FIRE FATALITY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 75, 10 March 1933, Page 7

FIRE FATALITY

WOMAN DIES OF BURNS

WIFE OF SOLICITOR. DRAGGED OUT BY DAUGHTER. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, March 10. A fatal fire occurred at the residence of Mr. M. J. Gresson, a Veil known solicitor, Fendalton road, this morning. When his wife was trapped in the burning washhouse she received severe burns and died a few minutes after she had been rescued by her daughter. Mrs Gresson, who was 40 years of age, was a sister of Mr Hamilton Gould and a member of a well-known Canterbury family. She had been in poor health for a number of years. Apparently Mrs Gresson went into the wash-house to attend to a fire in the copper. The first person to discover that the wash-house was afire was .Miss Bridget Gresson, who dashed in among thick smoke and found her mother, her clothes in flames, lying on the floor. She dragged her mother out and extinguished the flames, but Mrs Gresson died in a few minutes. Mr Gresson was then on the way to his office at 9.15 a.m. He was recalled to the scene. The Fire Brigade prevented the flames from spreading to tho house, a large two storeyed building. Mrs Gresson was a niece of Mr George Gould. She is survived by a husband, two sons and one daughter.