SHOCKING FATALITY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10167, 17 February 1911, Page 6

SHOCKING FATALITY.

TWO CHILDREN BURNED TO: DJIATH. By Telegraph — Press Associatiork. AUCKLAND, Last'.Night/ A fire in Ponsonby about two . this' jnorning, in a fish shop and a dwelling occupied by a man named Porteous; resulted in the death of two Porteous children, a hoy and a girl,; while two ( men and two women and a boy were I badly burned about the feet and body. The building was a two-storey, one. Tlie upper storey was used as a dwelling Jby Mr Porteous and family. The fire had so strong a hold when Porteous awoke, that though every effort was , made by himself and family they fail- ; ed to get the children out of the burning building alive. Porteous carried his two children on t) the verandah, which was of corrugated iron, and by this time red-hot, j and'while attempting to save them he I let tliem fall on to the verandah. They j both died from injuries. One was dead j before the members of the Fire Brigade could reach the verandah, and the other, who was taken from thever- j nndah by members of the Brigade, j died immediately afterwards. •/ .; All the other inmates of the house, j and Mrs Porteous and their boy and two relatives, were badly burned. J Tliev were taken to the Hospital. j The fire spread to an adjoining building occupied by Miss, Blonfield (milliner), but the brigade succeeded j 'in saving this. . ■ ■:,';.. LATER.' I -Further particulars show'that-the building • destroyed was occupied by | the two families of Charles Porteous and his brolher-in-law, Bert Montford. The fire broke out shortly after, 1 one-6 ? clogk, the inmates being awakened by a loud explosion and made a frantic rush for- the "windows'of the front room over the verandah. Flames belching/rom the lower window made the iron, room of the verandah red- [ hot. There were in #ie buildine: Mian d Mrs Porteous, Mr and Mrs Mont- [ ford, and three.Porteous children. | a"d a nephew (Phillip Ward, aged [ 12),. The three boys in one room got [ out of the front window, Arthur, aged five, must have, fallen when crossing the roof of the verandah, and was so injured he could not-get ur> again. :The father saw him, and made a frantic btit. ineffectual attempt to him. Meantime the girl Hetty, aged' \ seven, also fell down on the red•■hpfc \ roof.' Her father and uncle strove to j reach her, but unavailingly, and the two children were roasted to death oefore the eyes of their parents and a ' large crowd,of spectators. The father and* uncle were both badly burned Porteous' feet' were burned to the bone, and he fell unconscious in fearful agony. Mrs Porteous fell on the roastingiron, and her.hands and feet wei-3 badlv burned, hut*she was rescued by Mr Montford, who was also -.frightfully -burned. Mrs. Porteous is in a critical condition, and •her husband is in a state of collapse. Montford aud his wife were' sent io the. Public Hospital. '