A WANGANUI SENSATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 314, 14 February 1910, Page 5

A WANGANUI SENSATION.

SEQUEL TO THE RUTLAND HOTEL FIRE. TWO MEN ARRESTED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wanganui, Last Night,. A sensational sequel to the Rutland Hotel Are, which occurred on the night of January 22, occurred on Saturday evening, when Joseph Davis and Martin Haynes), proprietor and manager of the jewellery and fancy goods shop in which the outbreak occurred, were arrested. At the inquiry held on Wednesday last the evidence was such as to lead the Jury and coroner to arrive at the conclusion that the Are was the result of an accidental explosion of gas, and a verdict was returned accordingly. Since the fire Davis and Haynes had been staying at the Arcadia Boarding-house. By a strange coincidence Miss Bellamy, the proprietress, required the services of a gasman to remedy a leak, and a man was sent to do the work on Saturday, and found it necessary to examine the pipes above the ceiling of the tipstairs rooms'. He went through a trap door, and at the end of the passage, and near the rooms occupied by Davis and Haynes, to his surprise he discovered a "swag" comprising one large portmanteau, four paper packages, and two brief bags, which, on examination by the police, to whom the matter was reported, were found to contain a miscellaneous assortment of jewellery, fancy goods', and some of the books which were said to have been burned in the fire, including the day-book containing an entry made on the day the fire occurred, and records of sales for some weeks past. The value of the goods found is roughly estimated at from £IOO to £2OO, but have not yet been valued by an expert. The stock in the shop at the time of the fire was valued by Davis at £2OOO, and was insured for £IOOO. The insurance money has not yet been paid over.