Hemingray Glass Company

SECOND VICTIM OF THE EXPLOSION

PASSED AWAY TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Bert Lee, the Engineer, Who

Was So Badly Burned

by the Explosion Monday

at DeSoto is Dead.

The death of Bert Lee, engineer of the pumping station at DeSoto, who was fatally shocked and burned by the explosion of Monday morning, occurred at 3:12 o'clock Tuesday afternoon.

Jus as the long procession of mourners was leaving the cemetery only a few hundred yards away, where the charred body of Elmer Newkirk had been laid to its final rest, the second victim of the terrible disaster quietly breathed his last.

Mr. Lee never rallied and finally succumbed to the reaction. His end came without pain. The burns upon his face, arms, sides, and hands were so deep that the nerves had been destroyed. He said that he felt no suffering and remained conscious until an hour before death. Tuesday morning he laughed and talked with those about him, asking that he might get up. Mr. Lee was a man of strong physique and his unusual strength and wonderful nerve made a valiant struggle against death.

Bert Lee was born December 24, 1865, at South Bend, Ind. He was married November 10, 1889 to Margaret McGuff. Mr. Lee was employed as an electrician at Chicago and then in the Studebaker works at South Bend. In the spring of 1896, Mr. and Mrs. Lee moved to Muncie and he became engineer and electrician at the Whitely malleable castings works. There he remained until last spring, when he went to Indianapolis and engaged in electrical construction work. He moved to DeSoto and began his duties as engineer of the Manufacturers' Natural Gas Company's pumping station on December 1, 1901.

The deceased was a member of Uniform Rank, No 41, K. of P., I. O. O. F. lodge No. 74, also of the Odd Fellows Mutual Benefit Association, the Modern Woodmen, Ben Hur, and a member of the D. O. K. K. beneficiary. There was no more popular man in Muncie lodge circles than Bert Lee. He won the esteem and affection of all by his whole-souled congeniality and generous friendship, and those who called him friend are legion.

The body was brought to Muncie Tuesday evening in the Meeks funeral car and taken to the home of M. J. McGuff, a brother-in-law. The funeral service will be conducted from the McGuff residence, 212 North Plum street, at 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon. The Rev. J. F. Burnett will be in charge and the Knights of Pythias will also give their ritual. The other secret orders will attend and the pall-bearers will be chosen from their members.

The body will be taken over the L. E. & W. on the early train Thursday morning to South Bend. Interment will follow immediately with the Odd Fellows burial ceremony only at the cemetery.

Mrs. J. B. Lee, mother of the deceased, and Ora Lee, brother, of South Bend; Will Lee, another brother, of Indianapolis, and Peter McGuff, brother of Mrs. Lee, of Springfield, Ill., are here to attend the funeral.

The funeral of Elmer Newkirk, whose death Sunday afternoon resulted from the fatal explosion at the gas pumping station of which he was oilier, was conducted from the Union church at DeSoto Tuesday afternoon, by the Rev. J. D. V. Johnson of the White Chapel Christian church of which the deceased was a member.

The church could not contain all those who were present. The service was very impressive and the unusual sadness of the occasion . . . [illegible text] . . . touched everyone. Kickapoo lodge, I. O. O. F. of Albany, attended in a body. The burial was made in Union cemetery beside the church.

There were many visitors at the little town of DeSoto Tuesday to view the scene of the explosion. All looked in silence upon the two huge compressors, the motionless fly wheels and scattered debris about. Bits of burnt clothing were still lying around. And over at the grocery store and the blacksmith shop, those who had witnessed the disaster told the story time and again.

There is yet no explanation for the explosion. It will probably never be known. As to what disposition will be made of the ruined station, the company has made no statement.

Mrs. Margaret Lee desires to express her heartfelt thanks for the kind assistance and sympathy rendered her by the people of DeSoto.

RUINS OF THE WRECKED PUMPING STATION AT DESOTO.