Bailey fire memories still burn bright
By JODY MURPHY, jmurphy@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG - Charlie Lawrentz spent almost 30 years as a police officer in Parkersburg.
He responded to thousands of incidents and made more arrests than he cares to remember. In his law enforcement career Lawrentz has vivid memories of crime scenes, but few are as memorable as the Bailey family fire in June 1969.
"That was a bad fire," he said.
Lawrentz, a Vietnam veteran, had been on the force two years and was on patrol early Sunday morning, June 8, 1969, when he responded to a fire on the south side near Division Street and West Virginia 2. The tar-paper house, a seven-room structure with an adjacent two-room dwelling, was in one of the poorer sections of the city.
"When I rolled in, it was totally engulfed," Lawrentz said.
Lawrentz got out of his car and ran toward the house. He quickly realized there were people trapped inside although he had no idea how many.
"There was a female in the back of the house screaming," he said. "I remember picking up this huge rock, which I probably couldn't pick up during normal circumstances. I threw it through the back of the house."
Lawrentz said the rock crashed through the wall, but the heat and flames were too great. He could see a female inside, but there was nothing Lawrentz could do to save her. The rickety structure didn't appear safe.
"She was totally engulfed in flames. I couldn't get in there to get her and the back of the house started falling in," he said. "If you went in that house, you would have been dead."
Lawrentz said the heat from the fire was unbearable. It burned off the power lines going into the house.
"You couldn't stand it."
He went to another side of the house where he was told a baby was still inside.
"I got underneath a window and reached in," he said. "I got my head up to the window and I could see black smoke billowing (out). I could see a baby blanket and I pulled it toward the window.
"There was a baby bottle there. About the time I got the baby over where I could see it, the bottle blew up.
"The baby was fried," he said. "Everybody else (in the house) was fried."
When fire crews got the blaze under control, 12 people living in the house were dead.
Charles Bailey, 41, his wife, Ruby, 36, and 10 of their children from 17 years to 6 months old perished.
"A dead body never bothered me, (dead) kids do," Lawrentz said.
Three people, including two of the Baileys' children, Susie, 15, and Roger, 13, had escaped along with their 63-year-old grandfather Obie Bailey.
Charles Bailey had been employed by the county as a maintenance supervisor. Originally from Wirt County, the family had relocated to the southside for his job. They lived in the rented house for about two weeks prior to the fire.
As fire officials descended on the scene sifting through the debris, it became obvious the fire had been intentionally set.
Former Wood County Sheriff Lee Bechtold recalled discovering an open gasoline can on Charles Bailey's county vehicle. Fire inspectors found numerous points of origin for the fire inside the house. Suspicion quickly fell on the three survivors.
Susie and Roger Bailey slept in a two-room structure adjacent to the house. The two escaped the fire, but were nowhere to be found during the blaze.
Officials later discovered the two ran to a nearby store where Susie called her boyfriend, 19-year-old John Bumgarner, to pick them up. When Bumgarner arrived Roger Bailey told him the house was on fire. The three walked to a relative's house on nearby Hamilton Street.
Obie Bailey was the only adult who survived the blaze. Separated from his wife, who was living in Canton, Ohio, Obie Bailey had been staying with another daughter and her family in Wirt County. Bailey told investigators he had medical problems and was receiving treatment in Parkersburg while staying with Charles and Ruby.
Bailey told investigators the fire awoke him and he escaped by crawling out a bathroom window.
Law enforcement officials arriving at the fire gave told investigators Bailey was sitting in a chair near the flames, making no effort to help those trapped inside. He had also reportedly given investigators false information regarding his finances.
Law enforcement officials and many relatives felt Obie Bailey was the culprit.
As relatives sat around the kitchen table at Carl Bailey's Hamilton Street house in the early morning hours of June 9 speculating on Obie Bailey's possible motives, Roger Bailey spoke in defense of his grandfather.
"I'll bet $10,000 grandpop didn't set that fire," Roger reportedly told his relatives, according to statements given to investigators and obtained by The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
"If you will not tell anyone, I will tell you something about that fire," Roger told his relatives and then confessed to helping Susie Bailey set fire to the home.
Roger Bailey would again confess to Assistant State Fire Marshal E.L. Roush and another relative, Helen Enoch.
Susie Bailey, when asked about the fire by Roush, also confessed in the presence of Enoch.
Bailey, a pretty, dark-haired 15-year-old, had reportedly been quarreling with her parents over Bumgarner. According to interviews with police, the two were first cousins and her father did not want her seeing the young man. He threatened to have Bumgarner arrested and send Susie Bailey to reform school.
A little more than 24 hours after the fire, Susie Bailey and her brother Roger were in the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's office, charged with the murder of their parents. It wasn't long before 10 additional counts of murder were tacked on for the deaths of their siblings: Nancy, 17; Theresa, 11; Claudia, 9; Mary, 7; Tim, 6; Debbie, 5; Frank, 4; Dale, 3; Charles, 1 and 5-month- old Rickie. Claudia Bailey was just a week past her ninth birthday. Mary Bailey was two days shy of her eighth birthday.
The deaths of the 12 Baileys at the hands of the two children would be the worst case of alleged parricide in the nation. In addition to being big news locally, the eyes of the world turned its attention to Parkersburg.
Editor's Note; This is the first in a three-part series about the tragic 1969 fire that claimed 12 members of the same family in south Parkersburg. The series continues Monday and will conclude Tuesday.
|
bailey72
|
|
|---|---|
|
06-08-09 11:22 PM
|
i am a nephew of ruby bailey,and i state everything in paper is almost all a lie,i know for a fact throughout the years of the stories my aunts,uncles,grandfather (obie bailey),and grandmother has told me of the stories of this sad and lonely nite.
|
|
Catman57
|
|
|
06-08-09 11:25 AM
|
THANKS, Angelw! I remembered that it was located SOMEHWERE in that area.
|
|
Angelw
|
|
|
06-07-09 9:24 PM
|
The Bailey house WAS where the K-Mart is now. It was right beside Jimbos.
|
|
Catman57
|
|
|
06-07-09 9:11 PM
|
I apologize, folks. The Tate/LaBianca murders were in AUGUST 1969.
|
|
Catman57
|
|
|
06-07-09 8:59 PM
|
Mama01, I think the book is out of print both in its hardback and paperback forms. I used to have it but foolishly gave it away for a raffle at work! They may have a copy at the local library. Mr. Morehead's follow-up book is due out soon, though. Someone "corrected" me earlier today and said that their house was located where Mama Napoli's is now. Is that right? I'm not sure. As for thinking the surname of the family was Adkins, I think I got that name mixed up with the Tate/LaBianca murders that took place, albeit in California, but during that same month; Susan Adkins being the one who killed Sharon Tate. Another HORRENDOUS crime in June 1969!
|
|
Mama01
|
|
|
06-07-09 7:32 PM
|
I'm sure the house was on the KMart side...probably close to where the plant stand is now?
|
|
bobzim
|
|
|
06-07-09 7:10 PM
|
I remember seeing the hearses lined-up in front of the funeral home downtown. It was very tragic. I also remember driving by the Wirt Co. jail and seeing the 2 surviving kids inside. I believe they were kept there for a while?
|
|
Observer
|
|
|
06-07-09 6:25 PM
|
I remember when this happened, but I never knew it was the worst crime of it's type in the US. Thought I remembered the house being where Kroger's meat dept. is now.
|
|
Mama01
|
|
|
06-07-09 4:31 PM
|
I've heard a couple of versions of the outcome, I don't know which to believe, can't wait until the paper posts more for the next two days.
|
|
Angelw
|
|
|
06-07-09 12:09 PM
|
Well, since many of you don't know, I won't reveal the outcome either. However, since there was a couple important facts left out of this version, I'm wondering if you're going to hear the truth about the rest of it.
|
|
Mama01
|
|
|
06-07-09 11:25 AM
|
I'd like to buy a copy of that book, is it at the Trans Allegheny Bookstore?
|
|
Catman57
|
|
|
06-07-09 10:29 AM
|
I remember that fire very well, but for some reason, I always thought the last name of the family was Atkins or Adkins. The house (shack, really) was located near where the Southside K-Mart stands. I will NOT divulge the outome of the trial, as the newspaper is covering this case in two additional installments, but it will undoubtedly shock and surprise everyone who is not familiar with this 40 year old tragedy. The case is very well documented in local author/historian David Morehead's book, Death is No Stranger.
|
|
belpremom2009
|
|
|
06-07-09 9:44 AM
|
What was the outcome of the trial?? I hope they didn't get released when they turned 18 or 21.
|
|
Mama01
|
|
|
06-07-09 8:04 AM
|
I remember passing the cemetary where they were buried. I think it was one mass grave. I still get goosebumps when I pass the area where the house was.
|