PLAY THAT ENDED IN TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 14318, 17 March 1910, Page 6

PLAY THAT ENDED IN TRAGEDY

- FIVE CHILD VICTIMS. A shocking fire disaster occurred in London, as the result oi which five children lost their lives. The scene of (he calamity was a house in City road. The outbreak occurred shortly after noon, in the front room of the (op floor, which was occupied by a laborer named Ernest Hill and his wife and family. In the course of the morning Mrs Hill took into her care the two children of Mrs Smith, who occupies the floor below, as the mother war. obliged to go out. Mrs Hill went, out also to do some shopping, leaving all the children, five in number, amusing themselves in the front room. These were Edith, Richard, and .Millie, Hill, ranging from twelve months to four years of age, and James and Elizabeth Smith, eight month? and twelve years old respectively. What happened sifter Mrs Hill left cannot at present be definitely ascertained, but it is strongly believed, and there is good ground for doing so, that one of the children lighted a paraffin lamp and upset it. At ten minutes past, twelve a police constable noticed flames issuing from the window, and immediately rushed through the garden. and. forcing an entry, made his way upstairs. Rallied by Smoke and Flame.— He attempted to enter the room, and all bough he could distinguish the forms of children on the lied he was unable to reach them because of 1 lie smoke and flames. Running back into the street, he found that the fire brigade had already been summoned. The brigade, arrived in a few minutes, and two or three firemen entered the room by the stairs. Two of the children were found on the bed and three on the floor. Their clothing was burning, and the bedding bad also caught alight. The children were immediately got out. At the same time ladders had been laid against the bouse and water directed on the flames. Within twenty minutes of the alarm the fire was out, and the children removed before Mrs Hill returned. When they were brought to the street it was seen that two of them at least were dead, and the others badly burned. T hey were taken to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, anil on examination Edith Hill. Richard Hill, and James Smith were pronounced dead. TTie, other two, Millie Hill and Elizabeth Smith, were suffering from terrible burns. 'They succumbed to their injuries the next night. —Lying on the Bed.— The room in which (he fire occurred was seriously damaged, but not burned out, and the lower part of the house suffered from smoke and water. The affair has caused considerable sensation in the district. and sympathy is expressed with the parents. In an interview with a representative one of the firemen said: “ When we arrived at the house the lop floor was all in flames, which, were coming out of the windows. We. immediately put ladders up to the top floor and ascended. As we entered the room wo saw near the window-sill a bed. on which two children were lying in their nightgowns, with nil the bed-dothe? burnt. The room was full of smoke and fire, and was almost burnt cut. We quickly passed the children out, but they were ilving, if not quite dead. So far as we could see, they were about three to five years old. There was an oil lamp—the glass of which was broken—on the table in the room, and the lamp looked as if it had been upset, and that an attempt had been made to put it right again.”