Sean Paul Murphy, Writer

Sean Paul Murphy, Writer
Sean Paul Murphy, Storyteller

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Grave Tale #19: Gertrude Parnaby

I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on the website FindAGrave.

I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.

Saint Matthew's Cemetery is one of a cluster of adjacent cemeteries lining O'Donnell Street in East Baltimore. It is a narrow strip of land stretched between O'Donnell Street and Interstate 95. Some of the cemeteries in the area have fallen into shameful disrepair. While Saint Matthew's is hardly pristine, it is being actively maintained. There are some overturned monuments, but the grass remains cut. That's better than some cemeteries I've visited.

I traveled down to O'Donnell Street to visit another cemetery, but my wife Debbie suggested we take a look at Saint Matthew's. I had driven past it many times, but I never ventured inside. But who was I to say no to my lovely wife? I'm glad I didn't. We were only in the cemetery for a few minutes before Debbie found the Parnaby monument. It marked the graves of two parents, Bert and Margaret Parnaby, and two of their daughters, Ethel and Margaret. They all died in 1939. That alone caught my attention, but the final inscription told me I had another grave tale. It read: Mother Died Trying To Save Her Children.

I rushed home to check out the newspapers to find a truly terrible tragedy, ennobled by an act of maternal heroism. Here is the story of Gertrude Parnaby and her family:

The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 August 1939, Wednesday:


BLAZE TRAPS SIX IN
HOME; TWO ARE SAVED
-----
Mother Fatally Burned In Effort
To Rescue Two Girls
-----
Curley St. Fire Traced To
Summer Kitchen in Back Yard
-----

     Smoke and flames from a fire roaring up a stairway killed four members of a family of six today in a small two-story home at 915 South Curley street.
     A father and two of his young daughters died in the blazing building. The mother of the girls died later in a hospital from burns inflicted when she dashed back into the flames in a hopeless attempt to save the girls, already dead.

Victims Listed

      The Dead:
     Bert Parnaby, 48 years old, a shipfitter, found dead from burns in a second-floor bedroom.
     Mrs. Gertrude Parnaby, 45 years old, died at the City Hospital eight hours after firemen carried her down a ladder following her flight into the flames in search of her daughters.
     Ethel Parnaby, 16 years old, smothered in bed.
     Margaret Parnaby, 8 years old, asphyxiated in bed beside her sister.
     Only two of the family were saved. They are Gertrude, 10 years old, who owes her life to the fact that, unlike the others, she slept in a first-floor room, and her 19-year-old brother, Charles, who dropped from a window at the rear of the house and escaped with burns on one hand.

Traced To Summer Kitchen

     Firemen traced the outbreak to a small frame building attached to the brick dwelling and used as a hot weather kitchen.
     Less than half an hour after it was discovered, the blaze was brought under control by firemen, but in that time everyone who remained in the house was dead or dying. Investigators said the fire spread from the backyard kitchen to the house and, with the stairway to the second floor as a flue, wrecked the lower half of the building. There were no signs of fire in the bedroom at the front of the second floor where the two girls died, overcome by smoke.

Fire Discovered By Neighbor

     The fire was discovered at 1 A.M. by Miss Harriet Morgan, who was walking to her home around the corner at 2915 Hudson street. Miss Morgan stopped to talk to a neighbor sitting on the steps of a house near the Parnaby residence and, while standing there, smelled smoke.
     Looking around, she saw wisps of smoke curling from the doors and windows of the Parnaby home, a house into which that family moved only a short time ago from a residence three blocks away on Potomac street.
     Miss Morgan ran to the house and banged on the door, shouting "fire" at the top of her voice.

Gertrude Rescued

     The door was opened by 10-year-old Gertrude, who was pulled out into the street by Miss Morgan. The little girl wanted to go back, but Miss Morgan, seeing the flames inside, held her. She turned Gertrude over to a neighbor aroused by the shouts and ran to a firehouse at Linwood avenue and O'Donnell street.
     At the same time, Norman E. Horstman was awakened in his home at 920 South Potomac street and looked out a rear window. Across an alley, he saw flames rising from the Parnaby house. He ran to Potomac and Dillon streets and turned in an alarm.
     Parnaby and his son Charles shared a rear bedroom on the second floor. Mrs. Parnaby slept in a room between this and the bedroom at the front occupied by the two girls. Mrs. Parnaby was roused by the calls from the street and made her way through the flames to the outside. She was burned, but not badly enough to disable her.

Thought Mother Was Safe

     In the rear bedroom, Charles was awakened by the smell of smoke. His first thought was for his mother's safety. The smoke was so thick he could not see, but he crawled to her bedroom and found her bed empty. He felt around the floor and, satisfied Mrs. Parnaby had escaped, went back to the bedroom where he had left his father. Parnaby had also weakened and had started down the stairs.
     Charles dropped from a window to the roof of the back-yard kitchen. He and a neighbor, James Buckins, of 917 South Curley street, attached a garden hose and sought to drown the fire in the back of the house.
     Mrs. Parnaby was screaming "Save my children" when she suddenly broke away from a group in the street and ran into the burning building. When she was next seen she was at an upper window, her clothing in flames, begging for someone to save the children. She had gone through the wall of flames in the stairway, which had driven back her husband in his attempt to escape.
     Firemen sent up a ladder upon their arrival. Among those brought out by the noise was Albert Uriahs, 913 South Curley street, a fireman off duty. Because he was familiar with the floor plan of the house, he climbed up the ladder first, and it was he who brought down Mrs. Parnaby. She was sent to City Hospitals, but was so severely shocked by witnessing the deaths of the others in her family that physicians said they were unable to administer the usual treatment for burns.
     She died at 9:30 A.M.
     When firemen entered the building they found the girls dead in bed and Parnaby burned to death on the floor of his bedroom. They said it was apparent the man had been driven back in an attempt to get down the stairway.

What a terrible tragedy! Four dead in a late night house fire, including two children. Whenever I see a tombstone with multiple deaths on the same day during that time period, my first thought is usually that it was a house fire. The Parnabys, however, were the first victims of a house fire I found on my journey through Baltimore's cemeteries. 

The Evening Sun did an excellent job recounting the story. You really get a strong feeling for the sequence of events and the emotions of the people involved. However, it raised questions in my mind. I know I am sailing in dangerous waters to question the actions of people caught in a terrifying crisis, but I found some things odd.

I am not doubting the courage or bravery of the mother Gertrude, who literally ran through a wall of flames and sacrificed her own life in an attempt to rescue her daughters. However, I have been in a small South Curley street rowhouse myself. I know the layout. If Gertrude was in the middle, second-floor bedroom, she would have had to run past the bedroom door of her two daughters to get downstairs. I can't help but wonder why she didn't grab her children before she left the house the first time.

Additionally, Gertrude must have fled the house initially without raising any alarm to either her son Charles or her husband Bert. When Charles woke up, he had no idea his mother was gone. His first instinct was to crawl into her bedroom and check her bed and floor, obviously assuming she was still there. Once he realized she wasn't in her room, he returned to his bedroom in the back of the house and jumped out of the window to safety. Interestingly, according to the story, after attempting to rescue his mother, Charles made no attempt to rescue his two sisters in the front bedroom. Perhaps the reason why would have been obvious to anyone there. Perhaps a wall of flames in front of their bedroom door made rescue appear impossible. However, the girls were not burned. They were killed by the smoke.

That said, Charles was a hero too. His first thought upon waking was to rescue his mother, and, when he got out, he put aside any concern about his own injuries to help battle the fire. Bravo.

Even the daughter Gertrude sought to re-enter the house.  This was a heroic family.

Of course, the answer to my questions about their decisions is clear. The Parnaby family awoke to find their house filled with fire and smoke. That automatically leads to panic and confusion. Plus, none of them could have been thinking right. According to the fire department, the two girls in the front room were probably already dead from smoke inhalation. The judgment of those who woke up was probably adversely affected by carbon monoxide poisoning. Had Harriet Morgan not raised the alarm when she did, the entire family probably would have died in their sleep within minutes.

That any of them survived is a miracle, and the actions of Gertrude and her son Charles is a testament to their courage and love.

The story continues:

The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 18 August 1939, Friday:


FAMILY'S 4 DEAD
IN FIRE ARE BURIED
-----
500 Gather Outside Chapel.
Youth Who Survived Blaze
Attends Funeral.
-----

     Funeral services for the four members of the Parnaby family who were either burned or suffocated in a fire at their home at 915 South Curley street Wednesday were held today at an undertaking establishment at Eastern avenue and Wolfe street.
     About 500 neighbors and friends of the fire victims, in addition to those who were accomodated in the chapel, crowded the intersection during the rites and four patrolmen and a sergeant from the Eastern police station under command of Lieut. Edward Shamberg, were assigned to the scene to keep traffic moving.

Survivor Attends Funeral

     The four members of the family for whom the services were held were Bert Parnaby, 48, a shipfitter; his wife Mrs. Gertrude Parnaby, and their daughters, Ethel, 16, and Margaret 8.
     A son, Charles, 19, who escaped from the fire by dropping from a window, was the only member of the immediate family who attended the funeral. His sister, Gertrude, 10, who was dragged from the burning house by a neighbor who discovered the fire, had been sent to Washington to stay with relatives.

Other Relatives Present

     Several other relatives accompanied the surviving son to the funeral services, which were conducted by the Rev. Charles A. Hensel, pastor emeritus of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, at Potomac and Dillon streets.
     Another 150 persons, in addition to those who gathered in or near the funeral home, awaited the funeral procession at the St. Matthai Cemetery, in the 5700 block of O'Donnell street. A brief service was conducted there also by Rev. Mr. Hensel and burial was made in one plot.

It would good to see that their was family nearby to care for the survivors. It was also good to see the community rallying around them. But it would be another few days before the investigation into the cause of the fire would be complete:

The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 24 August 1939, Thursday:


Tampering With Electric Fuses Blamed For Fire
-----
Firemen Find Those In Curley Street House
Stuffed With Tinfoil -- Four Lives Lost

     Tampering with the electric fuses was blamed yesterday for the fire at 915 South Curley street last Thursday that resulted in the death of a couple and two of their four children.
     George T. Evans, president of the Board of Fire Commissioners said the incendiary bureau had found that fuses in the home of Bert Parnaby had been stuffed with tinfoil after they were burned out so that the current would not be interrupted.
     "When the wires are overloaded they may get red hot and cause a fire and I believe that is what happened in this case," said Mr. Evans. The fuses, he declared, must have burned out because the wires were carrying too much current or because of defective insulation.

So much for the initial verdict of the fire starting in the outside summer kitchen. I am old enough to remember the old fuse boxes, and, if I am not mistaken, I remember us putting pennies in them temporarily when we didn't have a new fuse. We got off lucky.

The Parnaby fire was a terrible disaster. However, a week later, the world was engulfed in an even more cataclysmic tragedy. Germany would invade Poland on the first day of September initiating the Second World War in Europe. Charles Parnaby, our noble survivor, would get caught up in the maelstrom. He would fight in the Army. He would survive, marry and, according to genealogical records, have children. Still, his life would be cut short. He would die on 4 March 1953. He was only thirty-three-years-old.  

I don't know how he died. I could find no further newspaper stories about the children after the events surrounding the fire.  I did, however, find a sad story about the father Bert in the newspaper six years prior to the fire.  Here it is:


Boy, this was a family touched by tragedy. According to genealogical records, the daughter Gertrude married. In the online family trees I consulted, all information about her was marked as private. That means she is either still alive or had only recently died. I hope she managed to find some happiness.

Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one...

Grave Tales:

My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting. 


Learn more about the book, click Here.

Listen to me read some chapters here:


Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:

The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An Introduction
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The House
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is Us
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, Arrival
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, Methodology
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's Tale
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3

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