THE FATAL FIRE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 February 1911, Page 6

THE FATAL FIRE.

THE INQUEST PROCEEDINGS. REMARKABLE EVIDENCE. [BY TELEGRAPH —PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, February 20th. An inquest concerning the death of an old man Albert Norris, who met his end in the fire at “Scotia House,” a boarding establishment in Hobson Street, on Saturday morning, was held to-day by Mr. T. Gresham and a jury of six. Dr. F. W. King said that the cause of death was suffocation from smoke. Deceased was formerly an inmate of the Costley Home, and was very infirm. C. A. Woolley, Superintendent of the Fire Brigade, said the door of deceased’s bedroom on the upper floor was hard to open. Witness found the old man lying dead on the floor with his head against the door. To a juryman: A feeble old man would not live more than a minute in a room filled with smoke. Ettie Short, daughter of the proprietress of “Scotia House,” said deceased was about seventy-two years of age. He had been living at the boarding house for over fifteen months. He was a widower with a grown-up family. The night before the fire witness and her mother went carefully over the house and everything was all right. The previous Sunday there had. been another fire in the house. Her mother woke up and found the room full of smoke. The fire was in an unoccupied bedroom on the ground floor, and the mattress was completely burned. They got it out just as the fire was rachiijg the walls. Three nights after this her mother heard someone walking about downstairs, and going down found a man in the dining-room. He refused to answer when asked what he was doing, and then made off. The following night something was removed from the table, and the third night the mysterious fire broke out. They had no idea how it happened. Their usual custom was to lock the front door and put a tilted chair under the knob of the back door. The fire on Saturday morning started downstairs, but she could give no idea how it was caused. There was nothing about the pbice to cause a fire. There was no stove. They used gas for cooking. Mrs. Short stated that on the occasion of the fire on the Sunday previous to last Saturday the mattress and pillows of one be dhad been put on the other bed in the spare bedroom, where they found the fire. She did not think anyon could have obtained admission to the house on Friday last between 11 p.m. when she locked up and a quarter to four, when the fire broke out. The jury found that death was caused by suffocation.