MAGISTARIAL INQUIRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 14

MAGI STARIAL INQUIRY.

FIRE AT MORNING-TON.

A magisterial inquiry was lield on the 29th, before Mr\C.''C. Graham, S.M., and a jury of six, of" wlom Mr John Leggctt was chosen foreman, into the circumstances attending the outbreak 01 lire at the residence of Mrs Hugh Maeneil at " Woodhead," Morningion, on tha right of .November 16. Ihe proceedings for the police were conducted by Chief Detective Herbert, and Mr A. 55. Irwin watched the proceedings on "beha/if of Mary Devine, an employe of Mrs Maeneil at the time of the fire. . Margaret Jane Simpson deposed that she was in the emp:oy\of Mrs Maeneil, and said that on the night of tne 16th the only other occitpants of tli9 houso were Mrs Maeneil and Mary Devine, the otht-r servant. Mrs Maeneil was "the first to letire. Witness went to her room ar minute or two before Mary P«vine. ■Everything about the house then seemed all right" Shs heard and spoke to Devine when the latter went to hsr rcom. Witness saw to the closing of the house other than to the back and tront doors. Tne front door was usually kept shut, and Devine said she had seen ,ro the back door. About half an. hour or more after retuing to her room and being in bed she heard Mary Devine calling her, ana at the same time ru3Jied into *-he room saying the house was fuil of smoke and was on fire, and asked witness to call Mrs Maeneil, which she did, and then went to the telephone. Both witness and Mary Devine rang up the brigade, but got the reply that the house wa& out of bounds. Witness (leaving Mary Devine at the telephone) then went to the dining-room to see where the fire was, and observed that it was near the window close to the floor. Witness then went back to her room for some clothss, and on the stairs met Mrs Mucneil. Whe:n she came down a lew minutes afterwards the front door was standing wide open, and she went out by it, proceeding to Mrs Battray's house, close by to get assistance. She did not see Maxy Devine alter going upstairs from the telephone. A curtain in the ha-ll was. also on fire when witness went out. One fire couid not Jiave baen caused by the other. Two gentlemen returned from Mrs Battray's with witness. Attempts were made"to enter the house horn the front, but the smoke was too dense, and an entrance was eventually effected from the back, and -the fires put out by means of "water from the bathroom. In all there were thrse fires — one in the diningroom, one in the hall near the telephone, and one in the kitchen. Neither fire could have caused any of me others. Maxy Devine first came -to witness's room she said she had neard a step, and thought it might be witness going down for hot. water, and, on opening her door to listen, smelt smoke. She said she then went down the back stairs, and, leaning, over, saw the reflection of a fire in the diningroom and also a man passing a window on. the inside. Mary Devine repeated the same story when the two of them were 'going away, from the house in a cab, and added that shs had met a man on the Wednesday night previous going owi of the ga/te as she was coming in, and she thought he was the same man she had seen in the house that night. Up to the time of the fire Mary Devine had been a little over three weeks in Mrs Macneil's employ. Witness knew that while in the service Devine had bee. a taking drink, but in her (witness's) opinion was sober on the night of the fire. Witness could offor^ no solution as to the oausa of the fire. Mrs Hugh Macneii said that before she retired at iT o'clock on the night in question she personally saw that the front door was secured. After being alarmed, she went downstairs and went through the front door, which was standing open. Before going to bed; site had gone through all tJie rooms. She estimated the damage done by the fire at £300. Edward "Webster gave evidence as to going from Mrs Hattray's to Mrs Macneil's when the alarm of fire was given, and putting out the flames with the assistance of one or two others. They extinguished three separate fires. Constable Power, stationed at Mornington, stated that when he visited the scene of the fire there were indications of two fires in the dining-rcorn, inasmuch as the ends of both curtains were burned whilst the skirting inter- | vening was untouched by the fire. Mary Devine, residing with her parents at lieith street, said that on November 1-6 she was employed as cook at Mrs Nacneil's at Mornington. Chief-detective Herbert : What time did you retire on the night of the fire? Mr Irwin: I cbject and advise witness not to answer as something may bo said which might incriminate witness. Witness : I have nothing to fear in answering any questions. Continuing, Witness said the retired at 9 o'clock, and Miss Simpson went upstapis immediately in front of witness. Before going upstairs sho locked the back door. After going to bed she heard footsteps, and opened her door to listen. She discovered smoke in tho upstairs paasage. and on going down a fewsteps of the stairs saw a man passing tha downstairs window and coming down from the direction of the dining-room. It was a moonlight night), and there was also the reflection of the fire from the dining-room. She thought he was a man she had seen a few nights before going out of the gate. The house was a large one, and it was quite possible a person might have been in the hous« unknown to the other inmates. She was out from five minutes to 8 till 10 minutea to 9 o'clock, and) during that time the back door waa unlocked. Between the time of retiring to her room until she went into Miss Simpson's room s'te was not downstairs. She had nothing to do with the starting of the fires, nor could she make anyi suggestion as to how they occurred. She had! had no liquor that day. The jury, after a few minutes retirement, returned a verdict that the house wa3 maliciously set on fire by some person or persons unknown, btit by whom there was not sufficient evrfbfcce to show.

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