DISASTROUS FIRE AT INVERCARGILL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 166, 18 March 1864, Page 3

DISASTROUS FIRE AT INVERCARGILL.

GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. LOSS OF LIFE. (Abridged from the Southland News of March 3.) We have to record the most disastrous event which has yet befallen our populous town. An extensive conflagration has laid waste a large proportion of one of our principal streets, and added to the destruction of property a lamentable loss of life. Early on Tuesday morning the appearance of dense clouds of smoke gave.the first alarm of fire, and in an incredibly short space of time the work of destruction was complete, liapid—almost ligntning like in its effect, the fire, originating in the rear of the Excelsior Hotel, Tay-street, extended itself along the entire block of buildings towards the east end ■of the town. The wide space between the Union Bank and the burning range gave hopes at first that it might be preserved, but the winds from the south west seemed to acquire force with the progress of the fire, and the flames overleaped the chasm and laid hold of the beautifully constructed but inflammable building. The exertions of those present were of no avail, it was, so to speak, consumed like a fabric of tissue paper. In one brief half-hour a range of buildings—comprising the Excelsior Hotel, the printing establishment of the Invercargill Times, Spence and Go’s kerosene and lamp warehouse, Neustadt, tobaconist, the Criterion Hotel and Concert Hall, and finally the Union Bank—was levelled to the ground, the stacks of chimnies only remaining, upright and skeleton like in the midst of the glowing embers, and scorched, half-melted, and chaotic debris.

The most distressing portion of the misfortune remains to be told, in the fact of the spectators being made aware that two, if not more, lives were being sacrificed in the devouring element, and that the sufferers were females only added to the sense of horror pervading the throng which had quickly gathered to the number of one or two thousand people. Nothing could, however, be done, the flames had extended with such fierceness that it was impossible to approach the spot where they were known to he, and attention was given in the meantime to the preservation of other buildings in the line of street.

The Volunteer Fire Brigade was soon on the spot, and after some delay an engine arrived, but a deficiency of water and an accident to the hose rendered it of little use, and building after building was consequently rapidly destroyed. As the fire subsided, the most strenuous exertions were made to recover the bodies of the two poor women who were known to have been left in the Excelsior Hotel building,- and here we may properly turn to the account given by Mr. Hall, the landlord—husband of one of them, who saved himself by his celerity. He states that about midnight his wife and the barmaid retired to their respective bedrooms, leaving him with a few friends playing cards. Between two and three o’clock in the morning they left the place, with the exception of a Mr. Quinton, who laid down on the sofa in the parlor, as it was late for him to go home. He (Mr. Hall) then retired to bed, and fell asleep, awaking shortly before 6 o’clock, but as it was too early for him to rise, he went to sleep again in a few minutes. His next recollection was being aroused by the voice of the barmaid Bessie calling out the place was on fire. He then jumped out of bed, calling on his wife and the barmaid to follow him. He rushed down stairs and tried to get out at the back door, but was at first un successful, at length he opened the door and got out. He thought of trying to get back into the house, but the flames were too strong. A ladder was lying on the ground, but he could not lift it, by reason of his hands being so severely burnt. He then called out to the house, and then he ran round to the street for help. Mr. Quinton had been aroused by Mr. Hall, who called out to him to save his wife, but he had barely time to reach the window of the room in which he had slept (over the bar) and drop himself into the street.

As we stated above, the attempt was made to recover the bodies of the two females, and they were at length extricated, locked in each other’s arms, but so terribly burned that no more than the bare outline of the human form could be distinguished. They were taken to the Royal Hotel to awmit the inquest. Connecting the statement of Mr. Hall as to having been aroused by the cries of the barmaid, (Elizabeth Jamieson), with the position in which the scorched remains were found, it is impossible to resist the conviction that the poor girl fell a victim to the fire, in a heroic endeavor to rescue her mistress. It is a sad and painful collection that so noble an aim should have been frustrated, and a twofold sacrifice been made.

Mr. Hall was conveyed to the hospital, suffering from injuries he had received. His mental suffering appeared to equal the bodilyagony produced by severe burns on the upper part of his body. The rapid spread of the fire was due, no doubt, to the fact that one of the first buildings ignited was a warehouse in which a large quantity of kerosene was stored, the vessels of it exploding with a loud rejrort when subjected to the intense heat, the fluid contents being instantly transformed into masses of flame, which were borne forward by the high wind. Scarcely had the occupants of the adjoining buildings time to escape before the entire block was one mass of seething fire. The smoke rose in dense, dark masses on the wind, the clear daylight adding to the gloomy effect of the scene.

As the outlines of the buildings gradually collapsed, and the whole body of fire sank into comparaive quiescence, the most conspicuous object was the new printing machine, lately imported by the proprietors of the Invercargill Times. It had sustained the fiery ordeal, and stood out in bold relief, in apparently perfect condition—a striking contrast to the surrounding ruins. It can hardly be ascertained as yet whether it is repairable —the excited zeal of anxious workers having induced them to throw a quantity of cold water on the machine while it was still almost red-hot. The brick-built strong-room of the Union Bank, from which the contents were removed with but little injury, next claimed attention. The fall of a chimney broke through its vaulted roof, and gave it the appearance of a huge and ruined tomb. The tall chimneys of the bank, slender and whitened by the action of the fire, swayed to and fro with every gust of wind, and were at length pulled down by the Fire Brigade assisted by the onlookers. '

The amount of property destroyed is difficult to arrive at. We are inclined to think it rather under than over-estimated at ■£15,000. The whole of the buildings destroyed were of recent conduction, expensively built and finished. The Union Bank was next to Mr. Watt’s iron building, the most striking, in its architectural appearance of any we possessed. The buildings were insured as follows : —Union Bank, =£3,000

leaving an estimated deficit of £I,OOO ; Neusted’s, tobacconist, £4OO, deficit, £500; Invercargill Times office, £I,OOO, deficit, £5,000; Excelsior Hotel, £SOO, deficit, £1,000; Spence & Co., uninsured, estimated loss, £8,000; Criterion Hotel and Concert Hall, £SOO, deficit £2,000. Besides the above, the premises and stocks of Messrs. K. Rose and T. Ott were much injured—the first by the endeavors made to raze it, with the view of checking the fire; the latter by the hasty removal and water thrown on them to save them from the fire. The claims on the Insurance Companies will fall as follow: —lmperial, £1,200 ; New Zealand, £1,300; Royal, £1,000; Colonial Assurance, £4OO ; Northern, £1,200 ; Australasian, £SOO.

The Southland News thus comments on this lamentable affair : —Two young women, looking forward to a future full of promise—one of them but lately married —have perished by the most cruel of all deaths. Mr. Hall, the landlord of the Excelsior, where the fire originated, hastily escaped on the first alarm, leaving his poor young wife and the barmaid behind him. The latter had roused him from sleep, and thus been the means of saving his life. The two women being left in the burning house without a man to help them, this poor young creature apparently sacrificed her own life in the attempt to save her mistress, whose room she must have entered, and about whose body her arms were found entwined when the charred remains of the unfortunates were rescued from the ruins. It was an act of heroism that should secure some tribute to the memory of the girl, in whose mind thought of her mistress’s preservation was superior to that of her own safety.