Regarding the article about Walter who "BURNED HIS EYES OUT" and his sister Nellie: I was contacted by Nellie's granddaughter! She said that Walter did not go blind. He went on to own the Powers Printing Company in Kansas City. Nellie married and lived in Overland Park, Kansas (about 20 miles south of Kansas City). She and her husband moved to California where Nellie died in Huntington Beach. John > >"The Kansas City Star" (Missouri) Wednesday, August 25, 1897 > > > >BURNED HIS EYES OUT. > > > >Walter POWERS and his sister Nellie, 9 and 8 years old, visited > >their grandmother, Mrs. S. A. FRYBERGER, yesterday at > >2700 Mersington avenue, and were left alone in the house while > >the grandmother went to sing and pray with the prisoners in the > >county jail. > > > >On a top shelf of a sideboard in the dining room was a bottle full > >of powder. Little Walter climbed up and got it and he and his little > >sister went into the yard to play with it. They dug a hole in the > >ground under a peach tree and poured in some powder and > >covered it with loose dirt. Walter struck a match, bent over the > >mine and touched it off. The flame and dirt puffed up into his eyes, > >singeing the flesh and filling his eyes with dirt. He screamed with > >pain and was totally blinded. Little Nellie started with him for their > >home, twenty-one blocks away. She led him by the hand and held > >a fan before his face to shade his blistered eyes from the hot sun. > > > >The doctor who is attending little Walter says he thinks the child's > >eyesight has been destroyed. Walter is a son of F. G. POWERS > >of 2736 Woodland avenue. > > > >====================================================== > > (I have no connection with this family but I'd appreciate > > knowing if you found this posting helpful.) > > johnobrien@kc.rr.com > >======================================================