FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 70, 20 March 1877, Page 3

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.

[From tii:? Dunedin Star.] Fires almost innumerable have occurred in Dunedin and its suburbs at various times. Sometimes the damage done by the consuming l element has been comparatively trilling, while on other occasions property of immense value has fallen before the ravages of the flames ; but the catastrophe of last night—or rather this morning—has bad but two horrible parallels in the history of Dunedin fires," viz., the destruction of iui hotel in Stafford street some thirteen or fourteen years ago, when a man named " Charlie " met his fate, and the burning of Mr. Jago's establishment some nine or ten years since, when a human being was literally roasted in the building. Rumors that a similar fate had befallen an unfortunate man during last night's fire were only too amply verified to-day, and it is now established beyond the possibility of a doubt that the destruction of the boarding bouse was but a bagatelle compared with the dire catastrophe that attended it. particulars of the fire. The first intimation that a fire had broken out was given at about a quarter to two o'clock this "morning, when the alarm bell on the hill pealed forth in significantly loud tones its startling news. The King street bell was not far behind in echoing the refrain, ami people listened anxiously for the distinguishing strokes to inform them in what ward the destroyer was at work. One !—two ! —three ! tolled out the bells, and ten ensued a scamper for. Bell Ward, each one endeavouring to be the first to ascertain who was the victim of the disaster. Guided by the fatal glare, the scene of the fire was soon reached, and those who had read in the daily journals of the accident that had occurred the previous day to the Waverley Boardingbouse shook their heads suspiciously as they beheld that building on lire for the second time within twelve hours. Captain Sinclair and his company of firemen were not long in putting in an appearance ; but by the time they arrived it was apparent that the solitary hose-reel they bad brought with them was totally inefficient to save the doomed house, which in a very few minutes was nothing but a mass of flame. However, nothing daunted by the terrible beat, the gallant band of * red-coats battled like Trojans against the devouring element, and, although they were fairly driven back twice by the intense heat and the smoke, they came to the charge again, and, owing to the foresight of Captain Sinclair, were furnished with wet blankets to shield them in some measure from the perils which threatened them. A house belonging to Mr Dodds, draper, and inhabited by himself and family, which was only separated from the boarding-bouse by a narrow passage, was on fire several times, as was also a cottage owned by Mr Inglis, draper, and tenanted by a Mr M'Lennie ; but both places, owing to the judicious management of Captain Sinclair, were only partially destroyed. It soon became evident to the large crowd assembled—numbering probably some 20,000 persons — that the fire would not extend beyond the immediate locality in which it broke out, arid after a short but fierce struggle portions of the devoted bnilcling fell one by one into ruins. First the roof went —then the walls—and in a comparatively short time from the outbreak there was nothing left but the usual monument of such an occurrence —a mutilated and crumbliug chimney. The wind, which at first was light from the westward, fortunately hauled round to the north-east and fell still lighter, and thus diverted the cloud of sparks from a very dangerous block of buildings in King-street, and possibly helped to curtail the area of the fire. GHASTLY DISCOVERY —A MAN BURNED. . The worst, however, remains to be told. As soon as the fire wasfairly extinguished

Captain Sinclair, according to custom, left four of his men in charge of the premises, and wont back to the Bzigade station returning a few minutes later he heard a report that some person had been left in the building when the other inmates bad cleared out, and, accompanied by Firemen Wicks and Williden, be went over the ruins. As they went along the firemen raked over a lot of debris, and presently they became aware of a curious smell, which increased so much as they poked at the heap beneath their feet that Wicks was seized with vomiting. One of tlie men suggested that a dog bad probably been burnt with the bouse, but Mr. Sinclair said that could scarcely be the case, as he had seen the dog belonging to the house alive and running about since the fire. Animated with a horrible suspicion, the explores quickly removed some more of the blackened heap, when the melancholy cause of the odor became apparent, reclining on his left side, and scarcely distinguishable from the common ruin, was a human body, the arm and elbo wof which Avere protruding. Speedily removing the surrounding ashes, the head and shoulders were brought to view, and ere many minutes all that remained of the hapless man was placed by the firemen on a sheet of corrugated iron, and the hideous and shapeless heap of calcined bones and scorched flesh that represented what an hour previously was a living being was being conveyed to the hospital. All attempts at identification were of no avail until this morning, at about twelve o'clock when a fellow-passenger of the deceased to this country recognised the mutilated fragments as the remains of a man oftwenty years of age named Daniel Barrett, Deceased was a native of Cork, was unmarried, and had been three years in the Colony. His only relations in this place are a sister residing in Port Chalmers and a brother at Taieri. The unfortunate young fellow had only come to Mrs. McCluskey's on Saturday last, and had, we believe, previously lived In Hutton's Caledonian Hotel in Walker-street. He had been used to farming work, and had left the Caledonian Hotel in search of employment. A WOMAN JUMPS OUT OF THE WINDOW. Another casualty occurred to a young woman named Ann Ryan, one of the boarders. While jumping out of the window on to the verandah, she slipped and came with violence to the ground, and was apparently so much injured that it was deemed advisable to send her to the Hospital. However, we are glad to say that she was not seriously hurt, the principal damage incurred being bruises on the back. One of the girls boarding in the house had her clothes stolen from the street, where she had removed them ; but the police generally kept tlie crowd well back, and under the charge of Inspector Mallard, did much to prevent confusion, and were especially active in getting the occupants of the house—some twenty in number—to a place of safety. When the police left the scene of the fire, about 3.30, the boarders expressed themselves as thoroughly satisfied that there was no one remaining in the building at the time the fire broke out. In fact the Inspector would not be satisfied until he had seen them all excepting an old man and an old woman, whom he, with Sergeant-Major Bevan and Sergeant Dean subsequently traced distinctly to a place of safety. The Waverly Boarding-house was a twostorey building containing fifteen rooms, owned by Mr. Henry Williams, of Caversham, and by him let to Mrs. M'Cluskey. The fire appeared to have originated downstairs, in the sitting-room or the kitchen, and was first discovered by the landlady, who, with her three children, slept in the sitting-room. As soon as possible Mrs. M'Cluskey effected the escape of herself and the children,and then with all possible speed alarmed the neighbors of their imminent danger. The origin of the fire is unknown, but it is supposed to have occurred through the kitchen fire-place standing too close to a boarded wall which divided the kitchen from the sitting-room. Mrs. M'Cluskey was the last one to go to bed last night, and says that when she retired, at midnight, all the fires were out and there was no light burning. Mr. Dodds had not much time to spare in vacating, as his house is completely burned through on tlie side fronting the boarding-house, and his five children and wife were hurried out as soon as Mrs. M'Cluskey gave the alarm. The M'Lennies, who lived in a cottage on the other side of the burned building, also got out with as much haste as possible, and not a minute too soon, for their house, which is owned by Mr. Inglis, was actually on fire, and one of the walls and the roof were burned through.