INQUEST UPON THE BOUNDARY STREET FIRE.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 665, 23 April 1870, Page 2

INQUEST UPON THE BOUNDARY STREET FIRE.

» An enquiry into the origin of the fire in Boundary street was held yesterday afternoon in the large room at Gilmer's Hotel, before W. H. Re veil, Esq., Coroner. After the jury was empanelled, and Mr Barclay was elected foreman, the following witnesses were called ; — Margaret Martin, being sworn, deposed : I was a dressmaker, living in Boundary' street. I remember Easter Monday last. I went to bed that night between 10 and II o'clock. My house was the second house from the right-of-way. My mother, sister, and three children were asleep in the house that night. My bedroom is in the centre of the house, the shop being in. the front, and the kitchen at the back. In the kitchen was an iron chimney, with a small grate set in with bricks. This was the only fireplace in my dwelling. 1 use lamps for the shop, and candles in the kitchen. I had no fire lit in the grate to my knowledge af terhavingsupper, about nine o'clock. My sister was the last to retire to bed that night. I was ■vrakenecl tip about break of day -on -Tuesday morning. When I a-flroke I saw a flame in the further corner of the bedroom next the kitchen. My mother slept in the same room with me, and when I awoke, it was over her bed I first saw the fire. This was the partition wall between Mr Kittelty and myself. I had no light in my room, and I believe my sister put her's out when she went to bed. I was not out of the house that evening— my sister was not at the ball. She was in the house, if not in bed, at half-past 11 o'clock. I saved nothing from the fire, and was compelled to leave it in my night-clothes. There was no fender in front of the fire, only a small piece of zinc about two feet wide to catch any coals that might fall from the grate. By a Juror : The fire was dying out in the grate when 1 went to bed. The chimney was an iron one, built inside with brick, which reached about a foot high from the floor, above that there was nothing but iron. By the Juror: It was by the baby coughing that I awoke. 1 heard no cry of fire. Mary M'Naughton said : lam sister to the last witness, and occupied a house in Boundary street in partnership with my sister as a dressmaker. I remember the morning of the 19th inst. I was at home last Monday evening and went to bed at half -past 11 o'clock. I slept in the front room behind a partition. I was in the kitchen before I went to bed. 1 saw no light there. I took the lamp with me in my hand when I went in. The lamp was in my hand all the time I was there. I brought it back with me. I saw no fire in the grate. The coals then appeared black. The last time the fire was lighted was about nine o'clock. I was not in the kitchen again before going to bed. There was only one fireplace in the house. I had been working all day and evening. The first notice 1 had about the fire was hearing my sister call out fire about four o'clock in the morning. I then jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen. I saw the flames run up the wall and on the ceiling of the passage. The top of the kitchen was also in flames. The flames were burning downwards from the ceiling to the floor. I noticed this particularly as I was looking for the children. lam certain there was no fire then in the fireplace, otherwise I must have seen it. The ceiling was canvass and paper. After that we were compelled to run out of the building. I have saved nothing except one dress. I turned the laat lamp out before I went to bed. I do not keep a light burning at night. By Mr James : I heard no one working in Kittelty's that night when 1 went to bed. By a Juror : When I first saw the fire it appeared to be all over the roof next to Mr Kittelty's partition, which is not close boarded, but only partly so. The flames appeared to be nearer the back of the room than the centre. Mr Kittelty's house and ours adjoined. There was only a small coal fire that night. The grate was such a small one that we could not burn a large fire in it. lam not a of any ashes having been thrown out on Monday night. The kitchen was constructed of timber, while the rest of the building was iron. William Kittelty stated : I am a bootmaker, and reside in Boundary street in the first house next the right-of-way. I remember the night of Easter Monday, and was at home. I went to bed between eleven and twelve o'clock. Myself, my wife, and three daughters slept in the house that night.

All were in bed before I retired. There were no lights in the house when I went to bed. I had only a stove in the house in the back corner of the kitchen, next the right-of-way. There are three rooms in the house, and I occupied the centre nne as my bedroom. The atove-pipe ran up through the roof. The roof of the kitchen or lean-to is somewhat flat. It was lined with canvas and paper. There was no fire in the stove, nor had there been any since seven o'clock that night, when we had tea. I burned kerosene lamps in the house. I awoke next moming about four o'clock, through hearing \ Mrs Martin screaming out fire. I then j opened the door leading to the kitchen, j when at once the fire broke over the partition wall on the roof from the adjoining premises. There was no smoke, in my j bedroom when I got up first — there was some in the kitchen. The next thing I did was to save my family. I have lost everything. I had a back-yard ; but had no fire lighted there for washing or other purposes that day. I have no knowledge of the cause of the fire. By a Juror : When I opened the kitchen door the flames burst into the bedroom, from the direction of the adjoining dwelling, and not from my kitchen. There was a flushing of iron from the stove-pipe around the wall and floor, and also on the roof. The stove pipe was about a foot or eighteen inches from the wall. The roof of the kitchen is iron, with canvas and paper inside. The chimney-pipe has been cleaned every week. All the ashes have always been thrown into a swampy place in the right- ; of-way. The piles from the house were all enclosed by iron to the ground. Robert Reay said : lama tailor, and resided in Boundary street, in the third house from the right-of-way, and next to the Arghts office. The house was burnt down. I went to bed about eleven o'clock on Monday night. My son and daughter [ reside with me, and were in the house on i that night. I cannot say at what hour my ; son came in that night. He was in the • house in the morning. I had no fire in j the house that night. The only fire in ithe house was from the stove in the ! kitchen. It was situated next to the Argus office. The last time I saw the fire in the stove was about nine o'clock. After that the fire was allowed to die out. I was awakened up at half-past four o'clock the next morning by Bcreams from the adjoining house, and my daughter crying out " Fire ! " I then saw the reflection of the fire upon the back window. The fire was coming from Mrs Martin's dwelling-house. When I got up, I took a bucket and commenced throwing water from my tank upon the burning premises at the rear of Mrs Martin's building. My son came to me, and taking me by the neck, pulled me away. I have '■ saved nothing. My building was part of I the same house as Mrs Martin's and Mr i Kettelty's. When I saw the fire first it was coming through from Mrs Martin's ! side to Mr Kettelty's. The fire then was ! only in Mrs Martin's house. There was none in Kettelty's. I could see both ■ kitchens, and therefore can speak confi- ; dently. It roared like a furnace when I , was throwing the water upon it. ; By «a Juror.-- Mrs Martin's chimney projected into my yard. The fire aIT appeared to be in the upper part of the wall, about five feet from the floor and upwards, : in Mrs Martin's house, when I first saw it. When my son came home from work that night he came in and asked for his supper, and I told him that, as there was no fire, he could get no coffee. He then went up to Shaw's or Harry Smith's, and got his supper. This was about a quarter to eleven o'clock. He returned before I went to bed. William M'lntyre said : lam a laborer residing in Greymouth. I remember Easter Monday. About four o'clock on Tuesday morning I saw a fire breaking out from the roof of Mr Kittelty's back premises about eight or nine feet from the right-of-way. The flames broke out of the roof next to the right-of-way, and not at the rear of the premises. When I saw the fire first, the bell was ringing. I was sleeping in a cottage at the rear of the Victoria Hotel. 1 awoke Mr Rich and we commenced to throw water from buckets upon the Alliance walls. I only saw one person there when I went to the premises, he resided with Mr Levinski. He at once commenced to throw water upon the flames. He arrived at the same time as I did. By Mr James : When I first saw the fire it was confined to the back rooms of Mr Kittelty and Mrs Martin's, and it had not burnt through the roof until I came back from my cottage, to which I had gone to get dressed. Both these premises were in flames and it was the reflection that I sa.w first, Arthur Beauchamp said : I am an assistant in the Argus office. I went to the office last Tuesday morning about four o'clock to work off that morning's issue. Another lad had gone to call the pressman, and I was waiting outside the office. I went into the office and immediately afterwards came out again. I went up to Perotti's corner, where I met the night watchman. I then returned to the office, where I remained five minutes, af terwhich, on coming to the door, I smelt fire and saw smoke coming over the top of the office ; it appeared to come from Kittelty's. On going to the right-of-way, we saw the smoke coming from below the iron on Kittelty's roof, and. between the wall and the roof next to the right-of-way. I then returned to the front street, called out " Fire " and hurried down to the fire-bell. When I went to the engine-house, the night watchman's son was sleeping there, and he rang the bell. I saw the n:ght watchman about five minutes after the fire broke out. He left me to go up the front street. By a Juror : When I first saw the smoke I went round to the back of Mr Kittelty's. I could then see nobody near the premises. John Arthur Whall stated : lam Captain of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade. On Tuesday evening last I was called about half-past four o'clock through hearing the bell and being called upon by some person outside. When I got out of the house the engine was being taken out of the shed, and attached to the stand-pipe in Boundary street. The fire had not broken out in the front part of building when I arrived on the ground. lam of opinion that the fire broke out in either Mr Reay's or Miss M'Naiighton and not in Kittelty's. There are three tenements in one building occupied by " Kittelty, Reay, and M'Naughton. All three were burned, as also the Grey River Argus office, and the Boundary Hotel, together with a detached building at the rear of Mr Winsch's furniture shop. I believe from

the appearance of the fire and the way the buildings burnt that the fire originated more to the southward than to the northward of the three first "tenements. The partition between Reay's and M'Naghton's gave way before that part nearest the right-of-way went. The wind was coming down the Gorge, and therefore affected the current of the fire, driving it in a southerly direction. There is a paid officer appointed here to superintend the state of chimneys and premises. He is appointed by the Borough. By a Juror : There has been a report about some chimneys being foul. There being no more witnesses to be called the Coroner summed up briefly, and the jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict " That a fire took place upon some premises in Boundary street, but how or by what means there was not sufficient evidence to show."