A fireman stands outside of the building where a baby burned to death in a tragic accident on the morning of October 20, 1941. In an attempt to break up the congestion caused by the baby's cold, Katherine Robertson, the mother, had rigged a homemade vaporizing device for her six month old son Richard Robertson. As the mother mailed a letter and hung out a few items of wash, the vaporizer boiled dry and ignited a sheet over the infant's wicker basket bed. The walls, coated with several layers of wallpaper, ignited in a wall of flames. Mrs. Robertson was badly burned trying to rescue her son. (T. Times 10/20/1941, pg. 1)

Fires--Tacoma--1940-1950; Apartment houses--Tacoma;