VICTIMS OF FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22257, 9 May 1934, Page 4

VICTIMS OF FIRE

—,—.*. THE DANNEVIRKE TRAGEDY EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. (Pee United Pbess Association.) DANNEVIRKE, May 8. At the inquest into the deaths of Mrs Ellen Franklin and Miss Eflie Neighton Smale, who perished in a fire at Broomfield Homestead on Sunday evening, the evidence disclosed that they were last seen in the dining room late in the afternoon having tea. A fire was burning in this room; dry totara wood being used. Constable Moss, who assisted in the search, advanced the theory that the fire was started in the dining room by a spark or cinder falling from the fireplace and setting fire to the carpet or Chesterfield while the women were in the kitchen washing the crockery used for tea. When they discovered the fire they attempted to put it out, and were overcome by the smoke and flames. There were no suspicious circumstances. The verdict of the jury was that death was due to the inability of the women to escape from the burning building. ' The fierceness of the fire is indicated by the fact that the bodies were almost completely destroyed, the remains consisting only of a few bones. HOUSE DAMAGED IN EARTH- , QUAKE. (Pes United Press Association.) BLENHEIM, May S. Miss Smale was formerly a resident of Blenheim, and was a daughter of the late Mr R. H. Smale. In recent letters to friends she mentioned that Mrs Franklin's house suffered severely in the recent earthquake, when the chimneys were affected. A sister, Mrs Myrtle Garrett, lives .in . Wangaimi, and a brother, Mr Rewi Smale, in Nelson.