SHOCKING TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 10

SHOCKING TRAGEDY

BURNED TO DEATH ON FARM NEAJi HAWERA FATHER AND SIX CHILDREN (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) HAWERA, This Day. A shocking fire tragedy • occurred at midnight near Ararata, a farming district not far from llawera, a settler ' and six children being burned to death. The "allies of the deceased are:— Alfred Wollcr, agqd 40. Ruby • Wollor, aged 10. Ellen'Woller, aged 11. Alfred Woller, aged S. Ray Wollex-, aged 10. Daphne Woller, aged 0. Charles Paroell, aged 13. 1 Tim mother and two children were -in llawera. The scene of the tragedy was a fourroomed cottage, of which three rooms were used as bedrooms, Mrs. Woller and the two youngest children are living in Hawera, and the parents of the ■boy Parnell also reside hero. Peter Woller, brother of the deceased, who hlived in a tent about two chains from ' the cottage, was awakened, about midnight by the souid of crackling timber, and saw the cottage ablaze and the back portion already destroyed. The "■ flames were so fierce and the smoke so dense that he was unable to get inside. He tried the front door, but the handle was too hot to touch, and he saw no sign of life. A high ■ southerly wind, was blowing, and the cottage, which, stood on the edge of a hill, quickly ' became a furnace. • ■'.■.. A- neighbour visited the family last night, and saw the house at 11 o'clock. There was no light,nor any. sign of fire. Among the smouldering embers this morning the remains of three bodies were seen; tkc others were buried under the debris. . . - The deceased Woller was in the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and making himself a cup of tea, as he did not enjoy good health. Further investigations dp not throw much nc'w light on the tragedy, and there is nothing to, indicate how the'fire occurred. , The father usually slept in the front roijfm with the girl Daphne, two other girls occupying the back bedroom. In the other front room were two beds occupied by two boys, while the third room was shared by Parnell and the other boy, Woodhead. The neighbour who visited the family last night said that when he left'the cottage shortly . after 7 o'clock a good fire was going in the range. The only light in the kitchen was a kerosene'lamp on ' ,tho table. . , Woller had a small farm and, sometimes did. odd. jobs hi tht. neighbourhood. ■ - • . The remains of all the qjiildrcu• hava been found. Judging by /the position of the .bodies, one of the girls and. Parnell had moved, the bodies being found just off the beds, but the next were lying as they slept. The. remains of the father's clothes were found at the bedside ready. •■• .