FATAL HOTEL FIRE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 58, 12 March 1929, Page 11

FATAL HOTEL FIRE

LIVES LOST IN HONG KONG

MR. W. E. WOODS AMONG

yiCTIMS

CaiUd Barrio*.

HONG KONG, 11th March. A disastrous fire at the King Edward Hotel, Hong Kong, in the early; hours of the morning, resulted in heavy; loss of life. It is believed that nine Europeans perished, including Mr. Wil. liain Woods, representing Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. The others are British, French, and American, but the actual number, including Chinese, is not known. The ruins are now being raked for bodies.

Top-floor eye-witnesses state that th« fire broke out with alarming rapidity* the inmates trapped in the upper stories being unable to reach the fire escapes. Valuable work was performed by men from British warships. There were thrilling scenes as people leapt from the inferno from the fourth and fifth floors into sheets, several missing and crash* ing to the roadway. These,' including General Chang Mingshu, are seriously; injured. ■

It is stated that Mr. Woods had been in bed for a week suffering from,a chilL His remains have just been found.

Mr. William Woods was born in Sui* rey, England, and was a nephew of Mih W. E. Woods, of Wellington, founde* of Woods' Great Peppermint Care. He opened up the business of the company in South Africa, and then tonred through Java, Malay Straits, Australia, and New Zealand. The object of his visit to China was to report on. the trade conditions'in that country. Mr. Woods was about 60 years of ag«t