A FIRE TRAGEDY.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 June 1925, Page 4

A FIRE TRAGEDY.

[ lIY Till. UC HA PH —Will I'll KSB ASSOCIATION.] AVKLLI.XGTOX. .1 tine 20. Suffering from a festering tlmiuh, a widow, redding at Tiiivii Mat. left three ot her children atone in the house while she visited Wellington t consult a do; tor. A delay on the journey can ed her to miss the next train home from Thermion and during her absence the house caught lire. 'I wo of the children were rescued by neighbours, but the eldest, a little girl five years of ago, could not he located, and she perished ill the Halites. An iiif|iic.st touching her death was completed by the Coroner, Air AA . G. Riddell on Saturday, and while enmmeiiding the conduct of two young men who at no small |er.sonal risk entered the burning dwelling to bring out two of tbe occupants. In- AA'orsbip said the mother eiiiuoiitteil a serious error of judgment in leaving the children alone ill the bouse.

The discovery oi the fire and the rescue ot one ot the children was doserihetl hy Mr Milton Mosted. who. at about 7. Id on June 13. noticed ':c l!.;:issuing from the kitchen willow of Mrs Bailey's house. While (lie fire was at its fiercest, he forced in the hack door, and finding tio one in 'ho kitchen, proceeded with all haste along the passage towards the bedrooms, calling out the while to the children. He received no reply. A search .of ti e right hand front Ijodroom proved 1 nutloss. |,ut the fire’s glare revealed something moving in a cut in the Iclt Band bedroom. With a little girl in his arms Mexted scrambled hack through the kitchen and reached the yard in safety. By this time the smoke and Haines were too powerful to permit of re-entry via the kitchen and the rescuer attempted to return through the front window, hut again he had to desist on account of the intense heat and suffocating smoke. Mexted fancied lie heard something of the deceased child, hut as the room was full ol smoke at the time lie could ere nothing. The rescue of the second child was carried out by Mr Gordon Staples, no dim led into the house through a window. He heard a moan in one of the rooms, and after groping around he heated the bov Man in his cot. and after some difficulty got him out. The room was sear lied at the time, hut no other child was found. When Staples reached the fresh, air he was in a state of exhaustion. The people outside informed him that the other children were away with their mother.