Inquest on the Becent Fire

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 14, 18 July 1889, Page 2

Inquest on the Becent Fire

( 'Continued from last issue.)

Edmund Goodbehere, commission agent, and agent for the Colonial Insurance Company; deposed : He heard of the fire on the Sunday evening ; went into the place on Monday morning to see what damage was done as his company was interested in an insurance of on Mr Brown's stock ; first went into Mr Wrightson's, and theD into Brown's j saw Mr Brown and spoke to him ; in Wrightson'a " looked and saw where the fire had been \ from Mr Brown's he saw it had burned; right up the partition ; noticed some dark marks on the wall ; had previously noticed , a strong smell of kerosene, or he should not have examined these spots;, they seemed to be some kind of oil or something of that sort; examined them in- a' cursory sort of way only, and could not swear what they were.

By Mr Cooke: It was his opinion that it was kerosene he saw as splashes, but certain it was kerosene he smelt.

Joseph Wrightson deposed : Was a produce and commission agent in Feilding; . and occupied part of the building where the fire occurred; remembered Saturday 25th May ; left about half past Bat night and locked the place up ; there were then no traces of a fire ; next visited the place about 7 on Sunday morning, and found there, had been a fire ; when he left ou Saturday night there were three tiers of oats under the stairs ; found most of them there on Sunday, but their position had been altered ; his attention was called by Constable Meehan to splaches on the wall ; Constable Meehan first called his attention to the fire by coming to his residence; examined these spots by rubbing his hand, and smelling it; in his opinion it was kerosene; had not noticed these splashes before ; a bag of grass seed was lying down close to the partition, and the bagging was saturated with kerosene; this was the result of his examination; saw. no kerosene anywhere else ; on Monday morning he noticed a board on the partition was loose ; it looked as if it had been prized off from the staircase side ; his im" pression was, and still was, that the kerosene was thrown on the wall from the place where the loose board was ; the bag of grass seed was lying about 3 or 4 feet from the aperture ; in his experience oats are not of a combustible nattu-e, and he should say it was impossible they should have caused the fire; the sacking of several of the bags was burned, and some of the oats in tbe other bags was damaged by water; no person but himself could, have had access to the store at the time of the fire ; had no suggestion to offer to account for the fire ; had never seen any wrapping of Mr Brown's on his premises at any time.

By a juror : W. Reid and his brother were with him at the store on Saturday night before the fire ; he.went to the hotel, and returned in about ten minutes for some letters; had no kerosene stove at that time, and no kerosene in open tins so that any person could get it ; there was a full unopened tin which be got in during the day ; it was possible for kerosene to* splash on to his scales -if some was thrown from the wall; the hole in the wall wiCs temporarily stopped with part of a packing case from Brown's side ; didn't think the kerosene could be passed from the bottom up between the stair and the partition, as there is only about 4 inches between;, the dissolution of partnership between him and Retemeyer was -first publicly notified in the paper either on the Thursday or Saturday before the fire ; did not remember having previously informed anyone of the dissolution except, the lawyers.

By another juror : The only way he could account for the kerosene getting on to the grass seed was by its being sprinkled from the bole in the wall.

James Meehan, Police Constable, stationed at Feilding, deposed : Remembered Sunday 26th May; heard the firebell, while in bed, about 25 minutes -to 3; dressed as quickly as possible and found there was a fire at Brown's and Wrightson's building ; saw 4 persons there— -Hewett, Roake, Keen, and Thompson; Brown's door at this time was locked, bnt could not say about the other ; assisted to burst open Brown's door ; there was also a door leading into Brown's and Wrightson's yard, and this was also locked ; went where the fire was, between the stairs and the partition ; it had only a slight hold through a blaze ; got an American broom and Mr Thompson a sack, and they beat out the blaze in less than three minutes; afterwards carefully examined the place where the fire had been ; it appeared to have originated between the staircase and the partition, about 4 or 5 feet from the floor ; > the fire was going up and down and spreading along the partition in patches ; felt kerosene strongly when, he first got there and the smell continued ; made noother examination at that time; then went into Wrightson's and saw the partition had been sprinkled with kerosene; knew it was kerosene because he rubbed his finger on it, which became wet, - and he smelt kerosene on it ; saw a bag of grass seed saturated with kerosene about 3 or 4 feet from where there was a small : board loose in the partition ; examined tbe board and found it loose; it opend in the direction of Brown's side; it was about 18 inches by 8, but did not measure it ; it would admit the passage of anyone's arm ; saw some oil and water mixed on the scales ; could not say what oil it was ; saw some pieces of packing usually wrapped round soft goods ; it was on the road and footpath outside the store, and some of it was burning ; Mr Hewett was present and helped pick some of it up ; Hewitt said he found it between the partition and stairs when it was all ablaze ; took charge of it and had possession of it ever since ; one of the pieces produced has on it "C. Brown, Feilding," which appears to have been put on with a small brush (the jury here examined the various pieces of packing) ; a second piece also bears the letters " rown" ; the pieces were on fire when he found them, and were wet with water, and the piece produced which he had wrapped in paper smelt of kerosene ; on the Sunday morning between 7 and 8 again went to the store and met with Mr Brown ; then made a careful examination, and could then see it was kerosene that had been on the boards where the fire had been; put his .finger on and smelt it ; Mr Brown offered as an explanation that Mr Wrightson was very careless, and he had been told by Mr Retemeyer to be careful of Mr Wrightson or he might get burned out ; visited the place on Monday afternoon with Sergeant Manning and Mr Sherwill, when a careful examination was again made ; found the same traces of kerosene as before in several places ; Mr Brown was present some part of the time ; inspected tbe yard and back premises of Mr Brown's to .see if there was any sacking of a similar description to that produced but found none; had found some on the balustrades of the staircase ; the only material he saw was under Mr Brown's control, and no one could have access to it without going into his store; heard Sergeant Manning, tell Brown to leave everything as it was till an inquest took place; saw Mr Brown at the fire about 5 minutes after witness ' arrived ; he was dressed in his usual attire the same as when in his store ;. he bad a collar and tie on, but could not say if he had his boots laced. " 4 '-*,

By a juror : The length, of the blaze went up 6 or 7 feet high; no one tpldhim

about the carelessness of Mr Wrightson except Mr Brown ; saw Mr Retemeyer, ■who said he had never mentioned such a thing about Mr Wrightson being careless to Mr Brown. By Mr Cooke : Was certain Mr Brown had his collar and tie on, and if he swears he hadn't would contradict it, and could bring several witnesses to prove it. William Manning, Sergeant of Police, stationed at Palmerston North, deposed to remembering Monday 27th May; on the afternoon, in company with Constable Meehan, inspected the premises of Messrs j Brown and Wrightson relative to the fire the day before ; first inspected Wright- I son's store and saw traces of kerosene oil on the partition ; tested it, and by smell was sure it was kerosene ; went over the whole of Wrightson*s premises and found no trace of kerosene except on the ground floor, which could have put in the position he found it in the manner described by Wrightson and Meehan by the loose board in the partition; they then inspected Brown's place ; went on the stairs and found the fire had been chiefly concentrated between the staircase and partition about 4 feet from the floor, and the flames had been mainly in an upward direction ; the fire appeared to have gone to the right in patches a considerable distance from the main body of the flame; examined various spots where the fire had been, and also where stains were discernable, and the presence of kerosene was apparent in every case; again went to Wrightson's "with Mr Sherwill, and made another inspection of both stores ; several places on Brown's staircase was again scraped, and trases of kerosene were again found ; a quantity of packing of a similar nature to that produced, and used for covering drapery bales, was hanging on the balustrades; Mr Brown was present, and on witness mentioning the quantity of this material found between the staircase and partition, he suggested that some had fallen off the balustrades into that position; made several experiments, and found this could not be accomplished ; instructed Mr Brown there would be an inquest, and that on no account was he to interfere with the condition of the place and things till a jury had seen them ; had no hesitancy in saying kerosene had been used in connection with the fire, as there was patent evidence of it ; examined the back of the premises and found there no packing of any description.

By a juror : Was quite sure the kerosene found on Wrightson's side could have been put there from Brown's through the hole in the partition. By Mr Cooke: Was quite sure there were traces of kerosene on the partition in Brown's side.

Harry Hewett, recalled, replied to a juror as follows : If kerosene had been used he might possibly have found traces ©f it, but the fire had been burning some time ; it was his opinion there was no foreign material used in starting the fire.

By the Sergeant: Noticed Mr Brown was dressed in his usual way as when attending at the store, but his boots were unlaced ; he had a collar and tie on and a white shirt.

Mary Ellen James, servant at Mr Brown's, deposed to remembering the time of the fire; slept at Mr Brown's private house ; went to bed that night a little before 11, in a room with two of the children ; Mr Brown came home about halfpast 10 ; he came in alone, and she heard him go to bed after 11 ; heard no one except Mr Brown go to bed ; he slept down stairs and witness upstairs ; witness was awoke by the firebell and went down stairs ; went out into the street, and went hack to the house and foimd he was not up yet ; told his son to call him ; went down to the shop and saw Mr Brown there afterwards; was on the verandah when Mr Brown was awakened ; the keys of the Store were usually kept on tbe mantel piece of the kitchen ; looked for them but did not find them ; . had no light ; wauted the keys to open the store, as by this time knew the fire was there ; felt very carefully for the keys, but couldn't find them ; usually saw them there ; didn't know where the keys were that night ; the keys axe kept on the mantel shelf as usual since the fire. This concluded the evidence. The coroner then charged the jury and pointed out that there could be no doubt whatever that this was a clear attempt at arson. The jury then gave the following verdict : — " That some person or persons unknown did wilfully set fire to the store with intent to defraud certain insurance companies. This terminated the proceedings.