OBIT: Arthur and Ferrie MORELLI, 1915, Listie, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Keith Petenbrink.

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Morelli, Arthur and Ferrie


DYNAMITE EXPLOSIVE AT LISTIE KILLS TWO CHILDREN, Five (Fire?) in the Morelli 
boarding house Saturday night at Listie, this county, resulted in the building 
being blown to pieces and two children of Angelo Morelli, Ferrie, aged four 
years and Arthur aged four months. The tipple of the Meyersdale Coal Co. was 
also destroyed. All of the twelve boarders and the members of the Morelli 
family, with the exception of Mrs. Morelli, had retired for the night, nearly 
midnight. An oil lamp exploded and one of the rooms almost instantly became a 
mass of flames. Then the mistake was made that cost the lives of the children 
and injury to four of the others. Instead of attempting to extinguish the flames 
by other means, water was thrown on the burning oil and the flames greatly 
spread. It is thought that the burning oil ran down a crack in the floor and 
reached the oil can and then a keg of powder in the cellar, besides several 
sticks of dynamite. The explosion of the powder was followed by the explosion of 
the dynamite and the burning building was in a moment a mass of ruins. It is 
believed that the children were killed by the explosion and that they suffered 
no pain. There charred bodies were found in the ruins. For miles around people 
heard the explosion and soon hundreds were at the scene. The boarders not 
injured in the letgo [sic] used sheer force in preventing Morelli from rushing 
into the ruins in an effort to save his children, notwithstanding that he had 
already been injured so badly that the outcome may be in doubt. Flying glass 
thrown by the explosion had cut the man in a dozen places. The three boarders 
were injured in a similar manner but not so seriously. In a remarkably short 
time and before the injured boarders could do anything to prevent it, the flames 
spread to the tipple of the Meyersdale Coal Company by which all of the men are 
employed and in less than half an hour that structure was in ruins. A call for 
aid was sent to Meyersdale and the fire apparatus was started for Listie but it 
was stopped when half of the distance was covered, as no other buildings were in 
danger. The total loss to Morelli and the coal company will be in the 
neighborhood of $10,000. All that the family had was invested in the house and 
contents and they are now in a destitute condition.

Meyersdale Commercial, Apr. 22, 1915