GELIGNITE THE CALUSE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2135, 29 April 1914, Page 4

GELIGNITE THE CALUSE

UPPER- .HlfffMMß-

ACETYLENE GAS THEORY

KEJBCTED

■■■. -ssmrniwrnx- - : •.- NO EVIDEMOE OF ORIGIN OF FIRE. ■. ' '■# ■ Mr. W. G. nUkktt, (.'oniHff, Mmw<\ Uis Uiiiiiun in ifio \ip)ii'i- lluU t ! 'im in!|»ir.v yoslt'i'vhiy muriiiiig. Tin; it!((sioet whs ifiiliy into Ihe wuikh of the. <l«!ith ui sown of tho night viiitims «.f Uio U)i].)i>r Iliitt lire, or isUls'T of the rxntosmn which , ownirivd at Itirtt (in: early in the Biorniini! of March *2W. As' .a result «f tlint txpiosioii Sivsi himi, Doijis Malwfiify, Jikiics Cotut'sky, WiSliatu F'I.VHJi, John W<«icy Viviitn, and (icot'go Wirfiajn Taylor, were fcilir-d oiiljsklii., and thre« otlww recpivfld iMJßfins , witich Jutve silicic en used tleuth. Of tliesij lliree, ' JJichael 'JVwbo.y di«l at tlie Wellington Ho»i>ital !i» March '£>, Diid Kriiid Kdwant ileiivy l'«lliitg died also in tho hospital on March !iO. Tho ("iiiiso of death of. all the seven moil was invostiaatetl by tire Coronw, but siiKo tho iiMjuiry coiieiwk'd, Virgil M'Govom, auoUrcr of the injurosl, died in tho fltispitisl on Sunday night last, and for the reason that death -■ owurri'd ai'ter all the evidence .was taken, .-Mr. Hiiideil has wot found MMcraing M'Govorn's itaith, That inquest will be a separate matter, lmt, Mr, Riddell informed a reporter, it would bo pttrcly format. . He would tako tho evidenceof one wit-iMss, he said, to'prove ttiat M'Govera was at tlw fire, and was injured by ilia osylpsioit. hi- his judgment, Mi'. RWd«H . to*cussos the acetykfic-gas theory _<if tlio causo of the explosion, and rejects it as untenable. He finds that the explosion was an explosion of geiigiiito contained in Messrs. Beiigc and Frati'S store. The Fire—And Matcltcs. Mr. Hiddcl.l, delivering his judgment, said that, iilthoiigh tlj« inquiry was primarily into the cause- or deatli _of the deceased persons, it involved an inquiry into tho cause of the fire, and also into tho cause of tho explosion. Di?ali)ijj; .first with the cause of tho iire, tho inquiry disclosed that the bnikling) Messrs. Beiigo and .Pnvtt's store, was an. old 'wooden building of two stories, iit- with acetylene givs in the lowr s&ry, that it was divided into two dbi>artraent-3, a grocery department and 0 draisefj- dupartment. that there was slaek in "it vahied afc £2800, and that there w«ro insurances for £1800. On tho Saturday evening prior to the lira it was sJiowii that tho two partiisis Ht their premises about -9.30 p.m. "'l' o rss was then shut off, nml the preinises ai'siw-ared to bo ail in order. About ii) o'clock Mr. Bcugc, who was in pji- . other tailding in the vicinity, thuikiiig he saw bohm! light in one of tlie upstairs rooms, wont back into the store, and proceeded upstairs, and there nia.cto a search. Hβ did not find anything and ho left the building (ihoufc 10-o'clock, witlioiit having -seen any s%n of tire. Mr. Bougo admitted that he itswl oue or two mntAes daring isis visit to tlio building, but the firo did nob break out until 31.90 or 11.45, Oue witness liacl said tliat ho saw tho fire at 11.40, and tiiflt was probably tJie time that tho lira was first apparent. Tho iire had tlte'->i ovWs?ntiy been hunting some WHo tiniii, but it was Still in au-incipipiit-stage. In view of file tapao- of time bo'byeen'lo p.m.'and , 11.30 i>.iii-, one eoiiid scarcely imasiiie that the matches used by Mh %Jis<3 veto tho eausfe of the fire./ Jktdses were x stocked, liowever, and were stored in one of tho upstairs rooms, and it was not un-known-for vats to cause firo iiy , interfering with matthes. From tlie wliolo of tlw evidence ii was impossiblo to .say with any degree of ea-nfideitco what wos .the cause of the ftve.

- ' No Pfro-ftfihtfrig Appffances, One oonld only remark that although tlw building was an -old oho there were iio .applijHH'cs kept for coping with an outbreak of fire —up hose., no patent fir* extinguishers, in fact, bo precaii" h'ons of any dese'riptjon. One «o]ild hard, expettted th.it. in aii old buiklift« whaKi £2800 worth c.i. goods wore stocked, anfl BMi'o cspcein-tly explosives formed part of tlio stwk, somo care woit-M'liaVe been taken to provide means of dealing with aii oirtljreali of two. From the first, after the firo was diseoveretl every ono appeared iio have taken it for granted that tlie building Was doomed, and no one made, any very great effort to extinguish the fire. If there had been appliances at hand this lire might, lie believed, have ?weu kept in check until tlio town hose arrived, as it dkl arrive souio limo after tlie. .fife was discovered. Some witnesses wad said that, if the town water had been available"tiis fire conld have been kept down and ike disaster averted.

The Acetylisns theory. Kegardiijg the explosion, there lifttl been two theories advanced us to the causo. One was that it was duo to an escape of acetyjene gas, and the other was that it was dno to gelignite. The acetylene gas theory was supported by Professor Eastcrfield, but it was opposed by Dr. Maclnunn, aiul witnesses Congrevc and Botcher. It seemed to .bo agreed Among all- parties that tho sent of the explosion was somewhere in the e-oiith front- room above the grocery department, and that tlio time of the explosion was eight- minutes past 'Welvp, somo twenty-eight lnimiW after the firo was first discovered. Now tho acetylene gas theory assumed a number of conditions—one was that about 20 cubic foot of gns unist Laro l>eon in the building, that them must hrfvo boon a fcak iii a «as pijji! cither under tho ceiling or bet'weoii tlie coiling ami the ilodring, tltat the lent must Iwvo been caused by tho ivarpiog of tho building by tho. heat of tie fire, and last of all that tho ■awity-.i kiio gas ' miißti ' have mixed with air in the building or wrtii air in tlie chamber between the cpiling and the upper iUiorinu in such quantities as to mute an expioeive mixtui-c. fio. far as tiio teak was concerned, IVofeseor .Hasterlield had said that tho look conkl lie due, lo tho action of tho tiro isi warping the buildinji, but Dr. Wa 1 ] had said that such leaks, were likely to ! orciir when ii wall of Ikmo eaino sud- J rlrnly in contact with part of a buiid-. i»H, bet not wlien tho building waa RradiK'illr heat-etl. As opposed, to the ' : Ureory of Professor EastcrMd. there '. ttos proof that if any gas mjho inta the building the qtiantitr could liot have exceeded eiiiht fcof. and that this would not. have been suflictent to cause Biieh an explosion ait occitrwd uiulor ! thr rnnciitioiiß oxisiing. There was j also tho fact that iw mention was made by any persons iis the building eitherbeforo the cspiosion or at any ciirlior time of any nmcll of esraning gns. No one admitted hnvin;; siiu-lt an escap? of c.ts. and t!i" infpronro to bo drawn was that there was no escape. Thon, also, j there was evidoiic , that trie fir« was i hot of sujlieifiit violence to c'iuso n j breaJcase in the pipe; The fire l.ir/;an { very -fjontiy, and crept from the baolc j TJurt bf ibe liuikling. towards Ow-front i PiU't, and (lie e;ss pipes wrre in tlw oeilina: nbovo the grocery So" that, Inking into coiiKiderstiau sll the elcltieiifs nirstiitst the flepiylpiic-gas thi'ory, one oonM only vmnc to tbe t-on-rlusion that the esplosiou was not caused by acetylene gas.

On the other HaM— Cef lgnite. 31 r. .Kisklle wt'nl mt i«> flxnmine ihc facts, pointing to llio explosion- having

:.lici:m ■('■llll!lfiriiv ! |'"li|'llilc. 'HlfTl- HIT" .■(•••iliiiii r«.:lii, lii' wiiii, I'rni,, wliicli ii ■ni'nlil lii'iiih'H'il Hull, liii'if w,i!i no i'.ciiunil" in liii' !.i s ij<lvi■:-. >;!i'! I'i'iljiih !,:Th; ,fniili u-liirh ii. t'Oillii Iμ. inli'in-il Hittt. 'Ilii'l-'- Wii/l |'.!'li('.Jiil.c in iiic iVi-ii /ilUim)(.-.(i jii'iliiiT Mr. l)f)i;». nut- ,\lr. ['rail- mJKlit dorp Iwi-ii niciiro <jf it. J''ir/il. l)if!f(t im.i i 11,.. (iUii'isionl. ui V\< viitii. «f|i<i wm'l(i.i| in !lw! (ilwc, )ii |.)i" ilh'ct lii.if, (lin-r, ii-i'i-- no /'Siiioaivi-n jii ■tli(!-|)uil(liHK, n-JiicJi ;il;i«'fi»ifl, l». i;i;»4<' in liliHwci- In an iiKfiih'V nffdctly I»cf«n> the <.M»lo!it(iii, 'Micrii «■«■< (lie UkA, Urn-, (.lint ViviiiM H'fts in l'i(- ijuiiiiiij; lii<ilili(t|{ at 1 Him tiin** (if (In , fX))los'ifiH, inn) iiu-t luk (fciitli ilicrc, These ww fill tlu< faclx Unit, vvi'iJl, liss l»iw Umt ib.i'ti' ivsin 1-fe in llt« Thcs'.i fiM'U ivoulM liirvf Iwmi c(iissi(lciulily Kkroii;;tli!'iif'(l if ttio of !i.i:cf..vlr'iii> (jny. wilicii ('Oltlii liiivc li'likcd into ilin building had Imicd Miiificiolit to <.'n!ifife thp <>X(>l<i!iiuri.

How Mii Dli v/rtR tficro? ' ())}|/o.si'<! l/i lln'Sf f«fts tli'-jv was wi(.ir'iu<;p . tlmt Mf.'Ssrs. tJ-rii|s«; J»uil I'rali tt'erc in dlio Imbit oi* .storing wMgniii' h> till; itifnii (ibiivci ihi- fgtw-ry di-pnt-isw-nt, aiu'f lliiki nlwmt iifty pownla of was rcci-ivfld by tlrptii, and stored iiiere Biitui! littln time fx'foru tho fire. o<it '.if tl)ai< (inantit.y th« Rrilu of fO pmindi) was atiwimtHtl for, but- tlifj liahnnHj was s(/t ittciimbod for!. This was not conftitmivo •%vi<lei!;:(s tl\isi ilic wlioie of it, was iu>k sold. There (night Iwvo Ijowi otVii" sali;H, hiii eniy oi'.e otl«)f person had <:oino furward to stato Umti lie had bought wtyr iiito froju Jlossr.s, JJcngfl and I'rnti. 'i'liis \v«s an important iturlitcr in ;«i iinportaiib jiKiliiry, find thwo was a duty oast vpnn nrijhody in tins H«tt Valley wiii! liiu! Srauglifc oxjjiflsivo.s at this stmro in eeljje fonvnrd flJul s:iy whotlwr Viti hai' iwrclinsod gelignite or iwt. Nolmdy'liaJ done so, ami tiwfo was in> reasou why any inireilm.Y.';j's sJioulil not liavo fJ».«ro so. The fact that nobody had cotno forward vfsis presufnjrtivo «rMcnce iiiat ii consideraMo-quiintity of gclmiiito if" .main&i tmsoltl ia tJic stors. Xlturo was also .tliD cviifcar.a of the boy Coftjie-i—• hot perSiaps entitled ia mvidi wcigM— tlint.tlioro was gelignite in tl.io building nud that he ftxpo&ted an espiosron. TJk> fofco an 4 of tko explosion itself supported the gelignite _ theory. Biilnnchig one- set of fatt's against the other, ono was forced to the conclusion that tho expbsiou was duo to gelignite. Some witnesses said that t-cn or fifteen pounds would have been sufficient to (Wise that ■cspiosion, end otto _ was forced to the conclusioi) that goligliito was iu iho rociHi ahove tlie grocery department. It might- ho lliiit Messrs. Beisgc and Pratt did invt knoiv that any gelignite or ?ifiy sticli quimtity was iii iho "stow. According io titch evidenco Mr. Bong© and 3tr. Pratt knew in _.i gciiftra'l way tliiit pnli.irwito was .sold in the store; but tlsw f did not talw afey part in tke sale (ft it.

Tfta Vcfdi&t. His verdict wmild he;— "That Dt-nis Malioney, James Comesky, Williaai Byim, Jolni IVcsldy Vit'ieiij add, fiemgo William Taylor died at'tho Upper Hutt ou March 29, 1&14, from injitrios accidentally reewved iu a« eSpJosieii oJ gelignite tliM-iisg tho fire iis Messrs. Bpiigo and Vrtitt's store, but tho evidence is insufficient to shoff hew tlw flt-o originated." Similar■ verdicts were lcUtrned regnrdiup Slicliiiffl 'i'eohey And Evard Edwai'd BcJiry P&limg. with tlie esccpMon tlmt.it Was ad forth that they died ifl tiio 'WcUingten'HosiJital; IfboHey Oil March 29, and PoH.ing on. 3larch 36,