Newspapers

1884 Apr 11 ~ The Daily Cairo Bulletin
She Frightened Her Husband
Shelbyville, Ill., April 10. – Mrs. Usury, the wife of a farmer living sixteen miles south of this place, has met with a terrible death. A few days ago she had a little quarrel with her husband and took the following means of frightening him. She emptied the contents of the coal oil can over her clothes and then proceeding to do the same with the lamps, afterward tossing them into the street. By this time she was thoroughly saturated with oil and her young children becoming frightened called in one of the neighbors, who staid until her husband came home. Her husband paying no attention to her on entering the room, she deliberately walked up to the stove and ignited her dress. She was immediately enveloped in flames, and rushing into the street threw herself into a ditch. Her husband attempted to rescue her from her fearful position, but could not succeed in tearing off her clothes until it was too late. She lingered in great agony and died on Wednesday morning.

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