THREE MEN BURNED TO DEATH

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27471, 4 October 1954, Page 10

THREE MEN BURNED TO DEATH

Early Morning Fire In Pig-Shooters’ Hut

TRAGEDY AT HUNDALEE

iP* 1 ? 6 ’J 16 " w ®y e burned to death in a four-roomed hut on r V I the Conw : ay river at Hundalee, about 24 miles south of Kaikoura, early yesterday morning. They were: GORDON JAMES GARGETT, aged 21, a linesman, of Chrlstchurch° Se parents live at 2 Akar oa street, Shirley, , .. .PHILIP _ BERNARD SCHMACK, aged 20, of Leeston, a buHdozer driver, whose parents live at 445 Barbadoes street, Christchurch.

. KEITH GAVIN McKAY, aged 32, married with two children, a painter and decorator, 36 Malcolm avenue, Beckenham, Christchurch.

_There were five men in the party. The other two, who slept in a car owned by Mr Gargett, which was parked near the end of the hut. escaped unhurt. They were: Robert Marriott Simpson, of Pattern avenue, Halswell, and Mr Thomas Edward C ?i? er ’ of x 71 . Kin g street, Sydenham. The party left Christchurch about 7 p.m. on Friday for Hundalee, arriving.at the hut, which is just off the State highway near the northern end o f the traffic bridge, about 1 a.m. on Saturday. Later in the morning they set off pig shooting in the Hundalee hills.

In the evening they went to Kaikoura to visit some friends and arrived back at Hundalee about 1 a.m. yesterday. At 5.30 a.m. a passing motorist, Mr Donaldson Miller, of Cheviot, saw the

blazing hut and stopped to investigate. Finding two men in the car asleep he woke them and assisted to shift the car to safety. One of the three men attempted to get into the hut but the heat was so intense that this was impossible. The hut was completely destroyed. A police party from Kaikoura later visited the scene of the fire and recovered the bodies of the three men. An inquest will be opened before the Coroner (Mr H. J. Hayward) for identification purposes at Kaikoura today. One of the men, Mr McKay, and the two survivors, Messrs Calder and Simpson, had visited the area on previous occasions. Philip Schmack and Gordon Gargett grew up together. They shared the same sporting interests and were always together on some shooting or hunting expedition. Both lived at Leeston with Mrs R. Lawson. Mr Gargett’s sister. During the duck shooting season last year they were both in a boat on Lake Ellesmere. The boat capsized and only through the efforts of Philip Schmack was Gordon Gargett brought to shore alive. The Schmack family is well known in poyleston and the Gargetts lived for many years at Leeston. During the time they attended secondary schools the two boys travelled together on the morning train from Leeston: Philip Schmack went to Xavier College and Gordon Gargett.-to- Christchurch Technical College. Philip Schmack was the only son in a family of five. The other children of - Mr and Mrs A. M. Schmack are four daughters. Imelda. Elinor, Bernadette, and Carmel. With Gordon, Mr and Mrs J. W. Gargett had 10 children—Mrs J. Shanks, Mrs E. McBride. Mrs R. Lawson, John, Roger, Douglas. Mrs D. McEvoy, Lawrence, and David. In both households Philip and Gordon were treated as sons.