SHOCKING FATALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 68, 22 March 1898, Page 3

SHOCKING FATALITY.

TWO CHILDREN ROASTED TO

DEATH.

BURNT TO DEATH IN BED,

During the temporary absence from home of both parents on Saturday evening, March 12th, two children of tendar years belonging to William Jones, a butcher's driver, suffered a terrible death at No. 41 Francis-street, Collingwood, Victoria. Soon after the fire was observed a large crowd assembled outside the burning house, and were watching the flames, which quickly took possession of the entire building, when they were horrified by a rumour, which quickly passed from mouth to mouth, that two little children were in bed in the building. The few minutes that elapsed before the children were thought of had sealed their fate. The fire started in the bedroom where they were sleeping, and in a minute or two the room was a mass of flames.

Plain Clothes Constables Coakley and M'Donald were in Sydney-street when they noticed the fire, about 8 o'clock. They ran to the place, a double fronted four-roomed cottage, built of wood. Neither of the parents was to be seen just then, and the constables at first were under the belief that no person was in the, house, and that the worst that could happen would be the destruction of the place and its contents, which was clearly inevitable from the start. Soon, however, the alarming statement that two children were in bed in the house reached Constable Coakley's ears, and without a moment's delay he rushed over and tried to burst in the door. Failing in that, and wishing to avoid the waste of most valuable time, he broke in one of the front windows. He had no sooner done so than the smoke and flame belched through the opening, and compelled him to retreat. There was no possibility of entering the place, and, with the others, the constable was obliged to stand idly by, only hoping that the rumour about the children might prove to be untrue. The firemen were quickly on the scene, though to the anxious onlookers the passing seconds appeared like minutes, or longer, and some of the crowd hooted the firemen when they arrived. It is stated as a matter of fact, however, within 13 minutes of the receipt of the alarm of lire a telephone message was received at the central station that the lire was subdued.

As District Superintendent Catt, who was in charge, was attending to a hydrant, he saw a woman rush past screaming that there were two children in the house. The announcement spurred the firemen to make all possible efforts to quench the fire, and in a couple of minutes they got it under. Foreman Coghlan was the iirst to discover the bodies. They were lying, one at the head and one at the foot of their little cot, charred beyond all recognition. From the position of the bodies, the little ones appeared to have been asleep when the fire started, and to have been suffocated in their sleep. Constable Coakley telephoned to an undertaker, who brought two coffins, in which the remains were removed to the City Morgue. The scene when the mother arrived was heartrending. She had heard of the fire whilst in the street, and ran distractedly through the crowd towards the house. All was then over, and sympathetic bystanders led her away. Directly afterwards her husband appeared, and he was about to walk into the house as preparations were being made to remove the remains. Constable Coakley, knowing the sight that was before him, caught, his arm and led him away to his wife. The scene when husband and wife met was most affecting. "Oh Bill, Bill," almost shrieked the agonised mother, " I was only gone 10 minutes." Then she fell iv a swoon.

Mr and Mra Jones are both young, and have been married about live years. The two little ones who met such a fearful fate were their only children. The eldest, Willie, was 4 years old, and the other, Bertie, 2| years. It appears from what can be gathered from Mrs Jones that her husband went down the street about 7. About half an hour later she went out to do some shopping. Before going out she put the children in their cot, telling Willie, who asked her where she was going, that she was going to buy him some marbles. So that the children would not be frightened in the dark, she placed a kerosene lamp on the chest of drawers in their room, and turned the light half down. This lamp was apparently the cause of the fire. From the position in which the bodies were found it seems that the children did not meddle with it, but it is believed that a window curtain was blown against it and ignited, or possibly in its swaying with the wind the curtain overturned the lamp. The house, which was of wood, lined with canvas and paper, burnt very rapidly. The children were sleeping within reach of one of the front windows, and at the outset it would have been easy to rescue them through the window. When the outbreak was noticed, however, this room was an impenetrable mass of flames.