THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10159, 4 January 1911, Page 5

THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

TWO FIRE VICTIMS. The victims of the fire in Wellington on Tuesday morning, in which the Wellesley boarding-house was destroyed, have been identified as Edward Crombie and P. Meban. The "building was owned by Messrs Kirkcaldie and Stains, and occupied, by 'Mi' John Jackson. There were between twenty and thirty lodgers in the house. The alarm of fire was given by a lodger named Nainby, who discovered a linen press ahlaze. Crombie, who had come home at a late hour, apparently under the influence of liquor, was awakened, and pulled out of bed by <a boarder named Kenny, but he failed to effect his escape. His body was subsequently discovered in "the debris. Another incinerated body was |ound, jmd is jsuppefeed to have been that of a lodger/ named Meban. . This" was discovered in the passage near the escape window. A watch bearing his • name" was found on the bed he occupied. Several other boarders had iiarrdw escapes, some being more or less injured.. The building was insured for £Boo,—£4oo in the YorKUnion offices.

THE INQUEST: VERDICT oF~ACCIDENTAL , DEATH. By'Telegraph — Psess Association. WELLINGTON, Last Night. At, the inquest on the victims of the fife, John Jackson, proprietor of the > Wellesley boarding-house, deposed that the seat of the., fire was near the dining-room, in recess used as a'iinen ctesetr ' '"He could nof. warn all the inmates owing to the Rapidity of the fla'mes. A .watch produced, bearing the name- of P. •Meban, was found in the room occupied by'Meban, who wa"s 25 or 26 years of age. The fire escapes, of which there were four, met with the requirements of the City Council, i

Charles Kenney, grocer, who shared the room with Crombie, said the latter retired between 10.30 and 11, under the influence of liquor. On the alarm being given he woke Crombie, who did not seem to understand, and did not get up. Witness pulled Crombie out of bed, and put him on his feet, telling him to follow. He got through a - back window on to a lean-to, thinking Crombie was following. Superintendent O'Brien, of the Fire Brigade, said Crombie's body was found face downwards on the floor. There was, some clothing on the feet, as if deceased had been in the act of putting it on. In. this room was a window facing a blank wall. The second body was discovered in the passage not far from a window-leading to the fire escape. This corpse was; on its side, face downwards, unclothed, close to where the watch engraved with P. Meban's name was found.

The foody, concerning the identity of which, some doubt, exists, is that of. a man sft. 7inl in height, and of stout build. He had brown hair well over the head, a brown moustache, three teeth missing from the upper front jaw an,d two from the lower. There was nothing on the, body by which it could be identified. A verdict of accidental death was returned.