Wood Alcohol Deaths
Transcribed from: The Virginia Enterprise 2-15-1907
WOOD ALCOHOL KILLS THREE - Gruesome Discovery by a Scaler in a Tie Camp Up the Rainy.
It was a gruesome sight which met the sight of the scaler as he opened the door of Bob Starr's tie camp on Monday morning and found the three occupants of the cabin cold in death from the effects of drinking wood alcohol. The men were Robert Starr, George R. Burns and William Fitzgibbons, all of whom were known to many in the city, and the bodies of the men showed plainly that they had died in the most terrible agony, their limbs being drawn to their bodies, their fists clenched and their faces distorted, their bodies after death having lain for several days and being frozen solid. Notice of the ghastly find was telephoned to this city and Undertaker Fleming went after the bodies. A table in the center of the room on which stood the three tin cups, in each of which was a spoon, bore mute testimony that the men had been indulging in a toddy made of the poisonous fluid and had died simultaneously. The body of Burns was yesterday shipped to his former home at Bradford, Ontario, Canada, for inturnment, while the remains of Starr were laid at rest in the Virginia cemetery this morning. The body of Fitzgibbons still lies at the Mesberg morgue, awaiting instructions for disposition. He is said to have a brother residing at Green Bay, Wis, and another in Canada, but efforts to communicate with them have thus far failed. Starr was a veteran of the civil war, and is reported to have much property, a farm in Canada being accredited among his holdings. He has run a tie camp near Houlton for two years past, the other two unfortunate men being in his employ, as teamster and cook. The last seen of any
of the men alive was some ten days previously, when one of the number was in the city for supplies, and it is likely the trio had been dead several days before discovery.
WOOD ALCOHOL KILLS THREE - Gruesome Discovery by a Scaler in a Tie Camp Up the Rainy.
It was a gruesome sight which met the sight of the scaler as he opened the door of Bob Starr's tie camp on Monday morning and found the three occupants of the cabin cold in death from the effects of drinking wood alcohol. The men were Robert Starr, George R. Burns and William Fitzgibbons, all of whom were known to many in the city, and the bodies of the men showed plainly that they had died in the most terrible agony, their limbs being drawn to their bodies, their fists clenched and their faces distorted, their bodies after death having lain for several days and being frozen solid. Notice of the ghastly find was telephoned to this city and Undertaker Fleming went after the bodies. A table in the center of the room on which stood the three tin cups, in each of which was a spoon, bore mute testimony that the men had been indulging in a toddy made of the poisonous fluid and had died simultaneously. The body of Burns was yesterday shipped to his former home at Bradford, Ontario, Canada, for inturnment, while the remains of Starr were laid at rest in the Virginia cemetery this morning. The body of Fitzgibbons still lies at the Mesberg morgue, awaiting instructions for disposition. He is said to have a brother residing at Green Bay, Wis, and another in Canada, but efforts to communicate with them have thus far failed. Starr was a veteran of the civil war, and is reported to have much property, a farm in Canada being accredited among his holdings. He has run a tie camp near Houlton for two years past, the other two unfortunate men being in his employ, as teamster and cook. The last seen of any
of the men alive was some ten days previously, when one of the number was in the city for supplies, and it is likely the trio had been dead several days before discovery.
Britt Community Historical Society--BCHS, P.O. Box 154, Virginia, MN 55792 ---Email: info@britthistory.org