By Associated Press
Raleigh, Jan. 6—Three persons were burned to death, another burned seriously, a fireman injured and a number of automobiles destroyed in a fire which destroyed a garage here today.
The garage was operated by Isaac Simpkins and was located on East Morgan street.
The dead are:
Mrs. Isaac Simpkins, her four-year-old son, and negro nurse.
Isaac Simpkins was badly burned when he attempted to re-enter the building to rescue his wife, after having jumped form a second story window with his daughter.
Carroll Beck, a fireman, fractured his arm in two places when a sudden burst of flames from a window caused him to lose his balance on a ladder and fall.
Simpkins and his family lived in an apartment above the garage and were trapped by the fire, which started by an explosion, according to the fire department.
The flames spread rapidly.
Rushing to a window Simpkins urged his wife, holding her small son in her arms, to jump. She refused.
The man caught his daughter and jumped. He rushed back into the building to rescue his wife, but was driven back by the flames. He was so badly burned, physicians stated, he is not expected to live. Simpkins, his clothes burning, was standing beneath the window where his wife had appeared when the firemen arrived.
“Jump, mother, jump,” he called.
The only answer was a scream.
He pleaded with the crowd to save his wife and child.
Beck was attempting to reach the window when the flames caused him to fall.
Firemen were not able to reach the room in which the bodies were found until 7 this morning, nearly three hours after fire started. Dinty Moore and W.G. Brewer, also roomers of the building, escaped by sliding down a shed in the rear.
Between 50 and 100 automobiles were in the garage.
The loss of the building and autos was estimated at $60,000, the building valued at $20,000, all partially covered by insurance.
From the front page of the Salisbury Evening Post, Saturday, Jan. 6, 1923
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