INQUIRY INTO ORIGIN OF FIRE AT STANTON’S HOTEL.

Kumara Times, Issue 560, 13 July 1878, Page 2

INQUIRY INTO ORIGIN OF FIRE AT STANTON’S HOTEL.

An inqilifjr into the late fire at Stanton’s Coach and Horses Hotel, Loopline road, was held by the Coroner (M. Price, Esq., R. M.,) at the Court House yesterday afternoon, at 2 o’clock. The following gentlemen composed the jury ;—Messrs Dungan (foreman), Mub vihill, Hannan, Pearn Thimbleby, G, King, Griffi'hs, O’Hara, Paterson', Delargy, Moggi'idge, Anderson, Campbell, and H. Brown, Mr Runcie attended on behalf of the Imperial Fire Insurance Comjwtiy. Inspector O’Donnell conducted tho examination and called

Mr S. S. Stanton who, on being, sworn, said . —I was lately a publican residing at the Coach and Horses Hotel, Loopline road. My license had not been renewed. I was residing there On Sunday last, the 7th inst. My wife" and two children were in Hokitika; thyself and tfiree other children were the only persons in the house. I was at home the greater part of the day. The hmfse was of wood, with chimneys of brick, and ah iron ro6f; it consisied of four rooms divided by a passage, a bar, bariparlotfi* (opposite thh bar), a private sStting-r'oom at back of bar, ftrfj a hedroorfl at 6hfi back’ of b'ar-pUflour. The lire occurred at about 15 or 20 minutes ptat 6, I imagine ; I was then in the kitchen, which is detached from the house by about 36 feet, at tea with my three children. The first thing that attached my attention was a noise In the house. I was under the'impression it, was the pigs got into the b'Ur, I said to my eldest boy, “ Go and drive the pigs out of the bar.” He returned In a second or two, and told me that the house was on fire. I went oUt and saw a bright light in a window in the bedroom. I then ru-hed round to the Greenstone rend to the bar-dobr, which I pushed open and entered, the flames were then coming through the sittingroom door into the bar. • My object was to get into the bedroom. When' I opened the door from the bur into the passage, the passage was all in flames. I then returned back to the bar, and seized hold of a that was lying there, and got it oUt; it belonged to Mr Sraythe, the surveyor. A man named Richard Lawler then arrived. 1 then made a second attempt to go into the bar, but was prevented by the flames, and glass which wa i flying in all directions, one piece of glass striking me on the eye-brow. I then went round to the Loopline side of the house, and saw the flames rushing violently through the private sitting-room window. I then went to the opposite side of the house, and saw flames rushing through the bed-room window, and the bar-parlour enveloped in flames } and by this time the heat had become so intense that 1 we had to retreat from the building. By Inspector O’Donnell; Directly I opened the bar door, the flames burst forth. The bar-parlour is divided from the bar by a passage.- I tried to enter the bar-parlour with Richard Lawlor. The bedroom must have' been in flames; It was Ordinary furniture in the barparlour. There was dot an article of any description moved out of the hodse' after the fire Was discovered. The distance from the front door to the parlour door would be about four or five feet/ There was no chance of getting any furniture out when I arrived ; it Was more than dangerous to do so. The fire might have reached the bar-parlour at this lime, but 1 cofllcl not say. YoU could not reach the bed-room at this 1 time> it was an impossibility. There 1

was a door opposite the front door, aii the back, in the passage; that door was closed and bolted inside. There was one tire burning when We left to go to tea,in the private sitting-room behind the bar ] this was the only fire lighted that day in the house ‘ it was d brick fireplace and hearth, And a brick dhimneyi There Was no wood about thb chmney* and no mantelpiece. Tbdbe was a moderate fire burning some tike before the coaches came. There, was a brick hearth of about 2 feet 6 itiched from the fire, back. [The witnes&herg made a long statement relative to his wife’s illness’ and why he had oCcasslon to dry the Clothes by the fire.] There ; were two chairs over which the ond sheet was spread before the fire} thb chairs were fdlly 4 feet away frdm the' - fire j they were ordinary ichaifg ; that was the way I left, them'wheil I w(Bht to tea. It Would be about a gnarteh-of an-hour after that whbn the fire was first seen. We did not use wood.that sparkled; we had alwava 'guarded against that j we hdve often /burnt itj but not whan absent from the f house. There would be about tWo tiers of wood on the fire when we left W tea ; there was a fair ordinary firC. JTbere was d. ; possibility, but not a probability, pf the wood rolling off the fire j tliere was no possibility of the sheets falling off, as. I noticed them particularly, and thd heavy side was on the inside and away from the fire. 1 The . sitting, room was most dn fire when I arrived, where 1 had left .the clothes. I sent my children over to Thompson's to see if therewas anyone there when fire? occurred. I did not go the bade door at alb The’ premises were insafred in the Inpfriatf Oftxce for £2OO oti the house, £7§ r 6‘ri the furoittfre and effects, And £26 M the fixtures. The whole place wtb completely burnt down, and nothing j saved but the box. Twelve months ago it was insured for MOO foil the 27th of last month it Wad reinsured for' .£3OO, The increased was On tbe fnrilitUre and fiXtrirCd. The' - policy was‘assigned to Mr J, Churches,• of Hi kitika, for the full dmb’ttnt, but I do ndt ow#h{m all, as, if the iriOTlftnce’ 1 is paid iu frill I shall receive ribOttt' ; £56 4s. : ./

. By the Coroner; The room wati Htietf Vitll rough hoards up to the eeiliagaud jßcriiflmed and papered over that* When •the Coach c»iiriC thdrCWas’tfrie |«a^ietifsseif' came in with the Coachman. The/ went into the private sitting rootfl j ihet clothfea w ate shifted from thefire' theil ; they were not smoking/; -. There wag only onC kerosene lamp alight in the bar, my daughter Esther* arid myself left the bouse together J / W& locked the door. My boys: had been dht some tiitfc* preparing tea/ I replaced the’ clothed iri front of the firer directly; the c< taCft left j we shitted the chairs farther back- before ; We feft.There Wak not fhi> slightest indication of fife, ftridfee, ofbrii-hifig:*lfeflfr the place. Thdre was rip kdf-bsene iri fhe toOm whefe tfie fife brigrnat&i. We had orily one tin in the - hdrfsd, ah# that wfts under' the W; Aboui-a (}uarter-pf-an-honr after We left? I thlriky the firri began After feaVifigthd bhiid* for a • tfuarter-dfdm-hoiir* Wh£n I re* turned it was * im|k>ssible to get in.There Is no blind to thelcitCheri/ Thri only pCoffle Hvtflg near tfre tfte Tftttnp-. Sens. There wove a few people Iri dur> irig the day, hut they bad all left; I hid' no reason to suspeet anyfiue. •• Thcf duly Way I can account for the fhc id that the clothes either got overheated or that a spark flfew out of the fire/ i have never fised any sparkling wOod since the last time I was burnt outj .that was 12 months ago y i was inined by it. > ’vV ■" ; 7-. ’

By the Foreman } j locked :tbe phs--sage door; anyone cbUld get in the bar, '»?/ althoiteh the door was closed, it was npt bolted, being Sunday. The door' leading into the passage was closed and locked. There are two dbdrh inthesit- - ting-room I saw the flamtesin the sit-ting-rbom when I’first went Into thef bar.- 1 can account for the light ifi the' bedroom window by the fire catching the sheet, then the .-crim, and. running round the house. I do not believe anyone cduld have got on the premises* No one has been living with me lately* By a Juryman ;■ The ceilings were all .boarded. I da think if the door had been closed it would have stopped the draught. I could not get in the back' dear. I knew 1 cbuld. not for the flames, as my son. savfr them at the win-? dow before I went to 1 the front. By Mr - Runcie : : My furniture wae ■tforth over £IOO, irrespective of the fix-turns. My stock was Specified in the insurance as effects.By the Foreman When I left the-. bouse I could- not sgy if the door itt thff bar-parlour was closed ;• there - was no*' ’ thing inflammable on the rfooi', Thef sheet was as full sizfed one. Thef great body of fiatftfe came from the stttingrbora behind the bar. I usually closef , the door"at night when,! go .fo. Jftr*, jX ,- Unbolted the bar door in the j and knew it was not so though#

pigs might have got in that way. I j bannot say what was ou fire when I j went into the door 1 . By a juryman : X made no attempt to stop the flames because I could not get within 14 feet of the building, owidg to the intense heat. By Mr Runciei There wetfo four roOnk in the house, and the furniture in each room Would be about £35. The Sofas were the most valuable things in the furniture. 1 consider from, an estimate t have made that my furniture and eftects ' wer’e, worth £l5O. My library of books wefe Worth at least £ls ' Bichard Lawkr, a miner, who arrived, after the house was in flames j and Jeflcott, the driver Of the evening boach, who was there aboUt a quarter 4 Of-an-h Our previosuly, also gave evidence but of qo material import, The Coroner having briefly reviewed the whole evidence adduced, The. jury found, " That the fire originated in the hOuseiof Mr Staxiton, but from the evidence the jiirorS are of Opinion, that the c&use or causes, afe Unknown.