Don't Pour Gas in the Cracks

July 13, 1911
Family of Five Burned
Gasoline Explosion Kills Parents and Children

Flammable Stuff Put in Cracks to Kill Bugs Catches Fire With Fatal Results
(Special to Daily Press)
Grand Junction, Colo July 13

O.J. Williams, pumpman on the Rio Grand and Western Railroad, his wife and three small daughters are dead today the result of a gasoline explosion at Ruby. Two of the children were so badly burned that nothing was found except their skulls and leg bones. The gasoline was poured into the cracks of the floor to kill bugs. The cause of the ignition is unknown.

July 21, 1911
Five Burned to Death; One Drowned
Grand Junction - The terrible toll which fire and water took near this city is six lives, when a gasoline explosion killed every member of one family except one, and the waters of the Grand river claimed their fourth victim for this summer. The dead are:
O. J. Williams, horribly burned on all parts of his body;
Florence Williams, aged 8, lungs seared with flames;
Cleo Williams, aged 6, killed by force of explosion;
Roxie Williams, aged 10, killed by force of explosion;
Mrs. O. J. Williams, with flesh dropping off, was taken to a hospital where she died.
C. A. Wolfkill, drowned.