INCENDIARISM IN DUNE DIN.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 144, 18 November 1874, Page 3

INCENDIARISM IN DUNE DIN.

The Otago Daily Thnn of the 16th instant say's :—A truly diabolical att' nip! at incendiarism was made a few dnys ago in Duucdin. The place where the attempt was raa'c was a house in Dowhng street. The house is situ ite a few doors up from the Dowling street stops, on the left hand side. It is a boarding-house and registry office, was formerly occupied by Mrs Clayton, but now by Mrs Dick, for the purposes named. The building, which is a very old one, was previously occupied by Dr Walters and Dr Beaver. Mrs Dick was out on Wednesday evening, and on returning to the house about ten o'clock she found a smell of fire. She looked about to discover the whereabouts of the fire, and after a while discovered it in a partition which separated the kitchen from the passage the fire could have been originated from either kitchen or passage. On the fire being discovered it was put out at once with a few buckets of water by Mrs Dick, assisted by some people in the house. The partition in which the fire was consisted of papering and canvas and thin boards. The papering had to be torn off before the fire could be got at. When the fire was seen there was a small flame which was just beginniug to take hold of the boards and papering. Hal the fire not been so promptly drowned out it would in a minute or so have taken a firm hold of the building, which is of wood, very old, and of a flimsy description, rapidly falling to decay, and a veritable tinder box. With such a breeze as that on Wednesday evening it would, had the fire once got a start, have been quickly reduced to ashes. Two of the boarders in the house at the time were invalids. One of them was helplessly ill in bed, being almost unable to move, and certainly unable to leave his bed. The fire in the partition consisted of paper aud various articles of an inflammable nature. 'lhere is not the slightest doubt that it was the work of an incendiary, but it is anticipated that there will be great difficulty in proving who is the guilty person, there being more than one to whom motive may be attributed. The furniture in the building is the property of Mrs Clayton, and is insured by her. It is the intention of the coroner to hold an enquiry into the origin of the fire in the course of a tew days, when the public will doubtless hear more about this strange matter.