Surnames: Brown, Hildensperger, Mueller, Cramer

----Source: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) Thursday, 05/06/1954

Brown, Bert (1882? - 3 May 1954)

The body of Bert Brown, age 72, who died in flames which destroyed a farm home in the town of Stettin, Marathon county, was found shortly before noon Monday by searchers headed by Myron Mueller, Marathon county sheriff, and John W. Hildensperger, Marathon county coroner.

Eight others escaped the blaze, which roared through the 15-room home of Mrs. Lina Cramer at about 2:45 o’clock on Monday morning, causing damage estimated at nearly $50,000.

Three persons jumped from second-story windows. One was a 44-year-old mother, who suffered an injured left arm in breaking the fall of a 13-year-old daughter, who leaped after the mother. A 16-year-old youth who also jumped to the ground probably saved the life of two other men by bringing a ladder for their escape.

Wausau firemen were unable to rescue Brown and were unable to quell the fire, which was fed by a brisk west wind. Embers carried for nearly half a mile.

The fire started in an addition, with a garage on the ground floor and an apartment on the second. There were three cars in the garage and they were destroyed. Firemen said a space heater in the apartment of one of the cars might have caused the fire.

Brown, a hired man, was asleep in a second-floor bedroom. When firemen arrived, the window of his room was pointed out. Before laying out hose they climbed a ladder and smashed the window. Flames and intense heat kept firemen from entering.