TWO BABES BURNED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 6

TWO BABES BURNED

FIRE IN FARMHOUSE (Air Mail) SYDNEY, Apl. 27. A crippled grandmother struggled to enter a blazing farm house at Mount Field, near Hitlagong, 70 miles south of Sydney, in a vain attempt to save two babies from being burned to death. The woman, Mrs Phoebe Richards, was forced back by heat, smoke, and flying pieces of burning hessian. The babies were Daphne Anne Richards, aged two years, and her sister, Dulcip, aged nine months. With their brother, aged four, they had been left in the care of their grandmother while their parents, Mr Frederick Alan Richards, aged 26, and Mrs Richards, aged 22, were visiting. Mrs Phcebe Richards was milking cows 100 yards from the house at 11 a.m. when she noticed the fire,. The eldest child was with her. She covered her face with her hands and stumbled through showers of flaming pieces of hessian to reach the kitchen door. The terrific heat forced her back. She stood helpless while the wind whipped flames through the hessian-lined farmhouse. When neighbours arrived the building was gutted. The police believe the fire was caused by a log or ashes falling from the fireplace.