DEATH IN FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23859, 13 July 1939, Page 17

DEATH IN FIRE

WOMAN’S WEAK HEART EXPERTS RECONSTRUCT SCENE "Death from natural causes” was the verdict returned at a London inquest on Mrs Florence Hill, aged 57, widow, of Addiscombe, who was found dead in her bedroom, which was on fire. A neighbour. Mrs Harris, gave evidence that she went into Mrs Hill’s house with a cup of tea, because Mrs Hill had not been well. On entering the house she smelt smoke, and this got stronger as she went upstairs. When she opened the bedroom door the smoke was so thick that she could not enter. She called the fire brigade. A pathologist stated that Mrs Hill’s body was covered with burns, which had been inflicted after death. Death was due to fatty degeneration of the heart. , ' The deputy chief officer of Croydon Fire Brigade declared that he had examined the bedroom, and formed the theory that the fire had been caused by Mrs Hill getting out of bed and throwing the bedclolhes over the foot of the bed so that they knocked a clothes horse on to a lighted gas Are. The coroner remarked that Mrs Hill apparently got out of bed suddenly, had a heart attack, collapsed, and died within a few minutes.