Individual Details

Agnes F. LEMBCKE

(31 Jul 1907 - 17 Feb 1923)

On February 17, 1923, William and Catherine Lembcke and their youngest daughter, Agnes, all died in their beds as the result of a gas leak under their home. The following is a transcription of a story from the local newspaper:

The Pointer [Riverdale, Ill. (P.O. Dolton, Ill.) Friday, February 23, 1923 -- Vol. XVI, no. 40]

Lembcke Family Dies While Asleep in Bed -- Broken Gas Pipe Under House, Cause

Father, Mother and 15-year Old Daughter Succumb to Poisonous Fumes -- Inquest Today -- Dolton Mourns

The breaking of a gas pipe under the kitchen floor, probably from the frost, caused the death of William Lembcke, 63, his wife, Catherine, 60, and daughter, Agnes, 15, early last Saturday morning, Feb. 17. They lived at 939 Grant Street, Dolton. The Lembcke family have lived in Dolton for the past six years.
John Lembcke, a son, engineer on the C. & E. I. railroad, was returning home from work last Saturday morning about 4:30, when he noticed a light burning at the home of his parents, who lived next door to him on Grant Street. He thought one of the family might be sick and went to the kitchen door. It was locked and no response came to his knocking on the door. He went to his parents' bedroom and knocked on the window, but received no response, then to his sister's window and still no response. Becoming alarmed he went back to the kitchen door and thought he detected gas; he smelled the key-hole and then was convinced that something was wrong. He had a key to fit the front door and soon had it open. The smell of gas was stifling and he opened the doors and windows at once and went to his parents' bedroom. They were cold and dead. He went to his sister's bedroom. She was dead. He telephoned for Dr. Weidner and notified the gas company. It was evident from the position of the bodies of his parents that his mother was awakened and turned on the light, but was overcome and fell across the foot of the bed.
His sister's body was laying just as she went to sleep, on her back, with a rosary in her hands. The room was cold and it was her custom to say her prayers kneeling until she got cold and then get into bed and finish. Agnes was a high school girl and was attending Chicago Street School near her home. Her death is a great shock to school mates.
When Dr. Weidner arrived he found all were beyond medical aid. They looked around to find where the gas came from. There seemed to be no leak whatever in the house, but a further investigation developed that a gas pipe must be broken under the kitchen and the deadly gas made its way into the house around the openings in the floor. The gas company men were soon there, but the shut off at the house still left an odor and the main had to be shut off in the street.
The bodies were removed to Good's morgue and taken home again Sunday evening. The inquest was postponed until Friday afternoon (today) at 2 o'clock.
Edith, who lived home with her parents, works nights at the Haney offices. It has been the custom for her father to take her to the office at night, but it was slippery Friday night and she induced her father to stay home and she would telephone as soon as she got to the office, which she did at 11 p.m. Agnes answered the phone and all was well at that time.
Funeral services were held Tuesday morning at St. Mary's Church, Riverdale, conducted by Father Liebreich. Interment was at Mt. Olivet.
The Lembcke family have lived in Dolton for the past six years and are highly respected. The death of father, mother and sister at one time is the saddest thing that could come to a family and those who remain have the sincere sympathy of the entire community.
Mr. Lembcke was a retired farmer and recently sold the homestead farm to his son, George, and planned to live the remainder of his life with his children in Dolton. The father and mother were a very devoted couple and were very proud of their children.
They leave five sons and one daughter to mourn their untimely death, namely: John, Arthur and Edith, of Dolton; George, of Seymour, Wis., and Louis of Ryder, North Dakota.
Louis had to ride nearly fifty miles on horseback in the cold weather, to reach a train home. He used two horses. One gave out after 25 miles and died. He got another one and came on.
Others of the family from a distance were:
Henry Lembcke, brother, from Milwaukee, Wis.
James Duister (sic), brother of Mrs. Lembcke, Green Bay, Wis.
Miss Mary Duister, sister, and Mrs. Frances Lurquim (sic) and husband, Joseph, son Fred and wife and daughter, Agnes.
Arthur Duister, a cousin of Green Bay and Mrs. May DeGrooth (sic) of Green Bay.

Events

Birth	31 Jul 1907	Wisconsin, United States
Death	17 Feb 1923	939 Grant Street, Dolton, Cook, Illinois, United States
Burial	20 Feb 1923	Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

Families

Father	William LEMBCKE (1860 - 1923)
Mother	Catherine L. "Katie" DEUSTER (1863 - 1923)
Sibling	John Joseph LEMBCKE (1886 - )
Sibling	Lewis Edward LEMBCKE (1888 - )
Sibling	Edgar C. LEMBCKE (1890 - 1902)
Sibling	George W. LEMBCKE (1892 - 1976)
Sibling	Arthur Henry LEMBCKE (1895 - 1983)
Sibling	Albert Richard LEMBCKE (1899 - 1965)
Sibling	Edith E. LEMBCKE (1901 - 1954)