MAN BURNED ALIVE Blenheim, August 30.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 218, 3 September 1887, Page 4

MAN BURNED ALIVE Blenheim, August 30.

A vmu, attended with fatal consequences, vcodtniffsa at 3.30 this morning, the Sotft-h Star Hotel being burned to the <gFOWRd. Tho fire when discovered had •n ,good hold of the building, and' 4he "Fire Brigade with their steam engine , ■ could do nothing bub extinguish the burning embers. The origin of tho fire is a ■mystery. All was right when the landlord retired about midnight, and all . tho lights were out at that hour. He slept on tho ground floor, and was awakened by a lodger at 1.30. He made an effort to get up-stairs bo rouse the inmates, but the heat and smoke prevented ( him getting further than the landing. There were a good numbor of boarders in <the house, and those .sleeping upstairs had great difliculty in getting out. No, tire escapes were provided, and bed' clothes were brought into requisition ; as a means of escape. Mr Richard Winter, I edidor of tho Marlborough "Times," who jumped out of an upstairs window, sustained a compound fracture of the leg, and was< much singed and bruised. [Mr. Winter died shortly after being taken to the hospital.] Another lodger named David Henderson, an elderly man, lost his life. The lemains of his body were found at daylight and conveyed to the morgue. Very little of the furniture and stock was saved. The building was insured for £050 in the Equitable Office, which had reinsured X'3oo ih the Standard Office, while tho furniture was insured for £100 in the South British, and die stock for £50 in tho same oflice.