Indiana County PA Archives News.....Dias Children Die by House Fire October 4, 1911
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Donald Buncie http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008389 June 13, 2026, 6:58 am

Indiana County Gazette October 4, 1911
NINE CHILDREN PERISH IN FIRE WHICH BURNED HOME 
Desperate Efforts of Parents to Save Them Unavailing, and All Were Cremated in
Burning Building. 
REMAINS BURIED IN ONE COFFIN. 
One of the most horrible tragedies in the history of this county occurred early
on Sunday morning when the nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Dias, of near Heshbon.
perished in a fire which destroyed their home.
THE DEAD:
Carl Dias, aged 13 years.
Harry Dias, aged 11 years.
Elnora and Lenora Dias, twins, aged 8 years.
Albert Johnson Dias, aged 7 years.
Ralph Dias, aged 5 years.
Foster Dias, aged 3 years.
Willie Dias. aged 2 years.
Ruth Dias, aged 5 months.
The Dias family live on the old Jesse Fee farm, about a mile this side of
Heshbon. The dwelling was a frame structure of one and one-half stories. The
parents slept in a front room on the second floor with the baby in a crib near
their bed. The remaining eight children occupied a rear room on the second
floor. Shortly after 1 o'clock Sunday morning, Dias and his wife were awakened
by smoke. Mrs. Dias ran down the stairs but when she opened a door at the foot
of the stairs a volume of flame and smoke rushed up the stairway and she was
forced back to her room. Opening a window she climbed out and dropped to the
ground, injuring her back in the fall. Dias followed, neglecting to bring the
baby with him. Finding it impossible to enter the house, he climbed up the
outside to a window of the room occupied by the children. Bursting in the
window, he reached for the hand of a sleeping daughter, but just then the side
of the house fell in and he was thrown into the flames. One hand and one foot
was seriously burned. None cf the children were saved. Frantic with grief the
parents screamed and cried but it was some time before any of the people from
the surrounding country reached the scene. By that time the house was a
smoldering pile of ruins. All day long a crowd of sympathizing country folk
watched and searched the smoldering embers for remains of the children. The
charred skulls and a few pieces of bone are all that was recovered. It is
believed that the children were mercifully saved the torment of death by fire by
being suffocated by the smoke. Tenderly the heart-broken and injured parents
were cared for by sympathizing neighbors. One coffin sufficed to hold the
remains of the victims, which were buried in the cemetery at Heshbon. 

Additional Comments:
Indiana County Gazette Wed, Oct 04, 1911

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