TRAPPED BY FLAMES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1934, Page 11

TRAPPED BY FLAMES

ELDERLY MAN'S DEATH

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ■ .AUCKLAND, March 25. Trapped ..by flames in a house- in which he lived the life of a, recluse for over a quarter of a century, William McHugh, aged 61, single, was burned to death. McHugh lived .in Church Street, Onehunga. The fire occurred :in the early morning. A .-window, in the bedroom by which McHugh might have escaped had been boarded up. He. left an opening where the' window had been just largo enough for sparrows and starlings to get in and out, the occupant apparently encouraging birds to make a home of his bedroom. . ■ Piremen who suppressed the, outbreak found the remains, of a. number of birds-nests in the upstairs rooms. MeHugh lived alone, sleeping in a front room upstairs.; The fire apparently started at the. foot of the stairway, flames rapidly eating their way up the staircase.; Three rooms of the house were completely gutted and a fourth room was also damaged. . . ■' ; McHugh's, body was found lying on the floor of ,the front upstairs bedroom near the window. • - At the inquest, which was adjourned, a neighbour said there was neither gas nor electricity in MeHugh's house and' that the deceased'always used caudles. It was tUeid,ce.ca.sCjcl's- custom to read a lot when in bed. . I