Amish Country Arson (25 page)

When the alarm finally and inevitably went
off, Gladys lifted herself upright on to the edge of the bed.
Slowly, she transferred herself to the wheelchair just as she'd
done with Nurse Hal watching her. She turned the wheels on the
chair until she aimed herself around the end of the quilt. She
rolled passed the rocking chairs and into the kitchen.

She opened a drawer and took out a box of
matches. With the box in her lap, she wheeled back to the rockers
and stopped to look around this little home she had barely taken
the time to get to know.

Gladys slid the box out of its cover and
picked up a wooden match. She struck its head on the box side's
sandpaper strip. Carefully to keep the flame burning, she laid it
on the window sill facing the porch. She picked up the bottom of
cotton half curtain and pushed the thin white material into the
flame. It ignited. Yellow and red flames licked up the curtain as
if they were in a hurry to get this job done.

Gladys backed up the wheelchair so she could
watch. When the flames heated the wooden window sill and ate into
the wood, creating a red porous glow she was satisfied. Gladys
turned around and rolled back behind the quilt. She calmly
transferred herself into the bed and covered up.

With one arm over her eyes so she couldn't
see the red flickers on the wall, she waited for what was to come
as she heard the crackles and snaps of the fire eating away at the
house. She smiled, complacent now that she knew she wasn't going to
prison. This might be the very act of attrition that would keep
Wanda and Enoch from being shunned in their new home. The fire
would end it all here for her and serve as her punishment. This
much she could do for herself and her family.

Loud crackling noises woke Wanda and Enoch.
They jumped out of bed in a bedroom much lighter than it should
have been for the middle of the night. Wanda ran out on the porch
and screamed her sister's name as she sank to her knees. The fiery
heat made Wanda think of Hell. She prayed for the Lord to forgive
her sister and hoped he was listening.

A lump grew in Wanda's throat as Gladys house
was completely engulfed in fire. Wanda had not one bit of doubt
that her sister set the fire. She searched for Gladys in the yard
that was now all a glow, but she knew in her soul Gladys was
burning right along with her house. Horrified about her sister's
suffering, Wanda watched the crackling roar of the inferno and
hoped that the end had come swiftly for her sister.

As proof that Gladys was not going easily,
Wanda heard long, horrendously painful screams wailing from the
middle of the inferno. The screams ceased when the roof fell in.
Red sparks of fire shot above the house, caught on the breeze and
sailed high into the sky.

Wanda gripped a porch post, stared as the
wavering sparks moved as one toward Heaven. Convinced that she was
seeing the spirit of her sister rising up, Wanda ask God to accept
the soul of her tormented sister, Gladys Kraybill and make her
heavenly stay more peaceful than her stay on earth had been.

Enoch knew it was too late to try to save
Gladys the minute he saw the house in flames. He mounted one of the
horses in the barn and raced to the phone shed to call the fire
department. He wanted the fire put out before the sparks landed on
his house.

Next he called the sheriff's office. Since he
knew the sheriff was coming out in the morning, maybe he wouldn't
want to bother if he knew Gladys had died.

Once the fire cooled off enough for
investigators to hunt for the body, they recovered bits and pieces
of the body to place in a pine box.

The funeral was like any other Amish funeral
with the visitation in Enoch and Wanda's living room. People from
the Plain community passed by the unopened coffin, expressing their
condolences to Enoch and Wanda for the loss of Wanda's sister even
though they didn't know her.

Outside, they paused to stare at the pile of
smoking rubble and feel sorry for the poor woman who died so
horribly at the hands of the arsonist. Now all the Plain community
could think about was whose building would be next and would
someone else die by fire?

The next morning, everyone came back for the
funeral. They parked their buggies in line on the road ready to
drive to the cemetery.

After a brief service in the Bruner living
room, everyone filed out and headed for their buggies. At the grave
site, Bishop Bontrager led the Lord's Prayer and a hymn. He ended
the service by reading a verse from Job chapter three verse
seventeen. “There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the
weary are at rest.”

The verse seemed like a strange one to quote
at the funeral of an ailing woman that was burnt alive in her home
by a madman. Such an invalid was the poor woman that she was unable
to save herself.

After the funeral luncheon in the Bruner
home, men mingled around outside. Some of the elders gathered out
of the wind by the barn. Among themselves, it was whispered how
worried they were about what the coming days would bring. Their
prophecy of someone dying in one of the fires had come true. And
wasn't that the oddest verse Bishop Bontrager read at the
graveside? What did he mean to say with that verse?

It was Rudy Briskey that came up with the
answer. The bishop surely meant with this death the arsonist might
cease to set another fire. Now that he'd be branded a killer, he'd
move on before he got caught.

That sounded logical to the other men. They
passed this reasoning on to the rest of congregation. Everyone
prayed the bishop was right, and it would be so that the arsonist
wouldn't bother Plain people again. They agreed that Gladys
Kraybill was the weary at rest as mentioned in the Job verse by
Bishop Bontrager. They prayed that now she was at peace in the
hands of the Lord.

Aunt Tootie's Favorite

Amish Chicken Corn Soup

This 4 quarts of soup serves 16 people. Large
amounts of this soup would be used at many of the Amish gatherings
such as craft shows, fairs, benefits or barn raisings to name a few
events.

Prep 15 minutes Cooking Time 40 minutes

12 cups water

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast,
cubed

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup shredded carrots

3 chicken bouillon cubes

2 cans (14 ¾ oz) cream style corn.

2 cups uncooked egg noodles

¼ cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

In Dutch oven, combine water, chicken, onion,
celery, carrots and bouillon cubes. Slowly bring to a boil. Reduce
heat and simmer uncovered for thirty minutes or until chicken is no
longer pink and vegetables are tender. Stir in corn, noodles and
butter. Cook 10 minutes or until noodles are tender. Season with
salt and pepper.

Emma Lapp's Favorite

Amish Tomato Gravy

1 quart canned, peeled, chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoon flour

2 to 3 tablespoon water

4 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat tomatoes to boiling point. Meanwhile, in
separate boil stir together flour and water. Mix until smooth. Stir
tomatoes while pouring flour mixture and brown sugar in. Cook until
thick.

Serve over fried potatoes or Mac and
Cheese.

Can add salt to taste. Amish canned tomatoes
would have salt in it. A tablespoon or two of butter and
parsley.

Hal's favorite salad

Amish Broccoli Salad

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ pound bacon, fried and scrambled

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Mix all together and chill.

Nora's favorite green bean dish

Pennsylvania Dutch Style Green Beans

3 strips bacon, cut up

1 small onion, cut up

2 teaspoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 quart jar green beans

Fry bacon until crisp. Drain fat except for 1
tablespoon. Add onion and brown. Stir in cornstarch, salt, dry
mustard and ½ liquid from green beans. Stir all together until
mixture comes to a boil. Blend in brown sugar and vinegar. Add
green beans and mix.

Spoon in greased casserole dish and put in
350 degree oven until throughly heated. This can be prepared the
day before and served hot or cold.

Serves 6

Jim's Favorite Cake

Raw Apple Cake

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cup flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

3 cups chopped apples

Crumb Topping

8 tablespoon brown sugar

4 tablespoon flour

4 tablespoon butter

In bowl, cream together the sugar,
shortening, eggs and vanilla. Add half of the 2 ½ cups of flour,
soda and salt. Stir well, add chopped apples, then the rest of the
dry ingredients. Fold in well. Pour in 9 x 13 greased and floured
pan.

For topping, combine brown sugar, flour and
butter. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over cake batter. Bake for
50 minutes in 350 degree oven. Good served warm with ice cream.

Amish Molasses Pie

This Amish pie is made with molasses as the
filling. Because it is so sweet the pie attracts flies which has to
shooed away. That is why the Amish call it Shoo Fly Pie.

Shoo Fly Pie

One 9 inch pie crust

For filling

1 cup flour

2/3 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup boiling water

Mix together first three ingredients until
shortening is integrated. Reserve ½ cup of mixture for later. Add
molasses, egg and baking soda. Mix then add water and mix, scraping
down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pour filling in the pie
crust and scattered the reserved ½ cup over the filling.

Bake 375 degrees for 18 minutes and lower
temperature to 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes until crust is
golden and center is only a bit wobbly. Cool pie on a rack. Serve
with whip cream or ice cream.

Amish Taffy

2 cups sugar

1 cup molasses

¼ cup water

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon baking soda

Lightly grease baking sheet.

Bring sugar, molasses, water and vinegar to
a boil in pan over medium heat. Cook and stir until sugar reaches
hard boil stage at 250 to 255 degrees.

Test by dropping small amount of syrup into
cold water to form a rigid ball.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and
baking soda. Pour onto baking sheet. Allow to cool enough to handle
at least ten to fifteen minutes.

Grease hands. Fold taffy in half then pull
to double its original length. Continue folding and pulling until
the taffy turns golden brown in about 15 to 20 minutes. It will be
too stiff to pull anymore.

Cut taffy in bite size pieces and wrap in
wax paper. Store in airtight container. Makes 30 pieces.

Amish Bumbleberry Pie

Not long ago we attended a livestock auction
and stayed to watch the Amish baked goods and small animals and
birds sell. One of the pies auctioned was a bumbleberry pie. Of
course, I think I know every kind of berry there is since I raise
most of them.

Very curious, I asked the Amish waitress at
the salebarn cafe what a bumbleberry looked like.

The young woman gave me a puzzled looked.
“You mean bumbleberry pie?”

“
Yes, one sold at the auction just
now.”

“
I'm not sure what's in that pie,” the
waitress said.

“
Does bumbleberry mean something in
Pennsylvania Dutch?” I asked.

“
Nah,” she said and left to wait on
another customer.

I wasn't about to let this go so I came home
and googled bumbleberry. It turned out to be a combination of odd
and end berries that have been frozen in small batches near the end
of the crops. Black ones are thrown into one pie to get a dark pie
using black raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Or use
strawberries, rhubarb, red raspberries and apples for a red
pie.

Mix together enough of your odd and end
berries (fresh and frozen) to fill the crust of a nine inch pie,
sugar to taste and use flour or cornstarch to thicken. Bake for 45
minutes at 350 degrees or until juice bubbles through the lattice
crust on top.

Amish Food for a Barn Raising

This list of food was found in an old
handwritten recipe book from Amish days gone by.

115 lemon pies

500 doughnuts

15 large cakes

3 gallon applesauce

3 gallon rice pudding

3 gallon cornstarch pudding

16 chickens

2 hams

50 pounds roast beef

300 light rolls

16 loaves of homemade bread

red beet pickles and pickled eggs

cucumber pickles

6 pounds dried prunes, stewed

1 large crock stewed raisins

5 gallon jar white potatoes

5 gallon jar sweet potatoes

This is enough food for 175 men.

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