FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE NEAR BLENHEIM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 271, 20 July 1880, Page 2

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE NEAR BLENHEIM.

("By Telegkaph.)

Blenheim, July 16. At on early hour this morning the ■ Woolpack Inn Eenwick Town, occupied by Mr George Stevens-on, was comple ely destr. yed by fire. One man perished in the flames, and four others sustained injuries of. a serious nature. The origin of the fire is not known, but it to have broken out in one of- the bedrooms. There were twenty persons in tl a house at the time. An alarm given by Messrs He-Ivor and Thomas was the prelude to an indescribab e scene of dismay. Stevenson, who was in the upper storey, escaped by a back staircase. Mrs Stevenson and the 'children, who occupied a room down stairs, were taken ..out, through a window. The headway macfe. by the flames cut off all means of escape from within to the wakened sleepers, and one by one they were compelled to break through the wiudows and jump, to the ground. One man named Mason jumped h.-istily from his bed and made a rush to. the door, which he had scarcely' opened when a scorching tongue of tlame, dashed into his face and drove him back.. Mason,, momentarily staggered by the shock, made for the window which was. above the roof of the kitchen, and catching hold of the frame was endeavoring to, wrench it onr> when the, flames caught his hands and rendered them useless., fc earing to be smothered he butted at the window head foremost, and bnrstingtlirough it he fell on the roof of the kitchen,, and from thence .bounded on an-iron grating below, falling on his head. He was picked up in a senseless condition, and conveyed to a building, where lie now lies-, in a very bad state,. Ids face and hands being all burnt and bruised, and his head cut. In a back room in the left wing of the building, slept two men, one named. Moses Qirtwiight, and what took place inthat little room when the alarm of firespread,, no mortal can say, not even t':o survivor, who has no recollection of an'yt dng else but that of seeing a great blaze of tight. How he Ifft the room, and succeeded in making his escape he has not. the remotest idea. All that the spectators saw was the figure of a man dash against one of the upper, windows, and fall heavily on the ground outside, the; 'rouse. He was; taken to Mclvor's. house, where it was found, that besides, sustaining a. terrible scorching his left arm was broken, and he. had a terrible gash under his chin, as if from a pane when, breaking through the ; window.. On beijg ques ioned, he said he believed that he left Moses Cartwrightj in j> I lie room, bat coujd. not speak, with t-ainty on the point. It was for a thought Cartwrightt had made his escape one or two persons in the crowd statiugthey had seen someone leaving the house, whom they believed to be Cartwnght. This unfortunately proved untrue,, and a, lew charred human remains found in the debris later on told their own sad tale.' It. is suriuissed that Caitwright was unacquainted with the passages leading from, the staircase co the exterior, and when awakened he must have run down the staire ise from which a passage led to thekitchen, and. tuiuing. off "at right angles 'eel to the outer door. Instead of.turning, off, the uniortunnt<i_man must have tinned straight on into Jhe 0 j2it^a^-T !i n& have been suddenly bronght up against j the wall. The confusion, which would ' naturally ensue in his mind, and the smoke which it • may be presumed'filled-, th oapartment, together combined to bring ahout his destruction, ?nd he must have fallen, as his remains were found on the: floor, and bean devoured by fire: Tiie insurances were as follow :—On. the building, L3OO in the Union, LIOO in the National, and L 2500 in the New Zealand office. On the furniture, L2OO in the Union, and LSO in the New Zealand ;. on the stock, LIOO in the Union ; on thestabies, L.IOO in the same office ; on .thebilliard table, Ll2O in the Victoria.