. Ten of the victims were reported side by side in one large room partitioned off from the other two rooms of the old house and used as a bedroom. The eleventh body was found near a fireplace. It is believed that the fire started at that point. The sheriff theorized that the victims were suffocated by smoke before the fire hit them. The positions of the bodies, he said, indicated there was no effort to escape.

 

“Louise Dewitt, who lives about 300 yards away and up a slope from the James house, discovered the fire about 3 a.m. She said the entire northeast corner of the house, the section containing the fireplace, was ablaze. “I ran down there with my husband and we called,” she said, “but we didn’t hear a sound. There was nothing but the fire. Then we went for help.” Other neighbors reported the fire swept and leveled the house in a very short time and before the Cheraw Fire Department and Cheraw Rescue Squad could be of assistance.

 

“”There was a stiff breeze blowing from the northeast at the time,” the sheriff said. “I believe the smoke and heat was blown across to the southern part of the house where these people were sleeping and they suffocated before the fire hit them. The house was old and of fatwood^[2] and burned like tinder.”

 

“Shortly before dawn firemen were able to cool the ruins enough to begin recovery of bodies which were removed to a Cheraw funeral home.

 

“Evidence of the intensity of the blaze could be found in a metal bedstead twisted by the heat. Everything in the house was destroyed with nothing but ashes remaining. Only an old wood stove and the portion of bed indicated the house had been occupied….

 

“The sheriff said that James had been employed in a chair manufacturing operation in Society Hill.” (Florence Morning News, SC. “Society Hill Fire Claims 11 Victims.” 2-23-1964, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Bugbee, Percy (NFPA General Manager). “Fire Protection Developments in 1964,” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 2, March 1965, p. 10.

 

Florence Morning News, SC. “Society Hill Fire Claims 11 Victims.” 2-23-1964, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=56513510&sterm=cheraw+fire+moses

 

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Incorrectly dates the fire as August 9 and notes as near Cheraw. Cheraw is roughly 14 miles from Society Hill to the northwest. Bennettsville, SC is about 12 miles to the northeast.

[2] “Fatwood is scar tissue of a damaged or injured pine tree. A lightning strike will scar a tree sometimes top to bottom without necessarily killing the tree. The result scar of burnt bark will “scar” over with resin. Once hardened, the wood and bark around the area becomes rich with the flammable hardened resin. High winds breaking limbs, or violently twisting the tree, will also open “wound” in the tree bark. Again, resin will harden forming “scar” tissue rich in fatwood. Hard yellowish resin can be found around the wound area. This can then be scraped off and used as a fire starter.” Wikipedia. “Fatwood.” 11-13-2014 modification. Cites Pitchwood – Wilderness Wiki.