Keowee Courier

PITIFUL TRAGEDY
IN NORTH CAROLINA

Fire in Macon County, Near Franklin, Results in Death of Three Young Men.

(Franklin Press, April 23.)

About 3 o'clock on the morning of April 16th, three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jacobs lost their lives in a fire which consumed the home and all household effects of Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, near Aquone, in Macon County, eighteen miles west of Franklin. Mr. Jacobs, timber foreman for J. A. Porter, was at the lumber camp on Burningtown when the fire occurred, and reached home about 10 o'clock. Carl Jacobs, a married son, and his wife were spending the night at the home of his mother. Carl and three brothers--Troy, 21; John, 18, and Hubert, a lad of 10 years--were sleeping upstairs, the sleeping quarters being reached by means of a ladder. When the fire was discovered the two older boys gave the alarm and descended to the lower floor. It was soon learned that the younger brothers did not follow. Frantic, Mrs. Jacobs started to go up the ladder after her boys. Troy prevented his mother from going, and went up himself in a heroic, though vain, attempt to save his brothers. He was never seen alive again. It is presumed that he was overcome by the smoke and fire, as the whole loft was ablaze when he made the supreme sacrifice for his beloved brothers. It is probable that the two younger boys were suffocated while still asleep. The Press was unable to learn how the fire started.

The badly burned remains of the three boys were buried at Kyle on the 16th, all three bodies being placed in one grave. Rev. D. A. Younce conducted the funeral services.