Six Killed, Five Hurt In Blasts Hour Apart In Gentilly Section
Submitted by:	February 2005
Source:		Times Picayune, Monday, February 19, 1951

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Six persons died and five others were burned in two separate
explosions and fires which occurred within a little more than an hour
of each other in the Gentilly section early Sunday.
A family of six Negroes was burned to death about 5:20 a.m. in a fire
which destroyed their residence at Box 732, Route 4, Darby st.,
following the explosion of a kerosene stove.
…..
The dead were identified as David Brooks, 44, a junk dealer; his
wife, Katie, 32, and their children, Fannie, 5; David Jr., 3;
Haywood, 2, and Leroy, 1. Dr. Robert E. Gillespie assistant Orleans
parish coroner, classified the deaths as accidental.
….
In the other explosion and fire, Fifth District police said, the
Brooks family had apparently been trapped in their beds by flames,
which spread rapidly after the stove exploded. The dwelling, a
partially completed “shotgun” house which was being built by Brooks,
was almost destroyed before the arrival of fire-fighting apparatus,
police said.

Ferdinand Dufour, Negro, 62, operator of a barroom near the 9-mile
post, Old Gentilly hwy, told police that Brooks and his wife had been
in his place from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Sunday.
The bodies were identified by Haywood Atkins, Negro, 41, 932 N.
Prieur, a brother of the woman. The fire was also place under
investigation by the city fire prevention bureau and the state fire
marshal’s office, police said.
--The Times Picayune, Monday, February 19, 1951 – page 1 
Submitted by Rose Albrizio