TWO PEOPLE BURNED TO DEATH

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8735, 18 May 1914, Page 5

TWO PEOPLE BURNED TO DEATH

DISTRUCTION OF COURTENAY-PLACE BOARDINGHOUSE / bodies of man and woman found in ruins MANY THRILLING ESCAPES

As the result of a fire which occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning .at the Manchester Private Hotel in Courtenay place, two people woro burned- to death, four were so badly injured that it was necessary to remove them to the hospital, and a (number of others were less seriously injured. , THE VICTIMS. The two victims were a man and a woman who had booked in-about 7 lo’clock on the previous evening under |the name of Mr and Mrs Wilson. The woman was identified at the Irhorgue (though the police arc not yet (satisfied that her identity is established with certainty) as Susan Ackcrjinann, aged about fifty-three or fiftyI four years, who was divorced from her husband some years ago. The man has not yet been identified. (Prom his appearance it is supposed .that ho was a ship’s' fireman. Ho is' •about sft 7in in height, and of medium build, with dark brown moustache and hair, the latter, cropped close save for a tuft in the front. He ;is apparently front thirty to thirty|five years of age. Neither J>ody was so (badly disfigured as to prevent identifiication. THE INJURED.

Those whose injuries were of a. suffiIciently. serious nature to make their removal to the hospital necessary | were

Marion Higginson, cook 'at the hotel, aged thirty-two years. She was admitted to the hospital suffering from broken ribs, shock and minor injuries consequent on a fall from the fire escape balcony. Her condition last evening was stated to be serious.

Cissy O’Neil, a single woman, aged twenty-eight years, and a tailoress. She was burnt about the hands, but her condition is not serious.

Andrew Regan, a single man, thir-ty-nine years of age, and a tailor by trade. Regan, who has only one leg, received an injury to his back, due to a fall.

Jack Smith, a single man, thirtythree years of age, and a wharf labourer. He was badly burned, and his condition last evening was re-

ported to be serious

Doctors Tolhurst and Elliott attended the injured prior to their removal to tho hospital. DISCOVERY OP THE EIRE.

The Manchester Private Hotel, which was formerly known as the Eagle Hotel, is a: three-storey brick structure, containing twenty-two rooms, and situated opposite the premises of the Wellington Gas Company. It occupies a narrow section of land' between two vacant sections. Tho property is owned by the Stains estate, and Mr-Harold Pinnock was the occupier. The outbreak was : discovered by Constable W. Hardy at 3.30 a.m., and when the fire brigade arrived in answer to his summons the place was well alight, and the wind-fed flames were eating through the interior woodwork with remarkable rapidity. The seat of tho outbreak appeared to be the kitchen at the back on the ground, floor. The fire in the stove is stated to have been out as early as 9 o’clock on the previous evening, and the view that the blaze started in a part of the kitchen furthest from the stove makes more difficult any attempt to judge its cause. Thor© were two sets of stairways in the building, and that at tho rear, being situated directly over the seat of the flames, afforded a funnel that carried the fire up and gave it speedy access to all floors. FLAMES GAIN RAPIDLY. To the difficulties which the narrow front presented for fire-fighting purposes, was added a southerly gal© that put all chances of saving the place beyond tho realm of possibility. As the frightened occupants opened windows to escape, the wind swept in and through tho building, and the acceleration which it gave to the progress of the flames cut off escape by means of the passage-ways and stairs, and drove people to the fire-escapes. Few appear to have got out by tho doors, many reached safety by the fireescapes while there was yet time, and numbers of others, haring gained the balconies of the escapes, found access to the ladder cut off, and either jumped from the first floor to the ground or lowered themselves by means of sheets, hastily twisted and • knotted to serve tho purpose' of ropes. So rapidly did the fire burn that all hut the very first to wake found the passage-ways seething with flame and the doors and wails of their rooms already burning through. There was no time to dress, and only a fortunate few were able to hastily collect and throw through their win-, dows the most valuable portions of their belongings. The bedrooms were filled with smoke before many of tho occupants awoke, and by the time that those who awakened early had roused the others, the heat and smoke had attained to such height and volume that in instant flight lay the only hop© of escape. THRILLING ESCAPES. The one road to safety, and, fortunately, tho most direct, was through the windows on to the fire-escape balconies, which, at the first and second floors’ run entirely round the building It was to the ample provision of escape balconies that many people owed their safety. Before the fastcrowing flames had yet broken through the windows in volume sufficient to create an impassable barrier, the people reached the ground by means of the nearest ladder; but the rapid spread of the file soon shot the flames fiercely through the windows and imprisoned the fugitives at the spots where the

intervening lengths of wall offered a precarious refuge of temporary safety. Presence of mind caused some to think of the heel sheets, and knotted linen, still dangling from the bars of the balcony, told curious observers yesterday how exciting was the escape of those whom the flames shut off. Others not gifted with the same coolness, or unable by their positions to use these extempore lifelines, took tho last remaining alternative, and risked hazardous jumps frorh the first floor. One mail, imprisoned in the second floor, took the somewhat desperado chancd that was offered by some piping from the roof spouting. Down, this he climbed and reached tho ground in safety. Those Who jumped, or who trusted their weight to the, sheets, did not always come off so fortunately. In some cases the sheeting tore and the climbers were precipitated incontinently to tho ground, while of those who jumped only the fortunate got away entirely scathless.

Mr Pinnock, escaping by the _front I ladder and carrying his infant Ifiiiid.j fell a distance of about twelve feet,"’" and was lucky enough to receive nothing more than a severe shaking, l and a dazing blow on the buck of tho i head. One man jumped from the • front balcony, and although he struck, the glass sign in his brief aerial pass- { age; he escaped the serious injury that! might. easily have; resulted. ; . A WILD STAMPEDE.

About fifteen minutes elapsed be* tween the giving of the alarm, nnd* the time that the last person to escape •*-- reached the ground, and in thosefifteen minutes events occurred that will remain stamped as long as memory lasts in the minds of thh imperilled participants. The whole, escape was a sudden, wild stampede, people flying before they were . fullye*.. awake, and converging in frenzied terror at the balconies, where a few remained outwardly calm amid their distraught, excited, and despair-driven companions. It Was a horrible nightmare of-grim, ■ terrible realism, and even the few people who watched in. safety from the street. later felt the effects of the nervous tension and anxiety of those. deciding minutes. ■ DISCOVERY OF THE BODIES.

■ They were fortunate refugees who escaped with more than their night attire, the majority having to race for safety clothed in what they happened to be wearing at the time of the alarm. Some borrowed overcoats in the street, and were able, to that extent, to escape the keen discomforts Of the biting southerly; but in most cases the luckless boarders found themselves for a time minus clothing and shelter,- and exposed to the worst weather conditions.

The confusion that inevitably attends , sudden disasters lent wings to panic rumours, and tales of people still in the burning building wore amplified tyith repetition. Nobody could say how many, or who, had escaped, and this uncertainty, combining with the possibility of fatalities, gave rise' to tales that found ready ears and easy credence; | Ah the outset, it jwas declared by some that about eight people were still inside the building; then, under tho. calming ‘influence of systematic inquiry, the number dwindled to half;and finally it was .stated that -all -had' escaped. . It was not until the subsidence of tho. -flames admitted of a search that_ thegruesome discovery of two bodies in afirst floor bedroom was made. THE BUILDING GUTTED.

Meantime, the fire brigade, usin£. every effort in the limited working space offered, fought the flames coolly and systematically, and presently began to see some effect for their labours. To.save the building wa* from the first a task quite impossible. Portions of tho ground floor were saved, but the flames consumed the upper portion of the building, which, substantially, was gutted. By _ 3 •a.m., only a heap of smoking ruins and the charred outlines'of the woodwork structure remained within the-'-brickwork shell. f There were, in all, twenty-one people staying at the place at the time of the fire. All had retired by midnight oh Saturday, and when Mr Pinnock made a final inspection everything seemed all right. At 1.30 a.m. a boarder named Silas Prater awoke and looked at his watch. He heard or saw nothing unusual, and went to sleep again, being next awakened by tho sound of the fire cracking and bursting through the fanlight of hia Accommodation for the boarders was found bv the proprietor of tho Egmont Private Hotel and by Adjutant Greene, of the Salvation Army >VorkHome* both, of whom also provided those requiring it with cloth- - The insurances on the building ware not known last evening. The furniture and effects, valued at £-120, were. _ insured in the Commercial Union « office for £350.