BURNED ALIVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8089, 2 November 1887, Page 5

BURNED ALIVE.

THE DEEP STREAM DISASTER. FULL PARTICULARS. ; TERRIBLE ENDING OF A DRINKING BOUT. AN AUCKLAND VICTIM. iBT TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION , .] Dcnedin, Tuesday. From further particulars of the disaster at Deep Stream, on the Otago Central, it appears that the names of the deceased were Edward SuSton (owner of the hut), Jane Sutton (his wife), Christopher Elliott, aud Edward Ure. DRINK AGAIN. It appears that Sutton and his wife had been drinking on the preceding Sunday evening at a sly grog shop kept by W. Rutherford. They returned to their hut late in the evening, eomowhat the worse of liquor, taking some whisky with them. They wera accompanied by a young man named D. Mitchell, a brother of Mrs. Sutton, and when he left them about eleven o'clock, they were going to bod. Later in the night the two men, Elliott and Ure came along. They alao had been drinking, and tho probability is that when they got into Sutton's hut they had more drink. About four o'clock next morning the hut was discovered to be on fire. ROASTKD ALIVE. A labourer named t'itzsimmonds, who lived in a hut close by, was awakened by an explosion, which was, iu all likelihood, caused by the igniting of a dynamite cartridge, two or throe of which were known to bo kopc by Sutton for splitting tirewood. At this hour tho hut wae on tiro from end to end, and tho roof had fallen in. The bodies were found in the ruins Boon,afterwards, and from the positions in whi,oh they lay it would seem that Mrs Sutton and Ure had succumbed without having made any attempt to escapo. They were probably so stupetied with drink that tho emoke suffocated them. A .HORRIBLK SPKCTACLK. Sutton and Klliottseem to have mads some attempt to get out. Their bodies were dis» covered lying tegether almost on the doorstep. Constable O'Brien bad tbe bodies taken to Outram. They are all fearfully burnt, and present a horrible spectacle, but as there are no marks of violence on them it seems cer« tain that death must have been caused acoi* dentally by the tire. THE VICTIMS. Sutton was a labourer, and about 42 years of age.' His wife wae some years his junior. They were married in Dunediu about IS months ago, but had no children. Elliott aud Ure were both middle-aged men. Tbe former was a stonemason, aud his wife and family are in Auckland. Ure was a labourer, and unmarried. thk: cause of it all. Rutherford, at whose store the parties had been drinking, has already been convicted three or four times of sly-grog selling, and proceedings will probably be taken by the police with regard to the present case. THS l> QUEST. At the inquest a veruict of " Accidentally burned to death" was returned.