Tragic Tales Told at Hotel Fire Inquest

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 807, 30 October 1929, Page 1

Tragic Tales Told at Hotel Fire Inquest

WIFE LOST IN SMOKE HUSBAND’S EFFORTS Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. The inquest on the victims of the Riverton Hotel fire opened before the coroner, Mr. W. 11. Woodward, S.M., this morning. Daisy Bradshaw, employed as a cook, said she was awakened by a boarder calling “Fire.” Flame and smoke were coming from the kitchen. She and a housemaid made their way to the front part, where the fire escape was situated and the smoke was very dense. She heard Mrs. Trembath call out twice and saw Mr. Trembath come out of the smoke from the direction of his wife’s room with a child in his arms. She thought Mrs. Trembath must have been separated from her husband by the flames. All escaped in their night attire except Moses Reed, a boarder, who gave | the alarm. Mr. Trembath made a | desperate effort to reach his wife's [ room from the window outside and i received burns. ; William Mason, who occasionally | acted as barman, said that he retired after midnight, when everything ap- . peared to be safe. He wafe awakened by the call of “Fire.” He swung out of the window on to the pole support of the fire escape and slid down it. He had no idea how the fire origin- * ated or where it started, i The inquest was adjourned for the j evidence of the licensee, who is still from shock.