RAYMOND -- January 19, 1961 -- Authorities were baffled today in attempts to determine the cause of the tragic fire that snuffed out the lives of three small children here yesterday afternoon.

The tiny victims of the raging blaze, which sent up a sheet of smoke and flames that blocked rescue attempts, were children of Mr. and Mrs. Myron Cate, of Lane Road

Mrs. Cate and two other children, including an identical twin of one of the victims, escaped the flames. Mr. Cate, a 30-year-old shoe worker, was at work in a local factory.


Only moments before the fire broke out, Mrs. Cate - working on the family laundry in the basement - sent Terri upstairs to quiet a younger child who was "fussing".

Inspectors from the state fire marshal's office were probing through the ruins of the Cate home this morning in quest of elusive clues to what might have caused the tragedy.

"We’ve run up against a stone wall" said Inspector Ernest Jenkins. "We just can't understand how a fire could start and get out of control so quickly, with Mrs. Cate just a few steps away in the basements.

Jenkins said investigation into the cause was hampered last night by darkness and sub-zero temperature.

Ted Robert and Myra Ann, the two youngest victims, were found in cribs in a first-floor bedroom. Terri's body was found on the dining room floor.


Dr. Wendell P. Clare, of Portsmouth, medical referee, said the three children died of suffocation

Mrs. Cate told officials at about 2:30 p.m. she was hanging clothes on a line just outside the cellar door as Timothy Ralph,6, and Sherri Rae, 3½, the other twin played nearby. She said she sent the other twin upstairs with a toy for the other children.

Suddenly she said, she heard a "sound like a tornado," upstairs and roused up the stairs, only to be forced back by the heat.


Mrs. Cate said she then led Timothy and Sherri out the cellar door and sent them to the home of a neighbor, Miss Phyllis Grace, about 500 ft. away. Miss Grace called Raymond firemen.

Mrs. Cate went to the front door of the two-story, six room frame house but could not make her way inside because of the intense heat and heavy smoke.

Only the shell of the home remains standing. The damage was estimated at about $10,000 by Raymond Fire Chief Phil Fox.


An investigation is being continued into the cause of the fire. Representatives frp, the State Fore Marshal's office and the sheriff's departments were probing the runs yesterday afternoon

The home was heated by a wood furnace in the cellar. There was a tank-gas stove in the kitchen which officials said was not lit at the time of the fire. There was also a tank-gas hot water heater in the cellar.

The Cate home was about a quarter of a mile from the scene of a fire in which Mr. and Mrs. Frank Matera burned to death on Feb 13, 1959.


Firemen were called to assist the Raymond Department from Epping, Fremont, and Candia, as they battled flames in near-zero temperatures. Last night, the Cate family was staying at the home of Mrs. Cate's sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Eckert of Diamond Hill Road in Candia.

The bodies of the children were taken to the Seavey Funeral Home in Candia.

Funeral services will be held at the Baptist Church, Raymond, Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Rev. Gerald Bradley, minister of the church will officiate.

There will be no calling hours at the funeral home. The family has requested that flowers be omitted and that contribution be made instead, to the Baptist Church, Raymond.