HORRIBLE TALE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 568, 7 March 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

HORRIBLE TALE.

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We wei’e yesterday furnished with the details of a horrible calamity, said to have occurred at Victoria, on the river Huou, on Friday night last, or early on Saturday morning, From what we were told, in appeared that three children had been roasted alive by the burning of a hut, iu which they were all asleep. The particulars were that the father of the children was a man named Busch, a. native of Germany. Until his ' first wife the mother of three children -died a short time ago, Busch was a hard working, sieady min, bnt, unfortunately for himself and his children, he took to himself a second wife in the person of an Irishwoman, whose great failing was her strong at achment to “the bottle.” She soon induced Busch to join her in carousing, and for some time past the pair have been leading a life of dissipation. As a natural consequence, their home was allowed t>> go to ruin, and the unfortunate children have ever since been cruelly neglected, and almost thrown upon their own resource- to obtiin food. All sorts of horrible stories with reference to the treatment of the poor children by their step mother have been going aboutamong the eighbors, but considering the popular prejudice against stepmothers in general, and the absence of reliable information on iho point, we refrain from publishing what might, after all, only turn out to be «■ Ibuudatiouless rumor. There is no doubt, however, that the unfortunate youngsters were frequently left alone in ihe hut for days and nights at a stretch, and that their general treatment was so bad that the parents deserve severe punishment. Two or three times, we are informed, the children have been taken up tiy the police of the district;. JSo far as to the antecedents. Now as to the calamity. On Friday n ght, so Ho story went, they were left alone in the hut, and had retired to rest. At about, mid night a candle that ha 1 been left alight, was knocked over, and the hut was soon envoi >ped in flames. Wnen the neighbors were aroused, it was a heap of blackened and smouldering ruins, and the fate of the three children sent a leeling of horror to the breasts of all who knew ot the frightful catastrophe. The Huou policeman was'soou on the spot, and when the embers were cool enough to permit of a soarch being made ho proceeded to look for the remains ot the little ones who had fallen victims to the cruel neglect of their unnatural parents. The finding of a few charred and calcined bones served to confirm the fate of the unhappy childr n, and the bones wo:e carefully collected, placed in a pockethandkerchief, and carried off as all that remained of a once promising family An inquest was contemplated, and various speculations were indulged in as to what sort of punis ament would bi inflicted by the avenging hand of justice on Busch and his wife. To repeat an old and hackneyed phrase, it east a gloom over the entire neighborhood. To the surprise and gratification ot all, however, the children were found the next day in the bush, within a short distance of the place where the hut had stood, and then it was found that directly the fire broke out, they had seized their clothes and fled, and probably being frightened at the prospect of having to face the rage of their parents, had not dared to show themselves until compelled to do so by their craving for food. We will give the constab'e credit for having feltpleased at the return of the childen, although after his display of professional enthusiasm in collecting the bones he must have been considerably sold. He had not studied anatomy, and did not know the bones of corned beef and mutton from those of human beings—another instance of the superior ednea tion, even in a police-constable.— llobuvt Town Mercury.