A FIRE TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1917, Page 5

A FIRE TRAGEDY.

THREE LIVES LOST. FEW OF INMATES ESCAPE INJURY. TERRIBLE SCENES WITNESSED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christehurch, Yesterday. A disastrous flro, involving loss of life, occurred early this morning in the boarding-house and dining-rooms known as the Silver Grid, situated, in ManChester Street, near the railway station. The property is owned by L, E. Nathan's trustees (London) and leased by Mr. John Perciva,l Smith. Tho alarm was given at -2.37 a.m., and when the fire brigade arrived the flames were bursting out of the front of tho building, and reaching twenty feet across tho street. The main efforts of the brigade were devoted to saving the lives of the inmates, the bodies of tha dead and injured being carried to the balcony and [lowered to the pavement. The''burning of the only staircase in the narrow wooden structure cut off escape to the ground floor, the only means of escape for tho inmates being a couple of fire escapes at the back of the building, or through the front windows. To go through the windows was deemed suicidal, as the flames were surging upward and tho verandah below was a trap. Men went frantic with fear and burns, and gruesome scenes were witnessed as the inmates leaped from the front windows to the verandah and smashed through the glass, cutting themselves as they stumbled along, shrieking and groaning in panic. THE VICTIMS. lliose who perished in the flames were: An elderly man named F, W. Hatch. A young woman named Mrs. Elsie Stack, employed at the boardinghouse. A young man named Thomas Smith, employed at Skelton and Frostick's boot factory. The list of injured is as follows: Sirs. John Percival Smith, wife of tiie lessee, severely burned and cut. Her condition is critical, William Vincent, 33, slightly burned. D.ivid Moore Arthur, .flfl, severely burned. George William Spicer, 57, slightly burned. Ted (iledhi'l, 23, severely burned and suffering from shock.' William Lceney, 50, severely cut on the legs. John Percival Smith, 30, severely cut on the right hand and wrist. George Su)li\r.:i. 20, severely burned and cut on the neck. Henry Herbert Beer, 45,' severely burned and cut in tho face and body, and suffering, from slight shock. An air of mystery surrounds the origin of the Are, which had, a good hold before the alarm was given,'and appears to have started upstairs, near the front of the building. Eighteen or twenty persons were sleeping in the house, and tew of these escaped without injury of some kind. Fortunately, there was a good water supply available and tho lire was confined to the boarding-hoUse, though the adjoining buildings and eontents wciv damaged. The building was insured for £1525 in the Union office.

FRANTIC EFFORTS TO ESCAPE.

Most of the boarders when they reached the street were in their night clothes, some of these being singed. Smith, the lessee of the premises, was sleeping in a double upstairs room in the front of the building. He was awakened by a crash of glass, and, openiu" tlie door, was confronted by a considerable volume of smoke. He went to the room next door, occupied by his sistdr-ln-law, Miss S. Joyce, and Mrs. Elsie Stack, and after rousing them rushed back to his room, thinking to escape by the i window, which opened on a narrow balcony, but the flames forced Mm to retreat. Ho then rushed back to his room in time to see liia wife jump out on the verandah and roll off'to the ground. Mrs. Stack, meanwhile, had been on the balcony, but the flames drove her back and she re-entered her room. She evidently tried to get through the passage and was suffocated on the landing. Later, she was taken from the building, but died just as the fire' superintendent reached her. Meanwhile, Smith had gone ro the second window of the bedroom, where the flames and smoke wore not so dangerous. Ho bad hold of Miss Joyce, and, as they clambered over the balcony, both fell through the iron framework, hanging suspended in an l unenviable position, but were fortunately able to get up and stagger along the verandah to a window above an empty shop, through which they escaped.

RECOVERING THE BODIES.

j The firemen had a gruesome task in recovering the bodies. In their search t-hey found a small room with out door, but no window. The man occupying this room had evidently not gone to bed, "his body being fully dressod, even to his boots and hat. He was lying huddled in a corner near the door with a pillow under his head. Another man's body, literally roasted, was lying across tlie framework of the skylight giving light to the dining-room, the skylight being at the bottom of a well where the fire raged most fiercely. Smith, in escaping from the window, had evidently groped his way towards the pasage, but was overcome on the skylight. His body was charred beyond recognition, both hands being missing, one being found by the police among the debris. Mrs. Stack had evidently died of suffocation. She was dad in night attire, and the flames had not affected her a great deal, her liair not even being singed, and her cheeks still showing a healthy color. FURTHER DETAILS. Christchurch, Last Night. An inquest on the Silver Old fire victims was formally opened this afternoon and adjourned. A. I). Smith, bookseller, whose stock was damaged, was insured for £IOO in the Alliance. J. P. Smith, the proprietor of the Silver Grid, had £'23o in the Phoenix on his furniture, but he will bo a considerable loser. Hatch, one of the victims, was for forty years a compositor in the Lyttelton Times office. Mrs. Stark leaves two children of the ages of twelve months and three years. Mrs. J. P. Smith is not dead, but she is not expected to live many hours,

.■■wanraa. A GHASTLY BUSINESS SOME HORRIBLE SCENES. A FOURTH VICTIM Christehurch, Last Night, Fortunately there were a few coolheaded folk to look after the maddened escapees from the building, T. Dodd, whose toa rooms are in the same block, a few doors nearer the railway station, was early aroused with hie family. H« was aroused by the sound of fire", and went out at onee. He wfts there fully ten minutes before the brigade arrived,' and in that time some horrible scenes were enacted. Men escaping from the front rooms rushed along the verandah and were able, fortunately, to escape through Dodd's upper windows. It was a ghastly business, and even this morning the traces of it could be seen in the pools of blood left on a few of the unbroken verandah panes where tho victims had passed along. One man had the calf of his leg almost severed, and it hung down clear of hie leg. Another man went absolutely mad, and careered right along the verandah smashing glass at every step, and finally threw himself down on the road. The .scene was a shambles. On the other side of the street the victims were gathered, waiting for the ambulance, and pools of blood are Iflng there still to testify to their suffermcs. Mrs. J. 'P. Smith (wife of the projinetor), who was badly cut in escaping I along the verandah, died at the hospital this afternoon from shock. She makes the fourth victim, OUTBREAKS AT COKER'S HOTEL INCENDIARISM SUSPECTED, Christehurch, Last Night/, No fewer than three fires were dls* covered in Coker's Hotel (ono of tho largest in Christehurch) to-night, which is situated near the scene of this momma's fatal outbreak. The first was in the dining room, but was of small dimensions, and was speedily extinguished. Later, a fire was discovered in an ocOupied bedroom on the first floor, the burning bedding from which was found at the bottom of the back stairway, whars it had kindled nnother incipient fire. Neither of the three outbreaks resulted in much damage, but in view of'recent happenings lead to tha belief that an incendiarist is at work.