TRAPPED IN FLAMES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5201, 9 November 1927, Page 2

TRAPPED IN FLAMES.

/FRANTIC RESCUE EFFORTS FAIL

WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH. NEWCASTLE, November 4. Trapped in her blazing home, with no hope of escape, Mary Jane Mutton, 65, of Wilson Street, West Wallsand, was burned to death. Awakened when the cottage; was well alight, she returned to her bedroom, evidently to retrieve tome valued possessions, and was overcome by smoke and flames. The woman lived with her husband, David Mutton, 75, in a small weatherboard cottage. About 3.30 a.m. the husband was awakened by the fire, He; and his wife ran to the bedroom door. She went to her son’s room, while he went down a passage; to get his coat. When he tried to return in a few seconds, a wall of flame blocked his way, and, to his horror, he realised that his wife was trapped. Rushing round the house he tried frantically to gain entrance through a window, but the flames drove him back.

A passing miner rushed to the fire station, and within a short time West Wallsenci, with an antiquated hand machine, arrived.

A holq was smashed in the side of the bedroom wall, and through this the woman could be seen, overcome by the smoke and flames. A hose was played on the body, but when the firemen entered the woman was dead.