STRANGE AND FATAL FIRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 182, 22 October 1927, Page 1

STRANGE AND FATAL FIRE

FAMILY WIPED OUT HOUSE SEEMINGLY EMPTY Bn Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. LONDON, Thursday. A strange story in connection with the tragic fire which occurred on Tuesday night at Wateringbury Hall, the country home near Maidstone, Kent, of Major Bazley-White, when he, j his wife, their Aoung son and his nurse were burned to death, was told | at the inquest to-day. j Everybody who was at the scene of I the fire thought the house had been j vacated by the occupants. The domestic servants in their evidence said they were awakened by Mrs. BazleyWhite, who rushed down a passage agitatedly shouting “Fire!” They heard her rush through the flames to the nursery. The members of the domestic staff escaped by various means. One of them noticed that the car was gone from the garage, and concluded that the members of the family had escaped. She said that Mrs. BazleyWhite could certainly have escaped, as she was apparently the first person to detect the blaze. The others threw stones and broke the windows in Major Bazley-White’s bedroom, which was at the other end of the house from his wife’s room. There was no response. The evidence of other persons who arrived at the scene subsequently was to the effect that they were told the house was empty. A taxi-driver said he heard a groan while he was climbing outside a window, which was the first indication that there was anybody inside the A verdict of death from burning; aithe cause of the fire being unknown, was returned.— A. and N.Z.