THE DUNEDIN FIRE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5759, 13 September 1879, Page 3

THE DUNEDIN FIRE.

ESCAPING FROM THE BUILDING. The first to escape from the premises appears to have been Mr. Waters aud his wife. He, hearing a cry of “ Fire !” turned out, and with his wife made his way out along a passage communicating . with the archway on the Stuart-street side. On his way out he awakened the man servant, Brodrick, who also got out in this way. About this time the alarm appears to have become general on the upper floors of the cafe, and judging by the heartrending cries and screams that proceeded from the building, the state of things inside must have been terrible. Those cries could be heard as far away as the Daily Timet office. One can imagine what the situation waa to a crowd of men, strangers to the place, waking hurriedly out of sleep, finding a raging fire going on below them, being half smothered and stupefied by smoke, if not scorched with heat, and jarnbed into passages, the outlets from which theyjknewnot. Mr. Waters cannot state exactly the number of the occupants of his house that night.. He judges that about 25—somewhere between 20 and 30 at any rate—slept in the two upperfioors. Thekindof thing that happened c m b : sti be understood by the recital of a few of the incidents attending the escape of those fortunate enough to get out with life. A man named John Taylor, who had been boarding in the house a week, and who appears to have occupied a front bedroom on the . cop floor, > mped from his window sill on to the footpath. He fell heavily, and when picked up by some who hxd just made their way out, was evidently much injured. He was .conveyed to the Octagon Hotel, and admittance not being obtained at once, was placed on the footpath for a time. He was then taken into lie hotel, where he was attended by Drs. Murphy and Reimer, but twenty minutes afterwards he died.

Oae of the next persons seen to come out of the building was a girl, who, jumped from one of the two-storey windows to the pavement. It is stated that a blanket was held tor her, but that she missed it, She Was injured to some extent, and was taken to the hospital. She was a servant girl, staying with Mrs. Wilson till she got a situation, and we believe had arranged to go to one yesterday. A young man named Deans, who was cook at tile cafe, and who slept on the centre floor, was instrumental-in effecting a safe way of exit for-a number of the cafe boarders. He could not make his way downstairs for the smoke when he was awakened, but climbed out through his window on to the spouting, and along this to a window, where he entered. A clothes line was affixed from this window to an opposite angle of the building, and it worked with a pulley In such a way as to enable clothes to be hung out to dry. Deans got hold of this clothesline and made it fast in some way inside tile room, and called the men from the adjoining rooms and passages to come to him. Some - eight or nine men and women thus assembled, and got safely down the rope to the back of the building. One woman, we understand, fell some distance, but her fall was broken by Mr. McGill, of McGill and Thomson, aud she was hurt but slightly. Margaret Hill, a girl who was seeking employment through Mrs. Wilson’s registry office, was sleeping in one of the upper rooms at the back of the building with two other girls whose names she does not know. She was awakened by the other girls, who were screaming and praying. They went to the window, and one of them jumped right out.' Margaret Hill called out to some men below to bring a ladder, and when that was done the two girls descended, Hill being the last. She seems to have behaved with great coolness under the circumstances, for the descent was a long one, and she and her room-mate only escaped in their night-dresses. One of the moat exciting experiences was thatiof two young men, named Peter Grant (son of Mr. Grant, of Gowrie, West Taieri), and Edward Jenkinson (sen of Mr. J. H. Jenkinson, Port Molyneux), who, being engaged in foundry work in Dunedin, occupied a room belonging to Mr. Wilson, and fronting the street on the third storey, being that at the corner next the Athemeum. Next to their room was one occupied by Fred aud Robert Wilson ; then came a room occupied by Lily, Louisa, and Sarah Wilson, and the aervaut, Maggie McCartney ; and next to this room, directly opposite the stairway, was Mr. and Mrs. Wilson's bedroom, in which their son Oliphant also slept. On the opposite side of this passage was a long room looking to the back, in which four servant girls, waiting for places.at Mrs. Wilson’s registry office, slept. Grant was awoke by a cry of “Fire !” and roused Jenkinaon. They lit a candle, and found the room full of smoke. Looking out of the front window, they saw the flames coming out of the cafe windows on the ground floor. At the same moment two men, evidently boarders at the cafe, came to their door, attracted by the light, and crying “ For God’s sake, shoiV us an outlet.” Grant opened the door, and the room fifiing with smoke and heat, he and Jenkinson made for the passage. Neither thought of their watches underneath their pillows, nor did Jenkinson remember a purse with about £6 in it on the table. Grant was fortunate enough to pick up a pair of trousers, in which £2 were ; he also, as he was going out of the door, picked up another pair of trousers and his Volunteer carbine and cutlass. Both tried to explain to the two men to follow them, and to show them the stairs. One of the men took hold of Jenkinson and held on till nearly at the top of the stair, and then let go. As they reached the top of the stair a tongue of flame was roaring along the passage. How they reached the bottom floor neither knows, but after getting outside and having a breath of fresh air, the subject of what had become of the two men and of the Wilson children was broached. The two agreed to go upstairs again, and although they describe the heat as something fearful, especially on the centre floor, they did get up, Grant leading. Just on the landing Grant found Louisa Wilson, whom he took in his arms. It was impossible to gat any further, and another scramble downstairs succeeded. Both state that when they turned to go back they despaired of reaching the bottom again. However, they did so, both getting burned on the hands and also on the face slightly, with the addition of a good deal of singeing about the hair. On the way down they met three policemen attempting to make their way upstairs, but these were unable to get beyond the first landing, where they sang out to attract the attention of those above. Grant took Louisa Wilson to the Octagon Hotel. In the meantime Lily Wilson had got out of her bedroom window, and had laid down at full length upon the parapet below the window-sill to escape a tongue of flame coming out. Jenkinson saw her, and a blanket having been got, he . called but to her, to throw herself down. She did'this, but striking an archway over the street door, she gave a rebound outside the blanket, and fell on the pavement. Jenkinson picked her up and carried her to to the Octagon Hotel. She was quite sensible, and complained of her back. While Lily was at the window, some one oame out of Fred. Wilson’s window. He clambered along the parapet till he reached thecorner, and'when Jenkinson went away with Lily he was hanging to it by the hands. The young men themselves escaped with nothing but coat and trousers, and Grant handed over the extra pair of trousers ho had brought down to an unfortunate fellow he found downstairs without any, and who asked for them.

The above are a few of the incidents of escape, and from them it may be imagined what scenes the spectators below had to witness while they stood helpless. The mass of people was excited to the utmost degree, and there are many who will remember the night as a night of horror as long as they live.