A SAD DEATH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5095, 26 January 1885, Page 2

A SAD DEATH.

Auckland, January 24.

At midnight a fire broke out in Elliott street on the upper floor of a two-storey block. The buildings are leased by M'Kinlay, a sign writer, from David Kean, ! resident at Wellington. The ground floor on the northern division was used by M'Kinlay as a workshop, and the upper floor was used partly by Davis, a saddler, as a workshop, and also used as a workshop by Mr J. H. Holmes, the scenic aitist of the opera house, who slept in the front room. The fire brigade soon extinguished the flames. As Holmes was known to sleep in the upper storey, and had not been seen about, a search was made upstairs, when the nude body of the poor old man was found lying on its back. The skin had peeled off in sections, though the body was not Bcorched or burnt. An examination of the premises by Detectives Hughes and Walker went to show that Holmes had probably been reading in bed, and had fallen a3leep leaving the candle lighted. Some charred magazines were found near his pillow, and when roused by fire he had evidently made his way to the back room instead of to the staircase with his trousers in his hand (as they were found in his clenched grasp) when he got overcome with smoke and was suffocated. Later. At the inquest on the body of Holmes, scenic artist, the victim of Saturday's fire, a verdict of accidental death was returned." There was no evidence to show how the fire originated.