Parkinson, Ben

Two lead and zinc miners were credited with possibly saving the life of a feeble 84 year old woman who wanted to save her false teeth a few minutes before fire destroyed her home and a neighboring house at Cardin Oklahoma Friday night. Returning from their jobs in the mines at 11:30 o'clock, Ben Parkinson and his son, Ray Parkinson, realized that flames from an adjoining dwelling probably would ignite the home of Mrs. George Cope, an elderly widow who lived alone. The miners forced their way into Mrs. Cope's home and ignoring her demand that she be allowed to get her teeth from a water glass, carried the women out of the house in her nightgown. The Parkinsons are neighbors of Mrs. Cope. Meanwhile, neighbors rushed into the Cope home and saved some of her furniture before the rest of her belongings and the three room house were destroyed only a few minutes after she was carried outside. Already consumed by flames was the north adjoining four room home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Webb. The couple and two year old daughter escaped in their night clothing before their house and its entire contents were destroyed. Chief Gerald Williams, who theorized that the fire started in the kitchen of the Webb home, said an extremely high wind and low water pressure were the main causes of the fire department's inability to extinguish the flames before the homes were gutted...Chief Williams and his crew, however, succeeded in preventing flames from the Webb dwelling from igniting a house on the north which was occupied by Mrs. Mary Gaines. Her home was slightly scorched, Williams said. Also an elderly woman who lived alone, Mrs. Gaines was ill at the home of a daughter in Pittsburg Kansas, when the fire broke out...The Webb home was not insured. Mr. and Mrs. Webb and daughter are staying with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Vickery, at Cardin until they are able to find other living quarters. Webb is a miner.