TWO MEN. BURMEO TO DEATH

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1015, 3 January 1911, Page 5

TWO MEN. BURMEO TO DEATH

FATAL FIRE M THE CITY. A DESPERATE SCMiBLE FOR LiFE. NARROW-.ESCAPES.

A desperate time was experienced by tho lessee and boarders at the Wellesley Boardinghouse, Johnston Street,. in tho early hours of this morning, and two of the number lost their lives. It appears that at about 12.30 a.m. Sergeant Lyons noticed- a glare in the direction of Messrs. Kirkcaldie and Stains's premises, and Mr. Williams, of the Telegraph Department, about the same time, remarked to the sergeant that ho could smell fire. An alarm was. promptly given from • the Panama Street fire alarm, and the brigade responded with promptitude.Sensational Happenings. In the meantime, there were exciting and sensational happenings at the boardinghouse. Tho building is situated in Brandon Street, ju9t at the rear of Messrs. Kirkcaldio and Stains' extensive brick premises, and is flanked on tho other, side by the brick building occupied by the .Yorkshire Insurance Company and other tenants. It is a twostory building locked close between the two buildings stated, with no spaco between. Exit from it can only bo made through the front door- and windows, or through the back door and windows, which look out on a yard abutting on Messrs. Wilson' and Co.'s auction rooms. The boardinghouse is an old wooden building, and was at one timo used as the Wellesley Club. It' is owned' by Messrs. Kirkcaldio and Stains, and leased by Mr. John Jackson, and used as stated as a boardinghouse. •At the tima of the outbreak there were 25 or 27 boarders, including several women, who, fortunately were all on the. ground floor. Who it was in tho building first ' discovered the firo is not. clear, but tho household were, aroused by someone shouting fire, and a wild scramble for life commenced. The bulk of tho boarders were upstairs, and the flames spread at so rapid, a rate that by the tim'o they were properly awako and out of. their bedrooms the stairs were ablaze, and they were cut off from the lower portion of the'building. ' Some rushed for the front windows, others for the .back. They. had to fight their way through blinding smoke and the roaring of flames speeded them on. Four men sleeping in" one of the front bedrooms were lucky enough to make an early exit through the window of their room into Brandon Street, by means of a fire-escape. Others "who escaped-by the front windows also negotiated the fire-escapes—there appear to v have been two fire-escapes at tho front—with, safety; but all lost their belongings. They got out with only what they stood up in, and in some...cases that was little enough. . . .

time was all aflame. The man slates, Hat lie did all he possibly could under tha circumstances to get Cromhie out of the house, and' when he managed to get outside aad found .that Crombie was not' following hi ill ho informed the police and firemen, but by this- time the whol® building was ablaze. ... Minor Accidents. Mr. H. Campbell, another boarder, had. a trying experience. He kates that he was lying awake and smelt something burning. He called out to his roommate, Mr. T. Nainly, and they bothgot .up and . made for the landing upstairs. Campbell quickly grasped:, the. situation and knocked Mr. Jackson, the proprietor,' up. They both proceeded to awaken thai'' other inmateis of tho house by .banging: at doors and breaking windows.' In tho latter proceeding Campbell sustained some severe injuries to his left arm,, it being badly cut and' bruised. In ona place nine stitches had to be. put in.i In getting clear of tho house ho had to jump on'to the verandah and thsnce to l the ground, receiving a severe shaking, iaj doing so. Still another inmate of tho house met with ah accident.: This waal Mr. W. J. Allcock. Ho was sleeping; right in the'centre of the building, audi was awakened by hearing a crash of glass. He 'sprang out of bed. and 'mad? for the doorway, but was blocked by a huge mass of flame and smoke. The only. , way of escape from ,the burning building was by way of the window at the end of ." the passage. This he made for,' aiid l smashing it with his hands made a jump for it.' Dropping on some outbuildings, at'. the back, he made his way to the yard, and then dropped a distance of 12 In doing so he severely, sprained. hiaright wrist and received some other minorinjuries to his hand and arm. '

A Scramble for Life. ' Those who escaped by the back windows had a more .perilous time. How they got out none of those seen by a Dominion representative, appeared very clear about. They knew that They rushed to the windows and scrambled through, and 'somehow managed to make their way over the roof of some-building and uOwn a fire-escape, and that is about all they did know. , The flames were chasing after ■ them, and the wind, being from the north, was driving the smoke, and sparks in thick clouds .in their direction. . There was no. time to think. . or - look about them. One or. two were somewhat badly bruistd, but some ten. or a dozen escaped this way. The Fatalities. . It was at the back portion of ; .the building that two of' the unfortunate boarders met their deaths. In the rush and scramble for life men lost' sight of one another, and what exactly happened ,in regard to Crombie and another is not known. Ono boarder'states that he saw Crombie trying to get, out of one of the' windows. The unfortunate man ap-j parently had been. drinking, and was almost incapable of helping himself. .It is possible, of course, . that ho was also suffering from tho. cffects of ' the smoke and the' blinding heat. In . the scramble for the windows there was some jostling, but whether Crombie or tho second ..unfortunate . boarder suffered from this is not known. . In any case, if ■ Crombie did get'as far as the window he must have, gone back from it again, for his body when found was lying in his room, some little distance away from a window opening on a blind wall opposite. Superintendent : O'Brien's opinion was that ho was making his way to the window ! when,. overcome by smoke, ho fell, and. met his death. This was near the. south-eastern . corner of the building. The second body was found in a passageway more towards the soiith-westcni. corner, .and some distance away from exit. It is thought that he tried to.escape ;ty, the. stairway,- and finding it impassible, - sought the. fire escape, . but too late. Both bodies-were badly burned, and one .had not been identified at time of writing.

■ It was some time after the brigade arrived that rumours began to circulate as to the possibility of someone being still in. the burning.building; and.it was then 1 hopeless'to think of entering the upstairs portion where the unfortunate men .were supposed to be. Tho placo was then a mass of flames, and when these were sul>, dued, and an entry made, it was too late. The 1 deceased, Hugh Crombie, was aged about .50 years. Nothing. further, could bo ascertained .cimcerning. him this morning. ' Nothing Saved. The boarders iir,the v downstajrs portion of the building 'had'an' easier escape than those above, but they saved very. little. Half-a-dozeri boxes appeared to -be tho sum total saved. Nearly everyono lost everything. they had there, and most of them were thankful in the circumstances, to escape with their lives. ' The origin of the-fire .is not known. It is supposed to havo occurred, in tho vicinity of the kitchen, and spread with tremendous speed. ' Insurances. The insurances on tho building were not ascertainable this .morning. Mr. Jackson, who is saiS to be a. heavy loser, was insured in tlio Yorkshire Office, but the amount was. not known. A Room-mate's Story. Mr. C. Kenny, who was sleeping in the satno room as Crotnbie, states that he was awakened by hearing glass breaking. He ran out into tho passage, and was met by a cloud of smoke. Seeing the situation at a glance, he rushed back and woke the unfortunate man up, but he took no notice of Kenny's appeals to get up and out of tho house. Kenny again went out into the passage, and seeing things getting worse he rushed back to the bedroom and pulled Crombie, who it is alleged had been drinking, out of bod and stood hira on his feet. Thinking the deceased was following him, Kenny then p-ade for tho passage, which by this