A TRAGIC FIRE

The twelfth of December, eighteen hundred and eighty, commenced as any ordinary winter’s day. It was cold and frosty and snow covered Middle Brook and the surrounding areas. George Young, his wife Susanne Madore and their two children lived in a bungalow house situated on a flat open field near the brook. Susanne was eight months pregnant at the time and she had a servant girl staying with her to care for her and her children. Her husband ,George .was away on a hunting trip and wasn’t expected to return for a few days. Although the day had started out bright and sunny, the clouds began to darken as if foreshadowing the tragic events that would take place later that night.

Snowflakes began falling late that evening and darkness had already set in. The lanterns were lit. Susanne, her children and the servant girl ate supper and then Susanne rested while the children played and the servant girl completed her chores for the evening. A visitor came to the house afterwards although no one remembers whom it was. Apparently, the visitor stayed with the family that night.

Sometime during the night after everyone was asleep fire broke out at the Young’s residence. Susanne woke up in a panic when the odour of smoke filler her room. She raced frantically through the thick smoke to save her children. She grabbed the youngest child and she put him outside a then made her way upstairs searching for the other child. But the smoke was so thick it was choking her and then the entire house was engulfed in flames. There was no escape from this burning inferno and everyone perished in this tragic fire.

Funeral services for the family took place on December fifteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty. The remains of the victims were buried on the exact location where they perished. The gravesite remains visible today after one hundred and twenty-five years. The people who travel the shoreline and have knowledge of this tragedy always visit the graves. Mother Nature provides different varieties of flowers on the gravesite annually. Susanne’s husband George was left alone with one child in Bank Head and later in years, he remarried and started another family.