FATAL LAMP EXPLOSION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2096, 24 September 1901, Page 3

FATAL LAMP EXPLOSION.

TWO WOMEN KILLED. An outbreak of fire, which occurred in a cottage in Simpson street, East Melbourne, on September 2, was attended by terrible results. Two women, who were living alone in the house, were severely burned through their clothes catching fire, and on their removal to the Melbourne Hospital the doctors expressed the opinion that their injuries were such that their recovery was impossible. The scene of the outbreak, No. 167 Simpson street, is one of a terrace of single' fronted cottages, and was occupied by Florrie Morrison, a married woman, about thirty-five years of age, who was living apart from her husband. Periodical visits were paid to the house by Alma Steel, a single woman, aged about twenty-five, who was with Mrs Morrison when the fire occurred. The only other person in the house at the time was a single man named Francis Clarke Jones, a resident of Kew. He called there early in the day, and spent the afternoon in the company of Mrs Morrison. He did not see the girl Steel at all, and was not aware of her presence in the house, although she was in a back bedroom when the fire broke out. Jones states that he was lying on a sofa in the front room talking to Mrs Morrison at about six o'clock, when she made a remark about lighting the lamp, and left the room. A kerosene lamp was standing on the table in the dining room, into which the passage leads, and the woman must have lit the lamp and lifted it up to carry it back into the front room, when it exploded, blowing the top completely off. The sharp report of the explosion was heard by Jones, followed by the screams of Mrs Morrison as the burning oil ran down her loose wrapper, and her clothes were wrapped in flames. He ran into the passage, and saw her standing in the doorway of Steel's bedroom, where she had run for help. Her companion was trying to beat out the flames, regardless of the fact that her own clothing was also on fire. What happened afterwards is a confused recollection as far as Jones is concerned. He remembers making a feeble effort to extinguish the women's flaming wrappers by throwing water over them; but a moment afterwards Mrs Morrison, who was dazed with terror, rushed back along the passage and lay down on the floor near the front door. Jones then seized the woman Steel, and succeeded in beating out the flames, which bad almost consumed her clothing. His hands were badly burnt, but be does not remember feeling any pain in the excitement of the moment. He carried the girl into the front room, laid her down on the couch, and then, thrusting his hand through a pane cf glass in the front window, called loudly for help. While the two women were struggling in Steel's bedroom they must have rolled on the bed and set fire to the bedclothes. The flames spread rapidly through the kapok mattress, and wreaths of black smoke began to curl up to the ceiling and escape through the window. A number of boys who were playing near the house saw the smoke and gave the alarm at the police station, which is about a hundred yards away. Senior-constable M'Alister and Constable Murphy went over to the house and burst open the front door. They found Mrs Morrison lying m the passage, with her clothes burnt completely off. Her face was horribly burned, and was blackened and swollen to twice its normal size, while her body was disfigured with burns, the flesh being macerated in places. She was conscious, and her condition was so bad that she was past feeling any pain. "Oh, my poor child," she moaned; "what will she do nowP" The other woman was reclining on the couch in the front room, while Jones was bending over her, heedless of his own injuries, and doing all that he could think of in his bewildered state to relieve her agony. Both women were conscious when taken to the hospital, but a brief examination showed that they were so terribly injured that there was no hope of their recovery. Mrs Morrison's burns showed that the lamp must have exploded in her face as she held it in her hand, as one side of her face was charred, while the same side of her body was badly burned where the burning oil had fallen from the lamp. The bimis on the other woman were confined to her body. If is possible that Mrs Morrison tripped over a rug and gave the lamp a jolt, which caused the kerosene to explode, or she may have actually fallen and let the lamp drop on the floor. After their admission to the hospital both women gradually lapsed into unconsciousness. The woman Steel died shortly after midnight, and Mrs Morrison succumbed next day.