THE GRAND HOTEL FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 129, 1 June 1901, Page 3

THE GRAND HOTEL FIRE.

THE INQUEST

EVIDENCE AS TO THE FIBE

ESCAPES

Mr Gresham, coroner, opened an inquest yesterday afternoon at the Central Ilotel, on the bodies of Mr and Mrs Johnston's throe daughter*, nll on the body of Miss Dora- Wallace. The following- gentlemen composed the jury: Frederick Downard, hmi'.-c agent, L'arnell, Geo. Court, dnipor. •Queenstreet, Thomas Btu-mird, draper, Queenstreet. Wm. .Martin, accountant, K. Porter and Co., Francis A. Tmnaiue, agent. Devonporfr, and John Bbyee, draper. Queen-street.

The jury were sworn in at the Central Hotel, and were then driven to the morgue where the bodies found in the debris were viewed. These were all frightfully charred untl unrecognisable, but were all bodies of females. Henry Jones, the night porter at the (Irani! Hotel, anil David Middleton, one of the waiters, accompanied the jury. The coroner and jury then viewed the scene of the fire. The spot where the bodies were found was pointed out, and Jones and Middleton stated that this was immediately below the room occupied by the three g-irls. Jones and Middleton stated that the. girls slept in room No. 22, at the back of the old building.'

..Mr Currie, architect, explained the position of the lire escapes, and stated that had the fire been seen at an early singe, it would have been impossible, in his opinion, for anyone to get blocked. Two fire escapes came from the roof of the building right down the well in the centre. They were bolted to the wall.

David Middlelon stated that from what lie saw of the Kit, nobody who attempted to get out by tlie five escapes could have had any chance. When he first saw it, tlie lire was thickest where the fire escapes were. The jury th'en visited the hospital and viewed the body of Dora Wallace, which was identified by Middletou and Jones. They then proceeded to the Central Hotel to take evidence. Stib.Inspector Mitchell represented the police. Henry Jones, night porter at the Grand Hotel, said: I have been employed at the hotel about six months. I knew the three children. Leonora. Eva, and Nina Johnston. The eldest, Leonora, was between 14 and 1"> years of age; Eva, the. next, was about 12, and Nina, the youngest, was about 7. They all slept last night in room No. 22, a bedroom on the top flat of the (hotel. I say they slept last night, because 1 took their boots from the. outside of the room. There were three pairs of boots, two pairs of laced boots and one pair of buttoned boots. 1 removed them about midnight. I know that, the boots belonged to Mr and Mrs Johnston's children, as I hud cleaned them on former occasions. I saw the remains of three human beings at the morgue. The Coroner: Have you any doubt whatever that these were the remains of Leonora Johnston, Kvo Johnston, and Nina Johnston? Witness: I could not positively identify them, but 1 have no doubt in my own mind. f. also viewed .the body at the hospital. It is the body of Miss Dora Wallace, who was housemaid in the hotel. I lost saw the eldest girl Johnston about, halfpast seven on Thursday evening. 1 liarl r-een the other Iwo during- the clay. 1 saw Miss Wallace about eleven o'clock on Thursday night. She was. then going- upstairs, apparently to her bedroom. After the fire I saw her in the Northern Club, after she had fallen. To Sub-Inspector Mitchell: Sergeant Forbes pointed out to me this afternoon the spot where the three bodies were found. It was immediately below room No. 22, in which the three, girls were sleeping. David MJddleton, waiter at the hotel, gave coroborative evidence. By Mr Twiname: The only fire escapes that 1 know of in connection with the Grand Hotel were two in number. They were situated as fixtures in what was known as the well of the building. The well was the whole height of the hotel, and was all enclosed by the brick walls. In case of fire, in order to escape by means of this well, a person would first have to pass, on dropping from either fire escape, through one doorway,, which led into a small passage within the building, then through another door, which was the back exit of the building. That was the only way of getting out at the back of the building. In order to get out by the front of the building, a person would have to walk up a flight of about 12 stairs, through, the boot-house, then through a doorway, then into a little passage and through the main hall to the front door. By Mr Martin: My impressions, from being one of the occupants of the building at the time of the fire, are that the fire escapes were absolutely useless; they would simply lead people into the flames, and would be nothing less than a death trap. By Mr Court: The back exit led into a backyard. The Coroner at this stage said the identification of the four bodies was ample. Henry Jones, recalled and examined by Mr. Mitchell, said: Shortly before one o'clock this morning I was in the hall at the foot of the stairs in the front of the building1 on the upper ground floor. There were two ground floors, the back being on a lower level than the front. I had gone there from the boothouse. I had just finished cleaning' the boots. The boothouse was adjacent to the well, the bottom of which was reached by a flight of about twelve steps. T was in the bootroom 'between half-an-hour and three-quarters of an hour. The door that led into the well was closed during that time. There was no window from that room lookinginto the well. I left the boothouse by the door that led into a passage, which afterwards leads into the main hall. On reaching the main hall from the passage, the two being divided by swing doors, I saw smoke there; that is, in the hall, when I opened the swing doors. There was a gas jet burning in the hall within three yards of the swing doors. On looking up the open staircase I saw there was smoke on the first floor also. I then thought there was a fire. I ran up the staircase to the first floor, and went to the door of Mr. Johnston's room. I opened the door and shouted the alarm to Mr. Johnson. I was also giving the alarm as I was going upstairs. Mr. Johnston's room was on.the side of the hotel nearest the harbour. When I was wakening Mr. Johnston I noticed

smoke coming along the corridor on the other side of that floor. The smoke appeared to be eoiring froni the back portion of the house. 1 had been round that part of the building' collecting the boots about half-an-hour or three-qxiarters of an hour before this. On that floor I collected boots outside the door of No. 34 room. 1 believe they were Mr. Craven's boots. As far as I am aware, No. :il was the only room on that corridor occupied that night. There were- two windows only from that corridor, both leading into the well. ! cannot euy whether these windows oi' either of them wore open or closed. 1 do not know, as a matter of fact, that some ladders arrived on Thursday, but I heard Mr. Johnston say he was getting ladders fixed to Ih'e two front balconies. After I wakened Mr. Johnston I went down the corridor where 1 saw smoke coming from, and 1 saw flames sweeping along tht passage like wildfire.

P.y Mr. Martin: 1 was not carrying any light with me when I collected the boots. There was a gas jet burningl in the corridor. On the top Hoor the gas was out, and 1 struck a

match to get the boots. That is nowhere near where I saw the smoke.

The inquest was then adjourned until .Tune 17, Rnb-Tnspector Mitchell explaining that they could not possibly do without Mr. Johnston's evidence, and he understood that the doctor had forbidden the police to make any effort to see either him or Mrs. Johnston.