SIX LIVES LOST TRAGIC FIRE AT UPPER HUTT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1914, Page 7

SIX LIVES LOST TRAGIC FIRE AT UPPER HUTT

EXPLOSION IN A BURNING STORE, SCATTERS DEATH AMONG BAND OF HELPERS POSTMASTER AND CONSTABLE AMONG THE DEAD. TWO RAILWAYMEN KILLED AND SEVERAL WOUNDED. ORIGIN OF EXPLOSION A MYSTERY. Shortly after midnight on Saturday at the township of Upper Hutt a tragic calamity occurred. A small store was discovered to be oa Ore jtist before midnight, and In the Interval before the fire hose could be secured „ a band ,of helpers, including many locaj residents and railwaynien, entered ■-, the burning ■ building *and endeavoured to save as much of the stock as possible. Wlillfc they \vei*e thus engaged Inside and just outride the store a terrific explosion occurred inside, and completely wrecked the whole premises. Four men were killed outright, one died soon afterwards, and a sixth man succumbed to his injuries shortly after reaching Wellington Hospital early on Sunday morning. Several others were more or les3 severely Injured with the flying debris and burning timber, and, after ' being attended by a number of doctors,\ who, hurriedly summoned, were quickly on the scene, were conveyed by special train in record time to Wellington, where they were received in ihe Hospital. The less seriously injured had their injuries tended, and were able to get back to their homes. Many people had miraculous escapes in the fatal rain of flying debris, which spread havoc among all the surrounding property. The win* dows in adjoining buildings, the Provincial Hotel, and in the Post Office across the main road, and in dwellinghouses and shops much further away were shattered to fragments by the force of the explosion. After the ex= plosion, the fire consumed the wreckage, and assailed and gutted the next building— a drapery store. It was finally suppressed, early in the morn= ing, after the worst was done, by a party of firefighters, with one lead of hose. The six men who met their deaths through the explosion were :— Constable Denis Mahoney, aged about 38 years, in charge oi the Upper Hutt Police Station. James Comesky, 57 years of age, Postmaster at Upper Hutt. William Flynn, aged 35 years, railway guard. George Taylor, 19 years oi age, railway porter at Upper Hutt. John Wesley Vivian, aged about 35 years, storeman in Benge's store; Michael Toohey, aged about 29 years, bridge contractor. SERIOUSLY INJURED, The following were seriously injured and are at present in Wellington Hospital :— James Hagan, about 50 years of age, caretaker of Trentham Rifle Range. Everard E. H, Felling, 18 years of age, blacksmith's assistant. Virgil M'Govern, about 25 yeara of ago, a member of the Upper Hutt , Town Board. Many others were less seriously injured, including the following i*-* Charles Walters, signalman at the Upper Hutt; Thomas Costello, shunter at Upper Hutt; tt. 1?. Storey, tablet porter at Upper Hutt j S. H. Weaver, ongitiedriver and chairman of the lcc.al branch of the Locomotive Enginedrivers' and lTiremen's Association j A. J. Collelt, local chairman of Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants; C. D. Morpeth, Accountant, Wellington.