BURNING SENSATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 180, 30 July 1913, Page 5

BURNING SENSATION.

THE AFFAIR AT HENDERSON.

COBONIAL INQUIRY RESUMED.

The adjourned inquiry concerning the circumstances attendant on the burning sensation at Henderson this month, in which Ellen Ahlgren, a middle-aged married woman, lost her life, allegedly through her clothing being wilfully set on fire by a neighbour, Alice Sarah Williamson, was continued before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., and a jury of six, at the city morgue this morning. ChiefDetective McMahon represented the police, and Mr. J. R. Lundon appeared on behalf of Mrs. •Williamson.

Evidence adduced previously went to show that on the day of the occurrence (July 17th) something in the nature of a drunken quarrel took place between the deceased and Mrs. Williamson, one "Billy" Brown being also present, and later Mrs. Ahlgren was found in an almost dying condition from severe burning. It was alleged that there was some feeling between the two women, because of suspected familiarity between Ahlgren and Mrs. Williamson. In her dying depositions Mrs. Ahlgren definitely charged Mrs. Williamson with wilfully settins fire to her clothing. MEDICAL TESTIMONY. Dr. Rossiter. who was called in to see Mrs. Ahlgren late in the afternoon of July 17th, said he found deceased huddled up on a mattress in front of the fire in :\ semi-comatose condition. All her clothing, with the exception of her stockings, had been burned almost completely, with the result that all the skin on the body, save on the thighs and legs, had been severely burned. The injuries ranged from the first to the third degree. ""When I asked her how it had come about."' continued the witness.

"she said it was ail through his fancy girl." She showed signs of alcohol. The woman being on the point of death, witness ordered her immediate removal to the hospital.

\Vitners with the post mortem, at which it was found that the body, fairly well nourished, was covered with extensive burns, affecting the front and hack, both arms and neck. The lower extremities were free from burns. An examination of the internal organ 3 disclosed chronic inflammation of both kidneys, and marked contraction of the stomach, due to old-seated ulceration. In his opinion, \vs.- due to shock, resulting from the burning.

Mr. Cut-ten: Is there anything to lie inferred from the burns and the alleged circumstances of the ignition? The Witness: I should say that if she was standing up. the skirts would be first to go, and the burning would follow above the waist. Mr. Cutten: The general burns, tlien, were not consistent with the theory that the clothing was burned while she was lying down? The Witness: No. My impression is that she was standing up. The burns were so universal that the fire must have approached al) round the body at the same time. Tnis strongly supported the idea that the skirts were the first to ba ignited. Replying to a juryman, the witness I said he considered deceased had been | very drunk. It would have been possible tor deceased to go, despite her burns, I from Mrs. Williamson's ' house to her (own, a distance of eight chains. Her locomotion would not be affected if the shock did not come on till afterwards. Dr. Grant, senior house surgeon at the Hospital, stated the deceased was in a very low condition on admission to the Hospital, and bore evidence of recent drinking. He corroborated tbe evidence of Dr. Rossiter as to the nature of the burns and the cause of death.

A DRINKING BOUT.

Lambert William Vandelaer, commonly known as " Billy Brown." a cook and steward, admitted'that he went out to Henderson on July 17th. He had been drinking, and was not sober. Before going out he purchased two 3/ flasks of whisky, and two large bottles of beer. He first visited Mrs. Ahlgren's house where he also found Mrs. Williamson, and the liquor was broached. He had no distinct recollection of the conditon of the women, but his impression was that they had been drinking previous to his arrival because Mrs. Ahlgren asked Mrs. Williamson to look after°her as she was '" half in the horrors." They had a few drinks together. He gave Mrs Ahlgren a bottle of beer and two shillings for which she asked. Mrs. Williamson and witness went over to the former's house, and about twenty minutes after Mrs. Ahlgren crossed over and commenced to abuse Mrs. Williamson. They went outside, and had "a bit of a row." It was ended by Mrs. Williamson walking inside, where witness was sittins. and leading Mrs. Ahlgren ouiside. Witness and Mrs. Williamson had a drink of whisky, and then he proposed that he should go for " Nell," to bring her over for a drink, and to ''make friends " a^ain. "I'M BURNING TO DEATH." This witness proceeded to do, but got only as far as a creek, about two chains distant, when he saw Mrs. Ahlgren sitting on tne grass. She cried out: "Billy, I'm burning to death." He could see no flames, but saw deceased was bare of clothing, and brown about the body, and he immediately raced across the paddock to the railway station for assistance. Two porters ran back, but witness had no recollection of his own movements except , that the stationmaster considered him '. too drunk to go into tie train. j HEARD NO THREATS. Closely questioned by the Chief Detective, the witness denied that he had seen anything thrown during the progress of the row, or that he had heard any threats made by Mrs. Williamson as to what she had done or would do to the other woman. His acquaintance with the two women extended over twenty years, and neither was of temperate habits. "They were always drinking," added the witness. Mrs, Williamson vac a smoker, favouring a pipe, bat he did not know if she was smoking at the time of the quarrel.

Cross-examined by Mr Lundon, the witness went over the incidents in detail on the occasion so far as he recollected them. Mrs. Ahlgren had whisky, and got pretty full, but he did not remember that she was so unsteady as to spill the contents of one glass over her dress. He did not know if she was invited to sing, but he remembered that Mrs. Ahlgren sang for the company. His stay at Ahlgren's lasted about half an hour, and then he accompanied Mrs. Williamson to her shanty. It was only a short period before Mrs. Ahlgren crossed over and called Mrs. Williamson names. He was unable to account fully for the time between the row and the finding, at about 3.30 o'clock, of Mrs. Ahlgren -with her clothes burned. Witness did not know that it was a habit of deceased to lie is front of a fire, or hang ower » ,£□>• whesfcin "ajnor,-btit he tatovNAecMH

very "bad-tempered and wa* not mentally sound at times. She had bean under treatment at a mental hospital. Mrs. WBJiamson was never known to do anyone an injury, and " she waa as goodtempered a woman as ever trod in shoes."

In reply to a juryman," the witness said he did not hear any screaming or crying out. It gave him a shock when he saw deceased, and he did not go right up to her. There was no fire between the two houses by which deceased's clothing could have caught alight. Mr. Lnndon: Could%ou have heard if Mrs. Ahlgren had called out while you were inside "Williamson's house? "Witness: Yes, easily. The Chief-Detective: Then she must have suffered in silence!

Mr. Lundon: The poor woman was stupefied with liquor, and when her clothing caught alight in her own house she was helpless.

John Wansbone, relieving porter at the Henderson railway station, described -the condition of deceased when he reached the house after being called by Vandelacr, and what was done in advising the police and getting assistance to dress the wounds sustained by, the woman, and to make her as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.

Questioned by Mr. Lundon, the witness said he got to the house about ten minutes after Vandelacr reported that the body was in the paddock, and judging by her condition, he would not say it was possible that she had in the interval walked unaided to her house. She was quite helpless. He was first on tha spot after Vandelacr reported the matter. Vandelacr was so drunk that he could not give an explicit statement, and was at first ordered out of tha office. When his business was discovered ten or fifteen minutes had. been lost. (Proceeding.)