TAYLORVILLE FIRE

Grey River Argus, 15 February 1915, Page 8

TAYLORVILLE FIRE

INQUIRY; PROCEEDINGS.

Mr .T, 0. L. Hewitt, District Coroner; opened an inquiry at Brunner on Friday into the cause, /of a fire at Taylorville, whereby the Buck's Head Hotel and two store s were destroyed. • Inspector Pliafr conducted proceedings on behalf of the- policeJohn Hazeldine .said : 1 am the licensee of the Buck's Head Hotel, Taylorville. The building was destroyed by fire on the morning of January 26th. There were 17 rooms. Mr Mandl and Mrs Wade life the owners. I am a. monthly tenant. The furniture belonged to me,, also the stock in trade. I had £200 insurance on the stock- and furniture in the Atlas Company. I h£ard that there was £5500 insurance on the building. I closed up at 10 o'clock on January 25th. There was only one boarder in the honse, Geo. Stokes. He was in at the time I closed, and remained in- I retired about 11.15 p.m.; the others were all in bed then. I turned off the gas before going to bed. There were no fires in the house that night. About 4.20 a.m. I wa s disturbed someone, kicking at the door. It "was Nathaniel Pasroe. I got up, and then Henry Wicks kicked at the door. I cam c downstairs before I put on. my clothes, and saw that the building next door— -an unoccupied store belonging to Armstrong — was burning. At that time my building was safe. The fire seemed to be burning on" each side of the porch of the store on- the outside. That store had been unoccupied about nine months. I returned to the hotel \ind attempted to save a portion of the furniture. The wind was blowing down tho rivev and would tend to drive the fire on to the Borough Chambers and Nimmo's .store. Although therp was a 12ft right-of-way between the hotel and Armstrong's storo. the heat caused tho hotel to catch fire. The value of the stock and furniture was about £340. I do not think an inventory was made when the furniture was insured. I have not the slightest idea, as to how th^ fiie originated. There was a back veran. dah to Armstrong's building. I never saw people making use of that verandah. About ten minutes after T was called the hotel caught fire. . • David Armstrong, storekeeper, Ngaher«\ aft?r giving a description of his store at Taylorville, deposed : I closed the stole at Taylovville about twelve month s a«;o. Tho building was a fairly old onf . I removed all the perishable stock. There was only hardware stock left — nothing that oould have ignited by spontaneous combustion. From time to time' I vemoved*stock as I required it. It was just before Christmas that I removed the. last, lot. Tlie store was then locked up as usual. . Valued the .stock in the building at the time of the fire at £160. I had £100 insurance on the building and nothing on the stock. I reduced the insurance on the building from £250 to £100 shortly after leaving the store. James Stewart Nimmo, storekeeper, Taylorville, deposed : My store stood on the corner of the section, and the Borough Chambers were under the same j voof. I live about a qnnrtf-r- of a mile ! away. Whpn I arrived on the scene the fire seemed to bo on the wall of the Borough Chambers, next to Armstrong's store. I could not say if Armstrong's store was burning then, and did not notice if the front' portion of the building was on fire. One insurance covers the whole building, including the Borough Chambers. When I arrived there was no fire in my stor>. The building wa s insured in the Phoenix Office for £150, and the stock for £550 in the Standard,. Liverpool. London and Globe, and Victoria offices. I left the store about b. 30 p.m. on January 25th, and it was then securely locked. There was no door open, ing from my store to the Borough Council office. The fireplace in the » Borough office was an open one, with a side oven. The amount of insurance does not cover my loss. , James Nimmo, father of the last witness, said his son wa s living with him at the time of the fire. Robert Taylor, junr., gave them the first alarm of the fire. Henry August Wickes, engine-driver ->n the employ of the Brnnner Coal Company, deposed : I live just opposite where the Buck's Head Hotel was. On January 26th I had an alarm clock set for 4.30 a.m. I was awakened by a noise, which I took to be the banging of a gate, just before the alarm went off. I then noticed the glare of the fire on a mirror. I ran out to the gate and saw that Arm strong's store was on fire. The flames were coming through the front of the building. It had a good hold. T then gave the alarm. I saw no fire in the Borough Council building. Nathaniel Pascoe, laborer, Taylorville, deposed : I had not been well on the night of January 25th, and was outside five times between 2 and 4.20 a.m. I live just behind the Buck's Head Hotel. First saw the five about 4.30 ,a.m. Ran down .and found Armstrong's was ablfcze^ The middle portion .seemed to be .biirnyhg. Ido not think th<* Borough office was burning then. The "only per.^ son I saw wnV«Harry Wickes.Wl saw no. lone about Armstrong's building prior 'to the , five. • .wEdwitrd Tomkies, miner, Taylorville deposed:: I think the fire must have started right in the middle of .Armstrong's store. I think all the windows and doors were closed. I went round the back of Armstrong's store to locate if possible the origin of the . five. -I then noticed that the window, in Armstrong's building facing the Borough office was closed. I have never seen anyone about tho buildings at night. Walter Gutberlet, laborer, Taylorville, deposed : On the morning of January 26th I went with a man named Pender to Ward's shop, just opposite tlje fire. The fire was in the front part of 'Aifmstrong's shop. . Tt 'was - : n»st*" i 'breaking through 'to the outside. The doors and windows wore closed. The fire seemed to have originated inside the building. The Borough office was not burning then. Just after I got there I saw Mr Robert Taylor, sen)-. Ho was trying to break in the floor of the Council Chambers, but failed found tiro key and went inside. When to do so. He looked in his pockets arid he entered I went. across the sti'eet and followed him in. There was no fire in tho office, but some smoke. Taylor went round behind the counter. I tried to follow him, but did not know my way out. He threw down some papers from a shelf and put them on the counter and I carried them across the road. He came out almost immediately afterwards ; the smoke was too great to stop in. He had nothing with him when he came out. He had been in the building before I fir^t went in. Ido not know what he brought out the first time- I did not speak .to him. The books could have, been saved l>v me if I had known where they were.' The papers he gave me consisted of writ, ing papers only. Had I known where the books where. I could have saved them, but I could not go back for them owing to the smoke. Mr Taylor seemed to be fully dressed. ' Robert Taylor, son of the Clerk of the Brunner Borough Council, deposed : My father called me about 4.30 a.m. on January 26th . and said he thoughl there was a. fire at the Buck's Head Hotel and 1 v had better go and tell Mr Nimmo, which I did. I cycled to Mr Nimmo's house, and noticed the . fire in the direction of the shops. The . Borough office was be- ■ tween the two buildings. I saw no one

about at all when going to Mr Nimmo's. I was not dressed when I went, to Mr -Nimmo's. ': Aftejr calling him i went home and dressed .arid .then ;\vent to the fire. The fire was then ■■• -burning over Ihe^ Council office." . Thei'e were a number of} -persons there v^ n ,6ti'. • Aijsfstrorig's shop was then just ;'nt)oiit -b'trrhV ' My father said.Avhon lie wo^ me that he .thought he heard someone^ calling "Fh'e !" and someone walking ; ori boards. Our housp is 300 or 400 >yards from the scene of the fire. I was not awake when my father called me. My father sleeps in the front of the house nndfny room is at t^ie back. When I got oui3ide I- could see the smoks but no flame. There are no trees to obstruct a view from our house and the place of the fire. I heard no footsteps when my father called me, but I heard someone i' 1 the distance singing out. I told th c constable that I heard someone calling out in the distance. My father was at home about 3 oa- 8.30 p.m. the previous evening when I came home. He did not go out again that night. My father just' had , his pants and. socks on when lie called me. I was with my father in the front office behind the counter on the morning of the kJsth. He was making up some account. I saw two of the books that had been burnt at a former fire in the Borough office laying underneath the counter. My father did not sa.v anything to me about the books. 1 do not remember telling the constable about anything my father said about the books. I now remember that I told the constable that my father said he could not recover the books owing to the smoke. Robert Taylor, Town Clerk to the Brunner Borough Council, deposed: 1 was in my office on January 25th last. I had no five in the office that day. i was in*the front portion of the office in thft morning and 'left about mid-day. I did not return again that day. I live about nine or ten chains from the office. 1 went to bed that night about 9.30. A little after daybreak I was disturbed by someone calling out. I got up and looked through the window and saw tho. glare of fire. I put on my trousers and opened th c front door. I could see then there was a fire up the street. I thought it was the Buck's Head Hotel. I called my son and sent him to call Mr Nimmo. I put on my boots and vest and went and roused my neighbour, Mr Peillon. 1 also woke up Mr Griffiths. I went to the fire, and called up Mr Tomkies on the way. I found the fire was in Armstrong's shop. The front of the building was all ablaze when I got there. The front ot the borough office was alight at the top. I opened the office door and found the office full of smoke. No one entered with me the first time- I went round the counter and felt for some books and took them out. , I returned a second time with Gutberlet' I -handed him some papers that I "took out of the office. 1 took some books and papers-out the se - ■cowl time. The principal books were all in 'the room at the back. There were only some books of little importance in the front room. The books tliat were in the previous fire were in the- front 'office. The smoke wa s too dense to allow me to go into the back office to get the books there. It was too dense on each occasion that I went in. The passage to the back room was full of smoke. The principal books were kept in a cupboard in the back room, The Council had' no safe or box. It was-burnt out,. oiice before and some books were destroyed. That was in a hall at Wallsend, the building being burnt down. ' The enquiry was adjourned sine die.