Ira S. Houser, 37, railroad flagman, died attempting to save Gail L. Mickey, 2, from burning, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1910. Houser ran to the second floor of a burning frame house to rescue the sleeping baby. An hour later, after the fire had been extinguished, his body was found on the first floor at the foot of the stairs with the body of the baby near his outstretched arms. 4648-367
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4648-367Obituary
Two lives lost and the destruction of a frame dwelling opposite the Chambersburg, Pa., hospital shortly after three o’clock on Jan. 6, 1910, is the story in brief of the first fire of 1910 in this county seat. Ira S. Houser, age 37, proved himself a hero in responding to the frantic summons of his next door neighbor, Mrs. Frank Mickey, by rushing into a burning building and making a valiant effort to save a sleeping 2-year-old child in an upper room.
He did not succeed in reaching the child and was evidently overcome by smoke, falling unconscious at the front stairway. A few moments later, his body was found.
Young Mr. Houser was a C.V.R.R. freight brakeman and was the son of the Jere Houser of Stoufferstown, Pa. He was an energetic and highly esteemed young man.
(Edited from an obituary provided by a family member.)