FIRE AT APIA

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1917, Page 9

FIRE AT APIA

TIVOLI HOTEL DESTROYED.

, In the Samoan. Times of 24th March appears' an account of the destruction by fire of the Tivoli Hotel, in the daytime. The proprietor .was away at the time the fire broke but, the only occupants being Private Ruffin, who was a boarder, the Chinese cook, and anative boy. Apparently the fire started in a cupboard upstairs at the rear of the building. This was used as a storeroom for lamps and kerosene.. ■;■■..•" Private Ruffin was. on the upstairs verandah about 11.40 a.m.; when he saw smoke coming through the open doorway. At the same time the Samoan boy ran along the verandah shouting out that the place was on fire. Ruffin at once pushed the door to, and at that moment there was an explosion inside, which resulted in wrenching the.door off its hinges and throwing him to> the floor. Within half an hour the whole building was a mass of flames. The church, on' the opposite side of the road took fire, but the flames were extinguished after a strenuous fight, in which the natives;were assisted by Captain Richardson, officer commanding, the garrison,: Lieut. 'Wollerman, and Privates- Broadfoot and Moore. The hotel, was insured for £1200 in the Union Company, and the furniture and stock in the, Queensland Company for £400. "Save the church" was the continuous cry of the natives, under the high chief Seumanutafa. ; ■. .