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.
