BURNED IN THEIR SLEEP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 1

BURNED IN THEIR SLEEP

MAJOR AND FAMILY

FIRE TRAGEDY IN KENT By Cubic.—Press Association. —- Copyright. LONDON, Wednesday. Further details are to hand of the tragic fire which occurred last night at Wateringbury Hall, a country mansion near Maidstone, Kent, owned by Major Bazley-White, D.S.O. The latter, aged 41, his wife, their four-years-old child, and a nurse, aged 55, were burned to death. The outbreak was discovered by .a passer-by. The house was in darkness, and everybody was in bed. The members of the household were aroused by stones being thrown at the windows. A housemaid telephoned to the fire brigade, which arrived in a quarter of an hour, but the flames had then such a hold that there was little hope of saving the house or its inmates Three of the domestic staff made adventurous escapes from bedroom windows, but there was no hope from the beginning for the famil5 r . All the victims were sleeping in another wing of the mansion, which had practically been burned down when the brigade arrived. Firemen, policemen, and villagers worked all night, but only recovered the bodies this morning.—A. and N.Z.