FIRE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 921, 23 February 1882, Page 3

FIRE.

A fire broke out on Thursday last in a small wooden house in Smith street, Dunedin, shortly after 4 o’clock in the morning, by which four children were burned to death. The house was occupied by a man named Julius Bessiski, a brewer employed by Mr Speight, his wife, and four children, who all slept upstairs. The fire appears to have bioken out on the ground floor, and the family were not aroused till it broke through the upper floor. Bessiski and his wife got through the window, leaving the children in bed, but it was not known for some time that there was anyone in the house, as little attention was paid to the maddening screams of Mrs Bessiski. When the' Brigade arrived however, the house was entirely enveloped in flames, and it would have been too late to have rendered any assistance. The names of the four children burned were —Francis Bessiski, aged 8 years; Minnie Bessiski, aged 6 years ; Martha Bessiski, aged 4 years ; and TliOmas Croft, aged 13 years. A twostorey house adjoining, occupied by Mr Greenslade, who is owner of all the property destroyed, was completely gutted The building is insured in the Union for £2OO, but Mr Greenslade states his loss is considerably above that amount, as his furniture was uninsured. The bodies of the four children were recovered. Later. There were five children n the house at the time of the fire. Mrs B»ssiski jumped out of the window w : th an infant in her arms. Crofts, one of the victims, was a nephew of Bessiski. The following is Mr Bessiski’s statement ;—lie ard his wife retired to rest about 11 o’clock on the previous night. They were awakened some time after by their eldest son crying ouc, *' Oh, mamma, smoke, smoke ! ” There was no smoke in Bessiski’s room at the time, but he immediately jumped out of bed, crossed the small passage between his room and that in which the children were sleeping, On opening the door of the latter he was met by a strong tongue of flame, unaccompanied, so far as he .could perceive, by smoke. He tried to reach the children, but his nightdress caught fire, and he was forced to go back. Rushing to his own room, be wrapped Jijmself in a blanket, entirely covering his

head and face, and returned to force his way thr.mgh the flames. In the endeavor to miik- the lescua the blanket was burned about him. yet he again and again renewed the attempt. At length the room in which In’s wife was at the tune caught fire through the open doorway, and the flames were making fast headway. Seeing that nothing could be done for his children, his attention was turned to the safety of his wife and the youngest child (a boy two and a half years old). Mrs Bessiski at that moment had made a desperate effort to enter the back bedroom herself through the midst of the fire, but her husband dragged her back with the flames upon them, and dashing hia fist through the window overlooking the street, seized the little boy under his left arm, and swung himself out over the, lodge, hanging on to the inner side of the window framing by his right hand. He then extended his left arm, holding in it the child, and thus dropped it gently on to the pavement. Drawing himself up again ha prepared in the same way to break the fall of his wife in her descent of a height of ten feet, but the flames ! were so close that she was unable to endure the heat any longer, and si.e threw herself unexpectedly into his arm before he was quite prepared to receive her, and the sudden weight forced him to relax his hold. Both dropped, and the poor woman fell upon her child, which is considerably injured in consequence. Nor did she herself escape unhurt, for in the fall she came down heavily on her face on the asphalt pavement, and besides sustaining severe contusions on the forehead she was much cut about the mouth and had a number of her teeth so crushed in by the force of the blow that it is probable she will lose most of them. On realising the position of things she became quite frantic in her cries for her and but (hat her husband kept her back, would in her frenzy have dashed into the burning building,