Bio: Benson, Russell – Children Killed in Fire (1 Jan 1939)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Benson, Meacham

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 05 Jan 1939

The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Benson lost their lives in a fire, which swept away the Benson farm home 4 1/2 miles northwest of Spencer (Clark Co., Wis.) Sunday evening.

Mr. and Mrs. Benson had put the youngsters to bed and were in the barn doing the evening chores when the coal stove in the home exploded.

The Bensons' were busy milking and were unaware that anything was wrong until they heard the voice of a neighbor, Ira Meacham, calling to them.

They rean from the barn to find their home a death chamber of gas and smoke. Benson sought to penetrate the deadly murk in a vain attempt to rescue the three tots, Patricia, who was 5 in June; James, 4 in September, and Janice, who would have been 3 in March. The charred bodies were found later.