Eileen F. Benoit, 34, housewife, died attempting to save Ann M. Curtis, 4, from burning, East Dedham, Massachusetts, December 1, 1953. At night a fire broke out in the Curtis apartment on the first floor of a three-story frame house and spread to the rear bedroom occupied by Ann. Mrs. Benoit, her three children, and other upstairs occupants were apprised of the fire by an older sister of Ann and escaped from the house with her. Thinking there would be time to return for Ann, her mother led two other children outside. The flames became more intense and spread rapidly, and dense smoke filled the apartment. Informed that Ann still was inside, Mrs. Benoit followed by Ann’s older sister ran to the rear of the house, ascended a stairway to an enclosed porch, and opened a door of the bedroom. Ann could be heard crying inside. Heat from the flames was intense. Clasping one hand to her mouth, Mrs. Benoit crawled over a bed just inside the doorway. From the edge of the bed she slid downward to the floor as if to resume crawling and disappeared from the view of Ann’s older sister, who did not enter the bedroom. Firemen wearing smoke masks entered the apartment 10 minutes later and brought the flames under control. They found Ann and Mrs. Benoit close together on the bedroom floor. Both were dead of suffocation and extensive burns. 43092-3938
43092 – 3938
43092-3938