Daughter of Audie Louis Thacker and Francis Moore (Franklin Isabell Moore).
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Baby Girl Dies In Flash Fire
By John Rutledge
A baby girl burned to death Sunday afternoon and her parents and grandmother received face and hand burns in a frantic attempt to save her from the flames which swept their home at 1928 South Fitzhugh as hundreds of fairgoers drove by, bumper-to-bumper.
Dead on arrival at Baylor Hospital was one-year-old Jo Ellen Thacker.
Treated there for injuries were:
Her father, Audie Lewis Thacker, 25, second and third degree burns on hands and face.
Her mother, Frances Thacker, 26, minor burns on hands and face.
Her grandmother, Mrs. Nellie Thacker, 44, owner of the home, burns on wrists and hands.
Thacker, a Chance Vought Aircraft worker, said he and his wife were hanging wallpaper and painting in their living room when the flash fire exploded at 5:40 p.m. Jo Ellen was sitting in the doorway between them and the bedroom.
Members of the Thacker family ran into their front yard screaming for someone to help them rescue the baby. But stunned motorists in the heavy traffic headed for Fair Park just sat and watched, a neighbor said.
Thacker said he first heard his wife scream, then turned to see that Jo Ellen had knocked over a half-gallon jar of gasoline on the floor. A gas heating stove, with only the pilot light burning, was nearby in the living room.
After the explosion, Thacker said, "I tried to run for the baby. But couldn't see. I groped around for her, finally touched her, but couldn't pick her up. Then I realized I was on fire and I had to back out of the room."
Thacker's wife and his mother, who had been sprinkling clothes in the kitchen, were burned when they tried to smother his flaming clothing and also keep him from returning to the blazing living room.
Finally they got Thacker into the backyard, where he rolled in the grass and put out his burning clothes.
The grandmother said, "When I first heard Frances yell, I looked in the living room. There was fire all over it. And then it came right out into the kitchen."
A neighbor, Mrs. J. J. Yarbrough of 1632 South Fitzhugh, said she heard a muffled rumble, then saw flames. She telephoned the fire department, then squirted a garden hose on the blaze.
Her daughter, Mrs. Mildred Maberry, 30, said, "They were screaming for help. But people (in the slow-moving traffic) just sat in their cars."
Mrs. Maberry grabbed up bed slats outside the Thacker house and broke in the wooden front door. But the billowing flames drove her back.
Firemen, who said flames were shooting out every window and door in the six-room house when they arrived, estimated total damage at $4,000.
- Dallas Morning News
October 18, 1954
--------
Baby Girl Dies In Flash Fire
By John Rutledge
A baby girl burned to death Sunday afternoon and her parents and grandmother received face and hand burns in a frantic attempt to save her from the flames which swept their home at 1928 South Fitzhugh as hundreds of fairgoers drove by, bumper-to-bumper.
Dead on arrival at Baylor Hospital was one-year-old Jo Ellen Thacker.
Treated there for injuries were:
Her father, Audie Lewis Thacker, 25, second and third degree burns on hands and face.
Her mother, Frances Thacker, 26, minor burns on hands and face.
Her grandmother, Mrs. Nellie Thacker, 44, owner of the home, burns on wrists and hands.
Thacker, a Chance Vought Aircraft worker, said he and his wife were hanging wallpaper and painting in their living room when the flash fire exploded at 5:40 p.m. Jo Ellen was sitting in the doorway between them and the bedroom.
Members of the Thacker family ran into their front yard screaming for someone to help them rescue the baby. But stunned motorists in the heavy traffic headed for Fair Park just sat and watched, a neighbor said.
Thacker said he first heard his wife scream, then turned to see that Jo Ellen had knocked over a half-gallon jar of gasoline on the floor. A gas heating stove, with only the pilot light burning, was nearby in the living room.
After the explosion, Thacker said, "I tried to run for the baby. But couldn't see. I groped around for her, finally touched her, but couldn't pick her up. Then I realized I was on fire and I had to back out of the room."
Thacker's wife and his mother, who had been sprinkling clothes in the kitchen, were burned when they tried to smother his flaming clothing and also keep him from returning to the blazing living room.
Finally they got Thacker into the backyard, where he rolled in the grass and put out his burning clothes.
The grandmother said, "When I first heard Frances yell, I looked in the living room. There was fire all over it. And then it came right out into the kitchen."
A neighbor, Mrs. J. J. Yarbrough of 1632 South Fitzhugh, said she heard a muffled rumble, then saw flames. She telephoned the fire department, then squirted a garden hose on the blaze.
Her daughter, Mrs. Mildred Maberry, 30, said, "They were screaming for help. But people (in the slow-moving traffic) just sat in their cars."
Mrs. Maberry grabbed up bed slats outside the Thacker house and broke in the wooden front door. But the billowing flames drove her back.
Firemen, who said flames were shooting out every window and door in the six-room house when they arrived, estimated total damage at $4,000.
- Dallas Morning News
October 18, 1954
Daughter of Audie Louis Thacker and Francis Moore (Franklin Isabell Moore).
--------
Baby Girl Dies In Flash Fire
By John Rutledge
A baby girl burned to death Sunday afternoon and her parents and grandmother received face and hand burns in a frantic attempt to save her from the flames which swept their home at 1928 South Fitzhugh as hundreds of fairgoers drove by, bumper-to-bumper.
Dead on arrival at Baylor Hospital was one-year-old Jo Ellen Thacker.
Treated there for injuries were:
Her father, Audie Lewis Thacker, 25, second and third degree burns on hands and face.
Her mother, Frances Thacker, 26, minor burns on hands and face.
Her grandmother, Mrs. Nellie Thacker, 44, owner of the home, burns on wrists and hands.
Thacker, a Chance Vought Aircraft worker, said he and his wife were hanging wallpaper and painting in their living room when the flash fire exploded at 5:40 p.m. Jo Ellen was sitting in the doorway between them and the bedroom.
Members of the Thacker family ran into their front yard screaming for someone to help them rescue the baby. But stunned motorists in the heavy traffic headed for Fair Park just sat and watched, a neighbor said.
Thacker said he first heard his wife scream, then turned to see that Jo Ellen had knocked over a half-gallon jar of gasoline on the floor. A gas heating stove, with only the pilot light burning, was nearby in the living room.
After the explosion, Thacker said, "I tried to run for the baby. But couldn't see. I groped around for her, finally touched her, but couldn't pick her up. Then I realized I was on fire and I had to back out of the room."
Thacker's wife and his mother, who had been sprinkling clothes in the kitchen, were burned when they tried to smother his flaming clothing and also keep him from returning to the blazing living room.
Finally they got Thacker into the backyard, where he rolled in the grass and put out his burning clothes.
The grandmother said, "When I first heard Frances yell, I looked in the living room. There was fire all over it. And then it came right out into the kitchen."
A neighbor, Mrs. J. J. Yarbrough of 1632 South Fitzhugh, said she heard a muffled rumble, then saw flames. She telephoned the fire department, then squirted a garden hose on the blaze.
Her daughter, Mrs. Mildred Maberry, 30, said, "They were screaming for help. But people (in the slow-moving traffic) just sat in their cars."
Mrs. Maberry grabbed up bed slats outside the Thacker house and broke in the wooden front door. But the billowing flames drove her back.
Firemen, who said flames were shooting out every window and door in the six-room house when they arrived, estimated total damage at $4,000.
- Dallas Morning News
October 18, 1954
--------
Baby Girl Dies In Flash Fire
By John Rutledge
A baby girl burned to death Sunday afternoon and her parents and grandmother received face and hand burns in a frantic attempt to save her from the flames which swept their home at 1928 South Fitzhugh as hundreds of fairgoers drove by, bumper-to-bumper.
Dead on arrival at Baylor Hospital was one-year-old Jo Ellen Thacker.
Treated there for injuries were:
Her father, Audie Lewis Thacker, 25, second and third degree burns on hands and face.
Her mother, Frances Thacker, 26, minor burns on hands and face.
Her grandmother, Mrs. Nellie Thacker, 44, owner of the home, burns on wrists and hands.
Thacker, a Chance Vought Aircraft worker, said he and his wife were hanging wallpaper and painting in their living room when the flash fire exploded at 5:40 p.m. Jo Ellen was sitting in the doorway between them and the bedroom.
Members of the Thacker family ran into their front yard screaming for someone to help them rescue the baby. But stunned motorists in the heavy traffic headed for Fair Park just sat and watched, a neighbor said.
Thacker said he first heard his wife scream, then turned to see that Jo Ellen had knocked over a half-gallon jar of gasoline on the floor. A gas heating stove, with only the pilot light burning, was nearby in the living room.
After the explosion, Thacker said, "I tried to run for the baby. But couldn't see. I groped around for her, finally touched her, but couldn't pick her up. Then I realized I was on fire and I had to back out of the room."
Thacker's wife and his mother, who had been sprinkling clothes in the kitchen, were burned when they tried to smother his flaming clothing and also keep him from returning to the blazing living room.
Finally they got Thacker into the backyard, where he rolled in the grass and put out his burning clothes.
The grandmother said, "When I first heard Frances yell, I looked in the living room. There was fire all over it. And then it came right out into the kitchen."
A neighbor, Mrs. J. J. Yarbrough of 1632 South Fitzhugh, said she heard a muffled rumble, then saw flames. She telephoned the fire department, then squirted a garden hose on the blaze.
Her daughter, Mrs. Mildred Maberry, 30, said, "They were screaming for help. But people (in the slow-moving traffic) just sat in their cars."
Mrs. Maberry grabbed up bed slats outside the Thacker house and broke in the wooden front door. But the billowing flames drove her back.
Firemen, who said flames were shooting out every window and door in the six-room house when they arrived, estimated total damage at $4,000.
- Dallas Morning News
October 18, 1954
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