Burned to Death

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6865, 23 May 1932, Page 7

Burned to Death

TRAPPED IN BLAZING ROOM. CANDLE ON A BOX. Trapped in his blazing lxaleony room in King street, Balmain, Sydney, late at night recently, Robert Sargent, aged 63, an old-age pensioner, was burned to death. Apparently he had tried to beat out the flames on his burning bed, but had been overcomo by the smoke and collapsed. His body was shockingly charred. Mr. Sargent, who had 15 children, had lived in tho Balmain district for many years. On the night in question, as was his custom, he called in at the Balmain fire station, and talked to the officers until about 11.30 p.m. About an hour later two of his small children rushed into tho station. “Come quickly,' one of them said, “Daddy has been burned. He wbn’t speak.” A station officer seized an ambulance kit, and raced round to Mr. Sargent’s home. The man slept in a small balcony room on the first storey of his home. When the fireman arrived he was lying on the floor at the entrance to the balcony. His clothing had been entirely burned from his body. He was dead. From aa examination of the room at appeared that Mr. Sargent had lighted a candle, and placed it on a box near his bedside. Apparently the curtains had caught fire, and the flames had quickly spread to the bed.