FATAL FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7484, 25 February 1885, Page 2

FATAL FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

■ AUCKLAND, Jan. 24. At midnight a fire broke out in Elliott street, on the upper floor of a two-storied block of buildings leased hy one M'Kinlay, a signwriter, from Mr David Kean, residing at Wellington. The ground floor on the northern division was used by M'Kinlay as a workshop, and the' upper floor was partly used by Davis, saddler, as his workshop, andal|o used as a workshop by Mr J. H. Holmfesjthe scenic artist of the Opera House, 1 who ;slept in the front room. The Fire Brigade soon extinguished the flames. As Holmes>■ was known to sleep in the upper stof eyV' aiid had not been seen about, a search was made upstairs, when the nude body of the poor old man was found lying on his': back, the skin having peeled off in sections, though,,the body was not scorched or burnt: An examination of the premise^by;Detectives*Hughes and Walker went '£6.^show that Holmes had probably beett'reading in bed* and had fallen aslefepi leaving the candle still alight. Some charred. Magazines and periodicals •were found: inear; his pillow, and when aroused by the fire he had evidently made his way to the back room, instead of the staircase—with .his trousers in his hand, as they "were found" in his clenched grasp- 1 - where he was overcome with smoke and suffocated. At the inquest a verdict of " Accidental death and no evidence to show how the fire originated " was returned.