GREAT FIRE IN INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9423, 22 July 1889, Page 5

GREAT FIRE IN INDIA.

ICO LIVES LOST. A TOWN DESTROYED. I'ARTTni'ijAns of a disastrous tire, in which 150 men, women, and children are Said to have perished at Akbarpore, subdivision Behar, have been sent to the Statesman by a correspondent. It appears that there was a marriage in the liouso of a, Rajput on April '2li. As usual, there was a large gathering of both .sexes. While the ceremony was being proceeded with a (ire broke out at the entrunce of the house, and, as a strong westerly wind was blowing at the time, the entire premises were enveloped in flames in the course of a few minutes. Some of the men managed to extricate themselves by rushing to the door, But the difficulty was how to save the women and children. The greatest confusion prevailed. One Sipahi Singh, the father of the bridegroom, and a, brave Rajput, had the presence of mind to snatch his son and the bride from the crowd, and going to the roof lot them down in a lane running close to the house, and told them to run for their lives. TIKTUKNIXCI TO DRATII. Having just then recollected that he had left a bag of l,"()rs. behind him, he returned to the house, He recovered tin* bag, and was preparing to make his escape when he heard the lamentations of women and children proceeding from a room, the door of which was .shut. Sipahi was too brave and noble a fellow to think Of personal safety when these helpless creatures were in imminent danger of being burnt to death. Me opened the door, and the scene that followed defies description. The females rushed out and laid hold of him, each one in despair calling out, "Save me, save inc." He was a man of splendid physique, and if left alone might have succeeded in saving some, if not all; but what could the poor man do against so many distracted women and children clinging to him for dear life? He fell to the ground, and they crowded round him. A few minutes more and the tire had done its worst. Nothing was to be seen but aheap of charred remains. The sight was revolting in the extreme. The police were on the .spot after the accident, and buried the dead in three wells of the village. The fire extended to other huts, and Akbarpore is a wreck.