THE POKENO TRAGEDY

Feilding Star, Volume 2, Issue 280, 9 July 1924, Page 6

THE POKENO TRAGEDY

DEATH OF A Bit AVE MAN-. LIVES'-OF WOMAN AND CHILD SAVED. (Per Press Association.) Auckland, July 7. In connection Vith the fatal fire ;ib Pokeuo, AValdcn was tlic means of saving the lives of a woman and her cliilQ. Deceased rushed into the burning building to rescue his .sister, wlio, lie believed, was inside. The housekeeper, Mrs Langdon, who was in bed with licr litle boy Jack, was awakented by a voice shouting "May!" (the name of WaldenV sister). The name was shouted once. Then there was a low murmur, and no more. Had it not been for this warning, Mrs Langdon believes she and her boy would have perished, because she had time only to wrap a blanket round the hoy and dash for safety. In a moment or two .she would have been suffocated. I (A fatal fire occurred at Pokeno on Saturday night, Edward Negri YValden, a single man, aged 24, losing his life. The fire also resulted in the destruction of the boarding-house and store owned by his brother, Henry Walden. The rear of the store caught fire at 10 o'clock, and in the absence of fire-fighting appliances, the hoarding-house, a largo one-storey wooden building, separated from tn*store by a narrow passage-way. w:>s soon alight also. The deceased, who resided in the house, returned from the township when the fire broke out, and was last .seen entering the building through the front door. Almost immediately the two structures were enveloped in flames, and ultimately burned to the- ground. The charred remains of the deceased were di«-coA-orod in the debris on Sunday morning.)