CLARK NV Archives Obituaries.....[WYATT, Alta 7/5/1908]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerry Perry missgerry@cox.net [10/28/2007]

 LAS VEGAS AGE
7/11/1908

CRUEL FLAMES

SUNDAY MORNING FIRE ROBS FAMILY OF HOME AND LITTLE ONE

	Sunday morning at 9:00 the cry of fire was heard and flames were 
seen breaking through the roof of a cottage on Lewis street near Second, owned 
by P. J. Sullivan and occupied by J. R. Wyatt, a fireman on the Las Vegas & 
Tonopah R. R.  Within one minute and before citizens could reach the scene the 
house was a roaring furnace of flame.  Mrs. Wyatt had left her home momentarily 
leaving her two small boys in the rear of the house and the fifteen months old baby 
girl on the floor in the kitchen.  As she heard the cries and ran to the house she 
realized that her little girl was in the flames and her cries for help for her baby 
were agonizing.  Before the first man could reach the scene however the little life 
had gone out and no earthly power could save.
	Within three minutes of the time the fire started the fire department had a 
stream of water playing on the building, and after a fierce struggle of half an hour the 
flames were under control.  Search was at once made and the half consumed body 
of the child taken from the ruins and cared for by tender hands.
	The father who was at the ice plant at the time heard the alarm of fire and 
hurried home only to receive the awful tidings from the lips of the frantic mother.
	Immediately after the fire the great hearted citizens made up a substantial 
purse to aid the stricken ones in establishing a new home.  The Wyatts lost all their 
belongings, nothing being saved from the flame.  The loss on the house is $800 with 
insurance of $400.
	Owing to the spendid work of the fire department and the fact that there was 
no wind the fire was confined to the building in which it originated.
	The best substantiated account of the manner in which the fire started is to 
the effect that the two small boys were playing with firecrackers and ignited the excelsior 
contained in a box on a bench in the rear of the house.
	The sentiment against allowing this wholesale harvest of death and destruction 
each Fourth of July to continue is very strong in every portion of the country.  Neither the 
hapiness nor the patriotism of young America will suffer if the general use of fireworks, 
firecrackers, firearms and explosives by youth of every age and degree is prohibited in 
every city in the United States.
	A glance at the appalling list of dead and injured due directly to this cause 
each year would justify such a measure.
	The beautiful funeral service of the Episcopal church was conducted by Rev. 
H. G. Gray over the remains of little Alta Wyatt at the residence of A. W. Jurden at 5:30 
Sunday evening.  A large number of friends gathered to show their heartfelt sympathy at 
the terrible bereavement which had come to the heartbroken father and mother.
	The little white casket, laden with flowers, was borne by young boys, and as 
the solemn desert twilight fell all that was mortal of sweet little Alta Wyatt was forever 
hidden from view.