LIKE HUMAN FLARES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 30 November 1927, Page 7

LIKE HUMAN FLARES

MAN AND WOMAN BURNT SPRAYED WITH BLAZING SPIRIT MAN DIES IN HOSPITAL No better description than that they appeared like human flares fits the spectacle afforded when' a man and a woman, saturated in blading methylated spirits, ran screaming through . Ridge street, Moore Park, Sydney, on Wednesday night. The man has since died, and the woman is still in hospital, terribly burned all over the • body. Victims of the episode were William Watt, 54, a plumber, and his sister-in-law, Mrs Emma Schofield, who lives in Paddington. They were in the- kitchen at the Watt's home in Ridge street, and Mrs Schofield had asked Watt for some methylated spirits from a. tin he had i,i the room. Watt's wife and children wore in another part of the house, and she warned her husband that he should take care with the spirits, owing to the fact that a gas ring was burning at the time in the kitchen. Nevertheless he procured a, bottle and started to pour some of the contents of the tin into the bottle. Suddenly the, spirit took fire from the gas ring, the tin exploded, and sprayed blazing liquid all over Watt and Mrs'Schofield. Screaming in the agony of the burns, and both alight from head to foot, they ran into the street. Passers-by stopped and rushed to their assistance. One young man, Norman Hardy, tore Watt's clothes from his body. Watt was naked when the ambulance arrived, and his body was red raw where the flames had burnt into his flesh. Mrs Schofield was in little better plight, women having torn her clothes off in a wild effort to relieve her of the awful pain ol the burns. Roth were rushed to hospital after receiving attention at the hands of the ambulance men; but Watt succumbed within a few hours of admission. Mrs Schofield", who was badly burned about the face, body, arms, legs and hands and suffered, in addition, severe shock, is not expected to live. Hardy, the young man who came to the assistance" of Watt, had his hands severely burned, but these necessitated only treatment at the hospital. The explosion set fire to the kitchen, but neighbours had tho fire out when the firemen arrived.