THE LATE FIRE IN BALCLUTHA.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 189, 22 February 1878, Page 6

THE LATE FIRE IN BALCLUTHA.

... An. inquest into the fire at- Mr Cowie's -shop on the 12th , inst. was held by Dr A Smith, Coroner j and a jury, in .the Courthouse here, on Tuesday last. > •' -• *Mr Robert Hogg was elected foreman, and the jury being sworn and having inspected the scene of the fire, the following /•evidence was led by Mr Inspector Thompson :— A A

James Wilson, butcher, Balclutha: At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 12th inst. I was opposite the Crown Hotel, Clyde 7; street. James Smith was along with me, :and called my attention to a fire down the sstreet. I ran to the Crown Hotel, and --< called John Tyson and Mr Dagg. We all ran down the street as far as Mr Cowie's, -•.and saw a fire burning at the corner of A his shop. Tyson and I rushed to the bedroom window to call Mr Cowie. Mr Dagg "was just behind us, and he pulled out ..from the fire some rags saturated with "kerosene oil. (Rags produced and identified.) I saw no person about the street. 'The inmates of Mr Cowie's house were asleep. :Mr Cowie came out about half a minute after I entered. A hairdresser ' named Lister lives next door to where the fire was. The premises occupied by Lister belong to William Briggs, who lives alongside. The night was pretty clear and *calm.

... : ,.,. v R. D. Dagg, landlord of the Crown Hotel, corroborated the last witness. The .: ■ rags he pulled out. of the fire were identified by him. They had a strong smell of '-'■_'■'■' kerosene oil; The rags seemed to have A ' "been rolled together in a sort of bundle. „! .They could not have been on fire more than three or four minutes. Mr Cowie's "house wa3 dark, and I did not notice any light iri the house alongside. When Mr .'..' 'Cowie appeared he was excited, and had ... ' . <only his coat and drawers on. The piles •of the house were charred. Alex. Cowie, saddler, Clyde-street: I was at home on the night of the 11th rinst., also my wife and the apprentice. We retired to bed between 10 and 11 •o'clock. The apprentice slept on a sofa ""in- a room next to our bedroom. The " -doors were locked and the lights ex- ' 7 A tmguished before we went to bed. I have „_ two dogs, which were in the backyard on sv the night in question. They are, very -"• -■-■ watchful! After going to bed I went to ;-'•• sleep almost at once. I did not hear the AL 'dogs barking, Apr any noise that night. J. .' My house is divided from Lister's by a -. -small right-of-way, and is erected on piles. 'The first thing I heard after going to bed was a thumping noise, and I then recog7. nised Tyson's voice. I jumped up at ' "" «bnce, and saw Messrs Smith, Wilson, and c■ : Dagg. jumping upon some rags that were •on fire. I saw a portion of the house -*--"' -charred underneath. If any person had A come down, the right of -way my dogs v ,! would have barked. «My house and shop rare insured in the National Office for X300; The Building Society holds the policyA and jwould get the money in the -event of the premises being burnt. The ; 'Society holds a mortgage oyer the property for L4OO. My stock is insured for !Ll5O in the Victoria Ofiice, and the furni.ture and clothing for Ll5O in the same •office. The stock was insured ten months --.-, -ago, arid the furniture, &c, about four "months ago. The furniture and clothing L :are worth considerably more than L2OO. In reply to the Foreman, Mr CoAvie said : . 'The agent for tlie Victoria In surance Com - ■ ■ l. : pany did not come to see my furniture, -;:.-.- &c, when I took out tlie policy. He took my word, for the value. He has never ? since examined it, nor anyone else. - William Briggs, ?general dealer, Balj 'clutha : .Hive next to the premises occu- - vpied by Mr Cowie, saddler. On the 11th Linst. Ileft Balclutl\a at 8 o'clock at night, .• . and, went to Warepa to . shift some luggage -'for Mx Halverston. I returned about 3 >:.-> , -o'clock on the morning of the 12th. Be.'fore I left -I. told Mrs Briggs where I was , -i.. going, and that. I would be nome pretty \ -early in the morning. A boy was with A. ; me. When I returned home I went to . ■> bed, and heard nothing of the fire till 8 i ..: o'clock wlien my children came to my. bed A- Aand told me. It was scarcely daylight •. : when I got home, and I saw nothing un- .. usual. My premises consist of two build - .' ingSj-wdod and iron ; . oneabarber's shop, . ..and rented to. Lister at a weekly rent of ; 10s. i The; other, is occupied by myself. I " > have; ; also;arstable7(s stalls), coal-house, j fowl-house, and pig-sty. I ha/ye; seen the . . spot where . the fire was. ,If Mr Cowie's „ preraisesliad been burned, ;I think mine ■#. would also have been burnt,; My pret * mises. are insured, in the New Zealand -i i. 'Office Af or AL3OO .The Building, Society r £ .;held!aimor'tg^ge?over my house; for 7Llso. J T? ATL ami now.due. the Jßuiiding, Society about 1 •_ KX6Q; j A , IfotheAbuilding was burned, down * i. v I would "consider myself -entitled; to, the j. lDalanceY^.The;? stable,:.^ A F^.~ in ilie. Standard Insiirance Office, jand the t*< ' stock andAfurriiture 7in ; the National for 'y{i-. ;;Lloo.|iMe/siable, was insured about nine iinotttlia^s^o>Aand^ the^stojck^^bput; six

Ife^

months ago.7 ' When; I insured the stock aiid furniture ,the agent. came and inspected it. At the time ihe fire occured the stock consisted of lollies, fruit, fish, soap, &'c. There would be about LSO worth' or perhaps more. The furniture and clothing would be worth another LSO. I recently offered my property for sale. The reserve was L 350. I got an offer of L 275. In the event of my premises being burned down I would expect to get L 360. Mr Briggs here explained that the reason he had insured so high was that two fires had previously occurred there. The one had been put out by his children and the other by his wife. , In reply to Inspector Thomson, he said he never told the police about these fires.

Mrs Briggs : My husband left home about 7 or 8 o'clock on the evening of the 11th inst. to go up-country to bring down some luggage. He told me he was going. I went to bed between 11 and 12 o'clock. My six children were with me ; the oldest 12 years, and the youngest 9 months. Before going to bed I saw all tlie. doors closed and the lights extinguished. I heard a noise of some people rushing round the side of the house between 12 and 1 o'clock. Such a noise is nothing unusual at that hour. My husband returned early in the morning. .1 firstheard of the fire in the morning, when my eldest girl told me. Sergeant Daly asked me where my husband had been, and I told him I did not know. I did not then know. Tt is not unusual for my husband to' leave home in the evening.

Peter Leany, in the employment of William' Briggs : I went with Mr Briggs about half-past 8 o'clock on Monday week and went to Warepa. We got back about 3 o'clock the following morning. It Avould take about two hours to go to the place we were going, and we stayed about an hour and returned. The horses were not taken put of the trap. We came by,Waitepeka on returning. I did not hear of the fire till the following morning.

The Coroner in summing up said there could be no doubt whatever that the fire had been wilfully. raised, but, as in many such cases, there unfortunately was no evidence to show who the guilty party was. This was the more unfortunate, as it not unfrequently led to suspicion attaching to the innocent. He also referred to the careless manner in which insurances were sometimes effected ; there being no inspection by the agent, and properties being insured at their full value, when depreciation occurred there was a great temptation to fire-raising.

The jury after a brief consultation returned a verdict of wilful fire-raising by some person or persons unknown, and added as a rider " That in the opinion of the jury Insurance Companies are much to blame for tlie careless manner in which premises are insured without due inspection, and also for insuring propei ty above its value, thus virtually offering a premium for incendiarism." The Coroner thanked the jury for their attendance, and discharged them. On the names of the jury summoned to attend the above inquest being called over, it was found that Mr John Dunne was absent. He was therefore fined Ll for nonattendance.