BODY RECOVERED
The body of the little girl, Jacqueline Umphrey, was recovered from the ruins this morning a matter of inches from the room explored frantically last evening by her father, Wallace Umphrey, after Kerosene had exploded in the kitchen stove of the cottage and in a matter of seconds had transformed the building into a flaming pyre.
Hospitalization at the Cary Memorial hospital in Caribou as a result of the tragedy are the little girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Umphrey, formerly of Washburn, Mrs. Evelyn Carter and Herbert Scott of Washburn. A fifth person, William Martin of Sinclair, escaped without injury. Mrs. Carter, Scott and Martin were members of a fishing party who had dropped into the cottage for a chat.
Scott's condition was described by Dr. C. L. Donahue of Caribou as the worst of the group, although none are on the danger list. All received facial burns, Dr. Donahue stated.
The little girl's grandfather visited the patients at the hospital this morning and learned from his son's lips the details of the tragedy.
According to Earnest Umphrey, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Umphrey went to Fort Kent Sunday evening, stopping at Daigle to attend the fires in two potato houses in which he was in charge. The little girl was left in the care of a school girl.
The couple returned from the show late in the evening, allowed the girl to go home and sat in the cottage talking with Scott and his fishing companions.
KEROSENE IS CAUSE
The fire in the stove had apparently died until it contained only a few embers when Umphrey picked up a can of kerosene and threw some on the fire.
The cottage immediately became a mass of flames, cutting off escape from the door. Mrs. Umphrey ran and picked up the child from the bed while the men were breaking out a window and removing the glass. The men went out in order to make sure no jagged bits of glass remained in the window sash, then Wallace Umphrey lifted his wife through the window to discover that the child had slid from her grasp.
Three separate times Umphrey vaulted back through the window and searched for the child; each time the intense heat and flames drove him back out, catching his clothing and burning him badly.
In the meantime, help had been summoned from the fire departments from St. Agatha, Frenchville and Fort Kent because of the proximity of the cottage to houses in Sinclair. Dr. Romeo Levesque of Frenchville also came to the fire, administered first aid to the survivors and ordered them taken by ambulance to the hospital in Caribou.
Estimated loss by fire department officials was $4,000.