SHOCKING FIRE TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3797, 26 May 1928, Page 3

SHOCKING FIRE TRAGEDY.

SETTLER AND SIX CHILDREN PERISH.

NO CLUE TO ORIGIN,

Hawera, May 25,

A shocking fire tragedy occurred at mid-night in the Ararata farming district not far from Hawcra, a settler and six children being' burned to death. The names of the deceased are as follows:

Alfred Woller, aged 30; Ruby Woller, aged 13; Ellen Woller, aged 11; Ray Woller, aged 10; Alfred Woller, aged 8; Daphne Woller, aged G; Charles Parnell, aged 13.

Mrs. Woller and two children had spent the night in Hawcra. The scene of the tragedy was a four-roomed cottage, three rooms of which were used as bedrooms.

Mr. Woller had a family of eight altogether, but his wife and the two youngest children were living in Hawera with her parents. The boy Parnell also resided here.' Mr. Peter Woller, a brother of the deceased, lived in a tent a couple of chains from the cottage. He was awakened about midnight by a sound of crackling timber and saw the cottage ablaze. The back portion had already been destroyed. The flames were so fierce and the smoke so dense that he was unable to get inside.

He tried the.front door handle, but it was too hot to touch. He saw no sign l of life. A high southerly wind was blowing. The cottage stood on the edge of a hill, becoming a veritable furnace after it caught on fire.

A neighbour visited the family last night and saw the house at eleven o’clock. No light was visable or any sign of fire.

Among the smouldering embers this morning the remains of three bodies were seen. The others were buried under the debris.

The deceased, Mr. Woller, was in the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and pialtfng himself a cup of tea as he did not enjoy good health. Further investigations concerning the tragedy do not throw much ,new light on the matter. There is nothing to indicate how the fire occurred. The father usually slept in the front room with the girl Daphne, the other two girls occupying the back bedroom.

In the other front room wero two beds occupied by two boys, while the third room was shared by Charles Parnell and the other boy. Mn. Woodhead, the neighbour who. visited the family last night, said that when he left the cottage shortly after seven o’clock a good fire was going in the range. The only light in the kitchen was from a kerosene lamp on a table.

Mr. Woller had a small farm and sometimes did odd jobs in the neighbourhood. The remains of all the children have been found.

Judging by the position of the bodies one of the girls and the boy Parnell moved, the bodies being found just off the beds, but the next were lying as they slept. The remains of the father’s clothes were found by the side of the bed and his body at the front of the range.

Mrs Wloller, mother of five of the. children who perished last night, has been coming to Hawera periodically for a considerable time for medical treatment. She suffered from a nervous affection of the left arm, induced by milking in the dairy shed helping her husband. It was owng to this trouble that a boy had to be employed to help on flic farm. Generally, Mrs. Woller brought only the baby with her, but this week she had also the next child which needed treatment. But for that fact the fire would have claimed another victim.

Recently deceased Woller senior made a remarkable recovery from a serious illness and was just starting to make headway, milking a small herd for his brother.