Daily Hansan
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57th Year. No. 65
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Thursday, Jan. 7, 1960
Baby Dies As House Burns
SCENE OF BABY'S DEATH—Paul Andrew Badger Jr., 13 months old, died in the fire which leveled the home of his parents just after midnight. The house was $ \frac{3}{4} $ mile west of Iowa Street on the 15th street road. (Kansan photo by Harry Ritter.)
Grieving Mother Tells Story Of Flight Through Flames
By Carrie Edwards
"The first thing I remember was running through the bedroom and calling 'Was it my baby?'
The Wakarusa Fire Department reached the scene in 35 minutes.
"It was all gone. He could move a corner of the bed but Andy didn't move. And didn't even cry."
"The flames and smoke had taken over the living room and door. My husband pulled me out of the (bed-room) window and went back for the baby.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Badger lost Andy last night. Mrs. Badger today sat in an easy chair and sobbed out this story;
"We called the Lawrence Fire Station and the Wakarusa one about five times each. It seemed like eternity before anyone came.
"The next baby I have — if I ever have another one — I'm going to sleep with.
"We fixed him that special nursery.
"We just don't know how it happened.
"I don't even remember waking up. The whole side of the house was in flames when Paul kicked out the window and made me get out. You couldn't see through the smoke in the living room. It was all gone — and Andy."
"He ran to the baby's room. Flames jumped up in his face. He pulled the bed toward the door.
"Andy didn't move. It got so hot Paul had to let go of the bed."
Mrs. Badger's mother-in-law said smoke woke Paul up.
Andy's bedroom, large enough for a bed, chest of drawers, diaper pail and electric heater, was behind the kitchen which was next to the living room. Mrs. Badger said:
Weather
"Paul burned his hands and face. He drove to his mother's (in Lawrence) and called the fire department. He had to go in his underwear — the clothes were burning. I went to the neighbors, and Mrs. Lohrenz (the neighbor) must have already called the fire departments before Paul called again
Generally fair tonight and tomorrow. Low tonight 20s. High tomorrow 45 to 50.
"The Lawrence firemen didn't want to come.
"The flames were simmering in Andy's room when my father-in-law came and got me. It must have been about 1 a.m. Fire was moving into our (Mr. and Mrs. Badger's) room.
"Someone took Paul to the hospital. They said there he had second-degree burns.
"My parents are flying from Tennessee, but no one can do anything. My sister's coming from Washington. We lost everything."
The fire broke out about 11:55 last night, according to Mrs. John Lohrenz, who lives on the farm next to the Badger house. She said:
"My husband woke up and heard a big whoosh—like a wind or like something big catching fire. The whole east side (where the baby's room was) was all in flames.
"It burst out all at once. The electric heater in Andy's room had some sort of safety guard on it. Even if it had fallen over it couldn't have caused a fire."
Mrs. Badger said she could not figure out how the flames started.
Two women from the Assembly of God Church brought Mrs. Badger four outfits of clothes for herself and husband.
"We'll do anything to help. Just let us know," they said as they left. Mrs.Badger sobbed.
By Janet Juneau and Gabby Wilson
The only evidence that a home had existed on the remaining foundation of the small tenant house was the upturned, charred refrigerator, the scorched, automatic washer and the metal bed springs.
Thirty minutes after a fire alarm was turned in last night a fire truck arrived at the blaze. A 13-month-old baby, Paul (Andy) Badger Jr. was killed in the fire one half mile west of the Lawrence city limits.
A half-burned baby scales, talcum powder can and a china bear that once held flowers showed a happy baby once lived there.
This was the second mix-up in the jurisdiction of the Lawrence Fire Department and the Wakarusa Fire Department this week. The first occurred during the fire that destroyed a roller rink south of town.
An electric heater in the baby's room was given as the probable cause of the fire.
It was reported that three KU students turned in the alarm. However, Arthur T. Woolley, Salma senior, explained that he and two companions, Douglas J. Price, Kansas City, Mo. senior, and Kenneth L. Ebling, Kansas City junior, were at the scene but did not turn in the alarm.
Woolley said he saw a small flame from his room on 6th floor, west side of Templin Hall about 11:50 p.m. The three men drove in Woolley's car to the scene.
"When we got there, there were a couple of men (unidentified) sitting in a car. We asked if there was anyone in the house and they said there was a baby."
Woolley said he and his two companions took a screen off an open window on one side of the house and tried to look inside, but that the smoke was too thick and the kitchen was completely in flames.
"We didn't turn in the alarm. The two men in the car said the man in the house had gone to the neighbors to turn in the alarm."
Woolley said a police car arrived about 12:10 and radioed the alarm. Woolley said the fire department arrived about 12:25—probably closer to 12:30.
"We timed it. We were interested in seeing how long it would take the fire wagon to arrive. The whole house was in flames before the fire department got there."
This was the Wakarusa fire wagon
This was the Wakarusa fire wagon. Albert Smith, chief of the Wakarusa Fire Department, the township in which the fire was located (3/4 mile west of Iowa on 15th St.), said the Lawrence Fire Department received the alarm at midnight, 30 minutes before the Wakarusa department was notified.
"I'd like to find out why it took so long for us to get the alarm," he said.
"They (the Lawrence department) not give alarms. They called here at
12:20 and said, 'Did you get the alarm?' and hung up. Ten minutes later they called back and gave the location and we got to the fire.
"The city gave no reason for not calling us. They told the person who turned in the alarm to call us, but people got too excited to call another number—especially when they are not familiar with the system.
"When they first called, we got the truck ready. Then when they called back we were ready to go." Chief Smith said.
Chief Smith said that if the city would have relayed the message—when they received the alarm, we would have been there sooner.
"I don't know why 30 minutes elapsed, but it should be straightened out.
"The city could relay calls faster than telling the person where to call." he said.
John Miller, chief of the Lawrence Fire Department said the first alarm came in to them at midnight.
"The fireman told them to call the township department and gave the number.
"We can't relay calls because we get in trouble. There might have been a mix-up in relaying the message. If there is a mistake, then there would be trouble. If we received an alarm in the city, while on another call, then we would be in bad shape," he said. He continued:
"We've got the chance of making a mistake when we're relaying a message. We can't take that chance. No really good fire department would ever attempt to relay a call."
Because of the rural location of the fire, it was in the jurisdiction of the Wakarusa Township Fire department. The Wakarusa department has the authority to call in Lawrence fire department if help is needed.
Chief Smith said that people do not know there is a Wakarusa department.
A mix-up in delegation of authority was involved in the fire which swept the Lawrence Roller Rink.
Chief Miller said he called to make sure the Township Department would make the run.
"I asked him if he had got the alarm. He mumbled something, but my car was coming and I had to go. I couldn't understand what he said. If he would have asked for directions I would have given them to him. I'm not afraid to break the regulations in an emergency."
Ise Not Confident About Humans
John Ise, professor emeritus of economics, told of an "unfortunate wretch" in Peking, China, who was fisembowcled on a street by a honey cart. The persons standing nearby lauded.
"I'm not as confident about this human animal as many people are," Prof. Ise said. He sat on a table last night at the Philosophy Club meeting in the Kansas Union and talked about compassion, kindness, and judgment in men.
"Anyone who sees suffering all the time, and suffers himself, is not going to be very kind" he reasoned.
Prof. Ise puffed on his habitually present, straight-stemmed pipe during his speech, "Man and the Other Animals." He answered questions from the 60-person audience.
"Ive got to say that animals aren't very good judges. A dog will love a master he ought to chew up. But a man who never judges things is a nitwit," he said.
Man Is a Nitwit
The famous and outspoken liberal —sometimes termed KU's perennial prophet of doom—criticized man, his religion, his life. Speaking with the mellowness of his youthful 74 years (he refused a ride home after the
speech, insisting on walking with the aid of his stout cane). Prof. Ise emphasized that he was not a pacifist, but detested needless cruelty and senseless pain.
He said:
"Man is not so superior to animals, but can be either better or worse than animals.
"Man is supposed to have brains, reasoning power — whatever that means — yet he believes business and political advertisements, he reads the pulp magazines and books, he buys hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of patent medicines; he perhaps adored Joseph McCarthy. He may stop his car when a black cat crosses the street—may begin no journey on the 13th.
"What shall we say of the man in Alabama who is a Democrat because his grandfather was, or of the Kansan who is a Republican for the same reason?"
Zeal Orgies Are Common
Prof. Ise said some men seem capable of thinking, but most show only a "readiness to indulge inorgies of religious zeal for some cause or hysterical anger at some real or fancied threat or danger.
"The McCarthy insanity illustrated
the latter. Frank Knight believes that only a few men can think, the rest can only become excited — throw up their hands and forget to use their brains."
He said that birds and animals probably have more mental powers than man gives them credit for: "We have no way of looking at them from their own point of view. We rate them by our own standards."
He reviewed birds' unerring migrational habits.
Dogs Have Dignity
"We may call it 'instinct'," a word that covers a large total of ignorance, but the truth is that with all our cunning we cannot understand that kind of intelligence."
Man's large brain enables him to create, and it also makes him in some ways the most destructive of the animals."
He mentioned the persistence of coyotes in spite of heavy hunting pressure and told of the raconteo who stole bait from a dozen traps. He said that a dog has a sense of dignity and shame.
Prof. Ise said man spread across America 100 years ago "like a devouring horde of locusts or Japanese beetles, destroying everything that
they found which was destructible. He did create cities — about the ugliest in the world. He also built roads and railroads so that he could go farther and destroy more in a process called 'development.'
"I wonder where another century of creative development will leave us."
He said that men have a number of crazy customs, but that many men do their worst in the realm of the supernatural. He talked of the religious fear of New Guinea savages and the beliefs of American Puritans.
Deer Is Sensible
"Looking at a deer or antelope from the outside, I get the impression that his life, short as it is, is rather preferable to that of a Puritan. He (deer or antelope) doesn't invent the things he is afraid of—which seems sensible."
Prof. Ise said that man is a creative and aspiring animal, but that only about one man in 10 million creates great art, music, or literature—"which is a slightly larger proportion than we find in baboons, none of which create these things. One ten-millionth is only a little more than none, is it not?"
(Continued on Page 8)