1967 — July 4, Fire, Four-Room Rural Shanty Family Residence, Oxford, ME — all 8

— 8 Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Violent Deaths Sweep Maine Over Holiday.” 7-5-1967, 3.
— 8 Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Holiday Fire in Oxford Set.” 7-6-1967, p. 2.
— 8 Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Erwin Takes Jobin From Oxford Case.” 7-10-1967, p. 3.
— 8 Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Oxford Fire Report Will Be Released.” 7-18-1967, p. 2.
— 8 Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Defective Wiring Caused Fatal Fire.” 7-20-1967, p. 1.

Narrative Information

July 5: “By the Associated Press. In over-all deaths by violence, this Fourth of July weekend was probably the worst in Maine’s history. Twenty-two persons lost their lives – eight in a house fire at Oxford; five in a place crash into Penobscot Bay at Searsport; four in highway accidents; four by drowning and one in a fall from fourth floor porch at Lewiston.

“State and Oxford County officials investigated the cause of Tuesday morning’s [4th] fire in a four-room home at Oxford that snuffed out the lives of: Mrs. Beverly Gauthier, 24; her children, Raymond, 5, Patricia, 3, Daniel, 2, and Roland, one; Brenda L. Willard, 14, of Berlin, N.H., and two soldiers, Gerald F. Gardiner, 18, of Waterford and Clifford Duvall, 19, home town undetermined ….” (Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Violent Deaths Sweep Maine Over Holiday.” 7-5-1967, p. 3.)

July 6: “Oxford, (AP) – An Independence Day fire that killed eight persons in a four-room rural shanty here was but no arrest is foreseen, a special investigator for the state attorney general’s office says. Kerosene or range fuel was spread throughout the dwelling and ignited, Leonce J. Jobin Jr. of Rumford said Wednesday….

“Autopsies on their bodies indicated they died of smoke inhalation, Asst. Atty. Gen. Richard A. Chen said.

“The father of Gardner, Gerald F. Gardner Sr., told police he had stayed with the children while the other four victims attended a drive-in movie until 3 a.m. Tuesday. Gardner, who voluntarily took a state police lie detector test, said he left between 4:30 and 6 a.m. Tuesday and did not see oil cans later found by authorities in the kitchen of the residence.

“The fire was discovered by a passerby, Lyman Rogers of Norway, about 6:15 a.m. Jobin said investigation by State Fire Inspector Donald H. Rogers of Lewiston indicated fumes from the slow-burning blaze quickly suffocated the occupants.

“Despite the shanty’s two doors and screenless windows, no one was able to escape. A pet dog also died. The body of the mother was found face-up across the bottom of a bed. The body of the baby-sitter was in a kneeling position against the bed and the body of a child was lying at the foot of the bed.” (Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Holiday Fire in Oxford Set.” 7-6-1967, p. 2.)

July 10: “Oxford (AP) – Leonce J. Jobin Jr. of Rumford, a special investigator who said this town’s July 4 fire that claimed eight lives was set has been taken from the case, according to Atty. Gen. James S. Erwin. ‘We simply don’t know how it started,’ Erwin said Sunday, adding ‘There is no suspect and nothing indicates at this moment that this fire was purposefully set.’ Erwin said fire inspectors, State police and sheriff’s officers still are seeking the cause of the blaze which killed a mother, her four small children, a babysitter and two servicemen.” (Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Erwin Takes Jobin From Oxford Case.” 7-10-1967, p. 3.)

July 20: “Augusta, Maine (AP) – Defective wiring has been listed by Maine’s attorney general as the probable cause of a July 4 shanty fire in Oxford that killed eight persons. ‘We don’t know for sure that the wiring was the cause, but we do know that no one set it,’ Atty. Gen. James S. Erwin said Wednesday.” (Portsmouth Herald NH. “Defective Wiring Caused Fatal Fire.” 7-20-1967, p. 1.)

Sources

Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Erwin Takes Jobin From Oxford Case.” 7-10-1967, p. 3. Accessed 2-10-2013: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=139102645&sterm=oxford+fire

Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Holiday Fire in Oxford Set.” 7-6-1967, p. 2. Accessed 2-10-2013 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=139102610&sterm=oxford+fire

Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Oxford Fire Report Will Be Released.” 7-18-1967, p. 2. Accessed 2-10-2013: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=139102726&sterm=oxford+fire

Biddeford-Saco Journal, ME. “Violent Deaths Sweep Maine Over Holiday.” 7-5-1967, p. 3. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=165208026&sterm=oxford+fire

Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Defective Wiring Caused Fatal Fire.” 7-20-1967, p. 1. Accessed 2-10-2013 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=60245807