Newspaper article about husband's death & story before Zella's passed away.

Hughes, Ark. - A father and his three small children died and four other persons, including the mother, were severely burned as the result of a stove explosion and a fire that swept through their improvised quarters here Thursday midnight.

Dead are Robert Lee Davis Sr 33; Charles Davis 4; Van Eldridge Davis 2; and Robert Lee Davis Jr 4 months.

Mrs Davis was severely burned when she rushed back into the building to try to save her husband and children. She is in a critical condition at a Memphis hospital.

Also receiving treatment for burns at a Memphis hospital are Mrs Walter Turner, condition "poor", her husband and Miss Louise Boyles, neither seriously hurt.

The party had moved from their home on Island 34 in the Mississippi River because of rising waters and had sought refuge in a vacant building. The explosion resulted when one of the group threw fuel oil on a stove fire.

The father died in the flames while the three children died later of burns.

****************************

Daughter of John David Crum & Minnie Bobo

Her three sons of the marriage to Robert Davis all die on the same day in January 1945, after a house fire. She dies a couple days later, already a widow... Her husband died in the fire, but can't find a record of his death.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/M14W-7Y6/p4

Name: Zella Davis

Event: Death

Event Date: 14 Jan 1945

Event Place: Memphis, Shelby, Tennessee

Gender: Female

Marital Status: Widowed

Race or Color: White

Age: 25

Birth Date: 24 May 1919

Birthplace: Miss.

Spouse: Robert Lee Davis

Father: John W. Crum

Father's Birthplace: Miss.

Mother: Minnie Babo

Mother's Birthplace: Miss.

Occupation: Houysewife

Street Address: Hughs

Residence: St. Francis, Ark

Cemetery: Memorial Park

Burial Place: Memphis

Burial Date: 15 Jan 1945

Digital Folder Number: 4184897

Image Number: 1665

Film Number: 2137355

Volume/Page/Certificate Number: cn 1499

Collection: Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955

STORY OF HER HEROIC DEATH

==========================

Blytheville Courier News - Rescue Attempt Ends In Death - Mrs. Zella Davis Dies Of Burns; Rites For Family To Be Held

Body burns received by Mrs. Zella May Davis Thursday night when she re-entered a blazing building near Hughes, in an effort to save the lives of her husband and three children proved fatal yesterday.

Her husband, Robert Lee Davis, 33, died almost instantly, and the children, Robert Lee Davis, Jr., 4, months, Van Eldridge Davis, 2, and Charles Lee Davis, 4, subsequently died at Baptist Hospital, Memphis. Mrs. David, 25, died at the hospital at 1:30 yesterday morning.

Services were to be held for the family this afternoon at the Memorial Park with the Rev. J. Kenneth Shamblin officiating,. Burial will be there.

The Davis family, Mrs. Mary Turner, her husband, Walter Turner, and Miss Louise Turner were moving to the A. L. Waring farm near Hughes from Island 34, near Wilson to escape the rising river. After the truck in which they were riding broke down, they sought shelter in an empty store building nearby. Tractor fuel through on a heated stover caused an explosion.

Mrs. Turner's condition at Baptist Hospital is still serious, but "slightly improved". Other members of the party were dismissed following emergency treatment.

Mrs. Davis leaves her father, John W. Crum; two sisters, Mrs. Velma Ray of Memphis and Mrs. Odie May Hendrix and two brothers, Roosevelt Crum of Memphis and Lide Crum with the Army.

ARKANSAS MARRIAGE

=================

Arkansas County Marriages, 1837-1957 for Zella Mae Crum

Groom: Robert Davis

Groom's Age: 24

Groom's Residence: Crawfordsville, Arkansas

Bride: Zella Mae Crum

Bride's Age: 18

Bride's Residence: Earle, Arkansas

Marriage Date:

Marriage License Date: 8 Aug 1936

Marriage Place: Crittenden, Arkansas, United States

Film Number: 2110022

Digital Folder Number: 4175213

Image Number: 00435

Page Number: 86

Source: Arkansas County Marriage Records, 1837-1957