INQUEST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 397, 24 February 1880, Page 2

INQUEST.

Dr Spratt held another inquest at the Marquis of. Normanby Hotel on the 20th inst., touching, the destruction by fire of the house and premises of. Phillip Goodin at Taratahi. A jury having been duly impanelled, elected. Mr Gole as their foreman. Mr Simpson was in attendance on behalf of the New Zealand Insurance Company.

Phillip Goodin, being sworn, deposed: The fire occurred on the morning of Wednesday, 18th Feb. just before daylight. I heard anoise like rain on the iron roof; the wife had been out just before; she says, "I think not, Phillip;" soon after she jumped up and said, " Whythe house is on firemy-wife was only out a few. minutes; she went just to the door and"' came back again; she got up and said, 1 :• " Father, the house ii on firel jumped up and the house was on fire; I sang out to those upstairs to jump out of windows : or out of doors; my daughter Mary had come home from Mr Bunny's the night - before; the smoke was coming through the east side of the parlor; the front room' was full of smoke—you could hardly see; I could see where the- fire was • coming from; only a very few minutes could have elapsed between her first going out and the second time when she discovered the fire; neither of us had been asleep between the times; I keep the room in which the fire originated private to myself and wife, as I have boxes and other things in there; I never, .let the children in there; there had been a small fire in the kitchen chimney—not a big one, as it was hot weather; a man might have carried it out in his hand; we had somelea about Bor9, as Mr Sto.odley wa3 there-; the wife got the chips off the verandah • there was no fire—not a coal as big as youipnger in the grate when we went to becjVithe chimney has never been on fire; Often,, sweep it; I daresay I have swept iFa dozen times since it was built; no matches, kerosene, or combustibles were kept in the little room where the fire appears to have originated; I can't say where the fire sprang from, l ean only say where I first saw it; I was busy getting, the children out, and cannot tell whether it seems to have caught fire outside or in. .By the Foreman; I do not think I had been there since the races; I don't know' when my wife was last in the little room. By Mr Simpson: When I first went out the whole of the east side, from front to back, was in fire, right up to the roof; it did not: seem to have sprung from the chimney; I was burnt out about twelve months ago; I can't tell how it got afire; my daughter was at home on both occasions ; the house was insured for £250, about the beginning of last May; the insurance was on the building alone. Mary Ann Goodin, sworn, deposed : I was the first one to see, the fire at our house; I heard a dog barking, so got up and went to the front door, which opens on the verandah; i opened the door and looked out, but I saw no sign of fire then, and returned to bed; about 10 or 15. minutes after I got up again, when I found the side of the parlor on fire, with flames coming through; I ran upstairs to gettho children down; my daughter had only come home that evening for a holiday; I went upstairs after the children were out, and grabbed some blankets, and it was as much as I could do to get down '; the fire did not come from the kitchen; we could have got everything from there if we had. not had to look after the children upstairs: the walls were not alight alongside the chimney; nobody had been in the little room that evening, By Mr Simpson: We have one dog, and my son had one with two puppies, that were burnt; the dogs barked when anyone came near the house; they often barked at the cattle; the time elapsing / between first and second time of my getting up was about 10 or 15 minutes; I did not go out first time; I meroly looked up the road; there was .no smell of fire then; it was the outside wall that was - burning. . verdict : That the dwelling-house of Phillip Goodin was burnt down on the morning of the 18th inst., but there is no evidence before the jury to show how the fire originated. . . ■