THE FATAL FIRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1016, 4 January 1911, Page 5

THE FATAL FIRE.

■ ■ , ■ INQUEST HELD. ' EVIDENCE OF EYE-WITNESSES* s "ACCIDENTAL DEATH/' ' ■ -'; 1 . ; Yesterday afternoon, .'at tb-a . rnorgua,'' ail inquiry wns held into the: circuni-. . stances attending the death of two men who lost their lives- in t'ie fire which! gutted the Wellesley Boardinghouse; shortly afer midnight on Monday... Dr. A. M'Arthur,>' city coroner,- presided.' ; : Sub-Insptetor Norwood represented the I'Tolice, and Superintendent O'Brien the' | Fire Brigade.- Of the two bodies at the morgue..one had bean /identified; as . that of Edward' Crombie. Tho other . had not been, identified, -but Mr. Jackson, the boardinghousa-keepfir, considered that 'it was that of. a man named P. Meban. This supposition vsis strengthened by . the.faot that a.wzf.ch, bearing,Mcban's, 1 name, was found lying near the:spot' at which-the-body was found. J: "Rio First Alarm. •The'first' witness was John Jackson,'' proprieta of the Wellesley Boarding,! house.- Ho stated Ciat the braiding con-; tained about fifteen roams, and a. dining- • room. Eeferrix.g. to a bpok. which bar?; endunt traces of having passed through f the fire", Mr. Jackson detailed, the nanua ! those .who ' had occupied;' his house! wjyen.the ..fire .occurred. Fhese were—' 'Alec; -Kilg-our, Edward: .Newman, Frank' S# .VT ■ Haines,-..-.'. Campbell, -! Blakey, --Sims,. — Akock, L. Price, C. l Finch, E. Shin-inn, W. Vincent, - Gun-1 derson, P. Slafctery, P. Mcban, E. Crom-1 bie, C. Kelly. One of the upstairs rocins s J was- occupied- by <xo woks. A man 3 naflicd Murphy,. w'j»se name was on the list-of boarder*, "was absent-from the ' • nouse on: Monriay-:ni*ht- ' 'i '-•:■-. Proceeding Mr.'.'Jackson stated that h.9 \ retried 11' o'clock. About' lUU am he awakened b a -boarderi named Nainbiy knocking at the door, and : calling: F.te!" He jumped out of bed' ".once, a-M put.his wife and children • Sw -i' h thc ™fovr onito Johnson'' of tlw> ile : pre3 . Batls, , sa,r that t! » e seat : aS^ war i l 3 tho .. h,. »£ -W upstairs he went round all'alarm ' + Tf «?.*»!*'. of:'th« house t" . p ih?.^?'- , i oal; * er6 ' lsut ™t sum-' buiUw me - t0 0 the baok ° £ the ' bwlAng ; owing to the rapid pregress of; : w>4 nre. The boarders at that time were- ' endeavouring io get away as best- they could. Witness assisted some of themr to repass the front fire escape which had' lamaed, and then left the house (by thefire escape) and went Tound to Brandon b.-reet. Here he assisted. some men to escape from the roof by a ladder, and' ; ' three nien descended safely. After- he bad seen the women who had: been in the house to the Club Hotel, he attempted to muster the other -boarders, but' could not-.get them together.'. As far as ho knew v"he only men missing, of thosa who had been in the house were Edwardi Crombie and P. Moban. He (witness)] had identified a body at the morgue as j that of Crombie. Deceased was a casual? worker on the wharf and appeared: to be about 53 or 54.years of age. The house had three fire.escapes in front and! - two at. the. back.: These had been-ap-r proved by the City Council's inspector.' ...Frank hainby, wharf -labourer,, whoiwas a boarder m.the. house,.stated that lib shared a room with two others on'-' the. night of the fire. At about 0.30 a.m. witness; was lying awake, when a room-mate- named Campbell' called him; -and said: "Do yon smell anything burning?" 'Witness' replied in the affirmative, and after searching the room for : . traces of fire, went outside, and going; ' to the stairway at the back of the house, saw smoke on the landing,", and "l also issuing from the stair.. Witness at.onco shouted: "Eire!" and ran downstairs.-1 * Heibund'that a Handle of linen r'ei,'.' cess, between Mr. Jackson's room and,the dining-room was burning. He roused '- Mr.'Jackson.and the other inmates. By, this time the .whole of'the front por-! tion- of the dining-room was on fire, i He left the upper • floor by the fire escape. ■'. ... ~'.". .'..',■ -,In; reply to Sub-Inspector Norwood' witness stated that-he thought that the-'' second body in the morguo might be that', of Meban— «,'■ man of about thirty, years' of age. ■ ''.-. i '•:.-

"The Influence of Liquor.',' . Another boarder,. Charles Kenny, de~ posed-that, on the night of the fire; ho occupied an upstair room, at the back of the building, which was shared by Crombie. Crombie came. in. 'at.about 10.30 p.m.. He was .then under'the influence of liquor, but was able to undress, without, assistance. , Witness was awakened by the noise of breaking glass, and-going info' the passage-he saw flames coming half- , way up the staircase. Going"back' 'to . the. room he-, shook. Crombie, woke : him up, and told him that tho place was on fire. Crombie did not get up. And, in, fact, did not. seem- to understand what : was said to him. Witness dressed, and got a ..portmanteau out. into the. passage, calling Crombie.all the time. Then.'ie- . turning .to" the soom, lie pulled Crombie. out of bed and rot him: on his feet, arid told him to follow as he left tho room. The flames had''now reached the top of.' the staircase. .Witness rushed for the , back window, and got out on to the roof I of a'lean-to. Bo' thought, that. Crombiei. was following, a-t.he heard footsteps'be-.,' hind him. In ; company', with : several! .other boarders, witness reached an alleysway leading out;-to -Brandon Street.' Crombie', .\vas..nbtvwith. the party when;.. it 1 "reached tho Street. ■ ■ ■ •-.- -; ' Evidence corroborating that of previous' witnesses was given by a boarder named.' Hugh Cameron, who described himself as' a manufacturer and dealer. ' - : .-■-.'.;. .':'■; '-i 1 Finding the Bodies. , '"Win. - Stephen' O'Brien, Superintendent fofithe City Fire Brigade, stated that a. ca11..-had been received from the street ■ alarm at the corner of Brandon Street. an'd- Lambton Quay;' at 0.31 a.m. ' on . Tuesday. Oh ' arriving at the Wellesley Boardmghonse witness found (t-a mass of flames. Before tho fire was extinguished the building was gutted, The fire originated in a. recess between' Mr. Jackson's room, and the dining-room. After the fire had been got under control, witness was notified by his deputy that there were bodies in the. building.. One was found lying faco downward on i the'floor in the room that had been occu-. pied by Crombie. , In the.room there' was a window facing a blank wall. The second ; body was discovered in the pas- ' sage near the doorway of tho room ad--.joining Crombie's... This body was lying' at about sis feet from the window leading; to the fire-escape. It was not clothed., and lay,on its side .with the face turneddownward. The watch, bearing the name' "P. Meban," was lying close to tho second '■ body. Botli"bodies were badly burned. Police-Sergeant Lyons gave formalovidence as to discovering the .fire andgiving- the alarm. Going immediately afterwards to Johnston Street he found the K Wellesley Boardinghouse a mass of flames. Soma of the boarders wow outside. When the fire had been subdued, witness had the'bodies conveyed to the morgue. Verdict and. Insurance. . , . Tho coroner returned a verdict in. respect of each deceased that death was . accidentally caused'by burning' at a fira .. in tho Wellesley Boardinghouse. The boardinghouso was owned by. Messrs. Kirkcaldie and Stains. The total ... insurance on tho building was .£SOO, half-, in-the Commercial Union and half in the' ; Yorkshire Insurance Company. On;:a. quantity of private furniture, apart from.'.. that used in tho business, there was «.: policy for JGIOO in'tho Yorkshire Offica Other insurance documents were burnt, MEBAN'S ROOM MATE. \ ' HIS E'vTDENGE WANTED. . Tho identification of one of the tw« bodies founil in the burnt building as that of P. Meban.. seems to lie fairly well established. P. Slattery, who occuoicd the . samo room with Meban,, is reported to i have said thai he awakened Meban and ; told him the house was on fire, arid then ; hurried away. He was not sure whether' Meban followed him or' not. Slattery - could not be found by the police jester-, day, when they wished to have his evi-, '.

- flerioe at -'.the' inquest '■': He, took a bed at '■-. tho;/Troc«dero'vnnd .'had: r br?akfast ; .there; '.. but'averit out soon after'arid did riot re-' ;Mufri!--,: '.'.;■ ■';;.',/ ''.'■•' of boarders; ■;■ .;;£■■'. .•■> loss of money: -.;...'., ■'■ '/'Alcock, who i injuries to his leaving the burning building, ■ re- . ports having; had: the sum .of-,£B 10s., .; witch' was, in 1 a tin cashbox- in his robm. Ho'haU kept the cashbox inside a larger .befti/'arid .it is stated that, the - firemen opened th'o larger box in order'toput out the'fire,that Wa>.'burhing;inside;it. , : ; Another man- complains of the loss of '£& or.dfilO in gold, which was in'a-brief Tarfgliin his,.room'. ' He .Says/he took.a •' Gladstone bag out of the house' With him, .'iahd/Sf forwards retiirhedfor the brief bag, /but.ocbuld not'get near it on account of ytho'i'smoko'and flames. ■' Later, When the fire'.had ,'boeri, brought 'undcr.-cbntrol he '.■' went.again, .and. 'one; of "the ' firemen thr£\v him the handle of'the.bag. and .saidl-.that/was all that, was left of it. The. ; coin's do not'/appear to have been/found.