THE AUCKLAND FIRE TRAGEDY

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 5

THE AUCKLAND FIRE TRAGEDY

OPENING OF THE INQUEST.

NO HELP. EXTRAORDINARY APATHY OF SPECTATORS. (By TelecrflDb.-Prcss Assbclatloa.l. Auckland, February 17. Tho inquiry into tho death of the two victims of tho Ponsonby Road tiro tragedy to-day was/formally opened. Evidcnco'of identification was given by Arthur Portcous, uncle of tho deceased children; biit witness was not present at tho time of tho lire, and: could give no particulars of tho tragedy. A' Doctor's Evidence, Dr. Do Clivo Lowo stated in his cvidonco that at tho request of. tho coroner ho Imd examined tho bodies of the two children at tho morgue. As tho resujt of Ins examination ho was of the opinion 'that tho girl had fallen on. her. left sido on tho white-hot verandah roof, and had probably died in less agony than tho boy. Falling ,on her left sido, sho had evidently remained thero. Both bodies were so'burned and so charred , that one could•' only say that thev had'met their, death by roasting. Ih.e Coroner: I'have never seen anything like it since-the Grand-Hotel fire. . . .• . ~' ■ ' Witness: Yes, but in thai caso death was caused by burning. v ln this caso tho children wero roasted to death. I havo never known anything so terrible in my experience. Both children wero practically frizzled alive.' Tho .Coroner: They wero burnt all ortr tho,body? '~

Witness: Yes. '< In tho caso of tlio boy, it would appear that ho fell on his back, and then rolled .in , agony -on to his left side. '• With tho intenso heat, tho bodies would 1 tako, twenty minutes to'half an hour to roast as .they did. . The Coroner: Any marks, of violenco would not be noticeable P

. Witness:. Not after tlio bodies had been so burned.

• Tho .Coroner:, Tho bodies .had' beon to all > intents and, purposes' calcined ? Witness: You could not fina a better word. to express tho condition of tho bodies. ' '' '' Tho Coroner: Was there anything to show whether tho children had been suffocated? •

1 Witness: Thero was comparatively no smoke outsido. •. They, must havo .been roasted. "It would not havo been rosfeiblo to ■ soo • whether 1 they had been suffocated. .The bodies were too badly burned.

Photographs of tho charred .bodies were produced, and'placcd beforo tlio jury.

At this stage, in.view;of, tho faot that tho'' principal' witnoss'es, are' still in the Hospital, it vras dccidcd to adjourn the inquiry until March 2.

' Mr. Portoous'a Terrlblo Expcriorico. ' Mr. Charles Portcous," tho occupier of tho: building which was demolished by fire,/and tho father of the two children who were, burned to told his ;story to a rfcpft4i!hUtftlM6-:l ,day. Mr; Portcous is only a young, | man, apd is Fish Company., He'was 1 very seriously injured on the night.of the firo while endeavouring to save his children,: and at-present lies at a private.hospitals. '• 'On Wednesday night my wife and I retired at 11.30, leaving Jlr; arid MrA. MoUntefiold; " who ' wero staying with us, .in the; sitting-room downstairs," said • Mr,. Portcous. ■ "Our bedroom is at tho'head ; of the stairs, and looks out on to the. backyard. Our only girl, Hettie, was sleeping in the same room. Mr. arid Mrs. Mountefield had one ofthe front bedrooms, opening out 011 to the iron verandah roof,- and tho three little boys, occupied tho other front bedroom. There were only-tho three rooms upstairs. ' In our room wo know nothing until Mrs. -Mountefield came rushing in just a iW minutes after one a.m. to say that tho house was afire. I heard no explosion, or anything, but on jumping out of bed I noticed that the floor was frightfully-hot. Grasping, tho little girl in my arms, and telling my wife to follow m 0,.-1 mado for the stairway, and got a.fow steps down, and suddenly the firo and smoko. ; seemed .to, orivclop me.. I was driven back 'blirncd About the face, as you can see. Then I,rushed for tho .front window, opening 011 to 'the roof'of the shop verandah/' Tho ithrco boys, Charlie, Phillip, and Arthur. wore trying to get thrscjjlu and r helped them, and then lifted through, and next my wife. '.They all cried out tliat the iron roof 011 which they wero standing'was red hot, arid the two little ones, Hettie and Arthur, endeavoured to' climb, back through tho window. They wero too young to know that tho.v should have made a run for it along the terrace,of verandah roofs, and so escape the heat."; ' ■

. Utterly Helpless. . ■ "I'looked behind'as I jumped through tho window," continued Mr. Porteous, "and saw that _ tho firo had already swept ilp the stairway; and I know that retreat in.that direction was cut off. Thereupon I caught my wife and tho littlo girl in my arms and called to Arthur to follow me. ; Tho ironwork was then red hot, and searod through my flesh. As I picked Mrs. Porteous and Hettio up, the little boy fell, and rolled right down tho roof towards tho gutter. My wife bocanie frantic. Wo must have all fallen.' ; Tho next tiling I did was to catch Mrs. Porteous by the feet whero she had-fallen, and drag her to safety. Then I ran back for Hettio and tho boy. By this time tho flames from tho shop window underneath hhd made the'iron so hot that it was alroady buckling,' and At every step I felt tho flish leaving my feet, until my logs gave way, and I- f6ll. I foiled off tho hottest portion of tho,roof, and lay there utterly helpless. Tlio children were, only a few yards from inc.I tried again and again to reach tliem, and their piteous shrieks maddened me. Tho street was-full of people, and it seemed to mo that others wero on tho long terraco of verandah roofs which runs right nlong, but 110 help came. Tlio Fire Brigade could,-1 think, liavo arrivod twenty minutes sooner than it did if tho alarm had been given. Ido not think tho children wero in agony long. They only screamed onco or twice, and I beliovo and trust that tlioy died within ten seconds of rolling on that terrible oven. After falling tlio last timo I lay near them for a littlo while. Then I rolled away, t and something in my brain seemed to snap, and I have only a dazed recollection of what happened, until I found myself in tho hospital hore." Asked could he have got back to his room and secured boots with -which to walk across the hot iron to tlio rescue of the children, Mr. Porteous snid that tho room upstairs seemed to bceouie a mass of flamo immediately they wero vacated.

No ono to Holp. An extraordinary fact about tho wholo thing is that though there wero scores of spectators,' no ono was ablo to help, and apparently no ono thought to oven ring up tho Firo Brigade. The street was full of peoplo who for tlio most part were in a statu of frenzy and excitcmont because it was known that children were beinu burned to death,

Even tlio long, oven terrace of verandah roofs which runs the length of the building hold horror-stricken spectators, yet noi one wearing boots came to the .reso'Jo or mado any attempt to lift tlio . two children from tho white-hot roof on which.they wcro_ roasted to death. Tlio doctors' testify that the bodies were roasting nearly half an hour,' ond during tho period nothing was doiio bcyoml the frenzied efforts of tho father and uncle,' both whom wcro barefooted and badly burned, to rescue tlio 'children before they died, 'or to* move the bodies when they were dead. The fire is believed to have broken out at a few minutes after one, and it was 1.23 n.m. when the Firo Brigade got the alarm.