BRISBANE TRAGEDY
TWO GIRLS BURNED
DISCLOSURE AT INQUEST
(0.C.) SYDNEY, Sept. 21. Vain attempts by a boy, aged 8, to induce his two little sisters to leave a burning house were described in Brisbane Coronor's Court. The two children, Margaret Ann King (5), and Frances Marion King (2) were burned to death at Wynnum on August 13. Detective-Sergeant J. J. Mahoney said that the boy, James King, ran through the flames from one bedroom to another, pleading with his sisters to leave. Margaret, through fright, refused to obey her brother's instructions to jump from a window. Francis cried: "I won't leave without my mummy." Mahoney said that on the night of the fire seven United States soldiers arrived at the home of the mother, Mrs. Irene King. They brought some wine, and Mrs. King and a friend, Mrs. Jones, drank a small quantity. Later, the two women and the soldiers left by car for a dance, leaving the children in bed asleep. Mrs. King arrived home to find the house burning fiercely. Mrs. King's husband was a major of the British Army in Hongkong. Mrs. King had been evacuated from Shanghai.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19430927.2.30
Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 229, 27 September 1943, Page 4
Word Count
191BRISBANE TRAGEDY Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 229, 27 September 1943, Page 4
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