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THE SILVER GRID FIRE.

ORIGIN STILL A MYSTERY. TERRIBLE PLIGHT OF ESCAPEES. INQUEST ON THE VICTIMS. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. There is an air of mystery about the origin of the Silver Grid fire. Nobody seems to have noticed it before it had got a hold and the alarm was Tate in being given, although the brigade turned out smartly. Apparently the fire started upstairs, somewhere near the front of the building. The neighbours were alarmed almost as soon as the inmates. There may have been eighteen or twenty persons sleeping on the premises, and it seems as if few of them escaped without injury of some hind. The first that was known of it, was when the interior was blazing fiercely, and it seems as if the burning of the only staircase, a narrow wooden structure, had cut off all escape to the bottom floor. Consequently the main means of escape was by a couple of iron fire escapes at the bach of the building, or through the front windows; but to get out of the front windows seemed almost suicidal, for the flames were surging upwards and the glass verandah was a death trap. Tien arc said to have gone absolutely frantic with fear and burns, and some gruesome scenes were witnessed. As the inmates leaped from the front windows on to the curving glass verandah, they smashed through, the glass cutting their hands and feet as they did so. As they stumbled along they shrieked and groaned in-panic. The sight was quite unnerving, as blood was everywhere, and the tragedy was deepened by the fact that the number of persons who had perished in the building was unknown. The inquest on the Silver Grid fire victims was formally opened this afternoon and adjourned.

A. D, Smith, bookseller, whose stock was damaged, was insured for £IOO in the Alliance Co. J. P. Smith, proprietor of the Silver Grid, had £250 in the Phoenix Company on the furniture. He is a considerable loser. P. W. Hatch, one of the victims, was for forty years a compositor in the “Lyttetloii Times” office. Mrs Stark leaves two children, aged 12 months and three vears.

Fortunately there -were a few coolheaded folk to look after the maddened escapees from the building. T. Dodd, whoso tea rooms are in the same block, a few doors nearer the railway station, was craly aroused with his family. He said that at about 2.50 a.m. he was aroused by the sound of the flro and went out at once. Ho was there for fully ten minutes before the brigade arrived, and in that time some horrible scenes wore enacted. Men escaping from the front rooms rushed along the verandah and wore able fortunately to escape through Dodd’s upper windows. It was a ghastly business, and even this morning the traces of it could be seen in the pools of blood left on a few of the unbroken verandah panes, where the victims had passed along. One man had the calf of his leg almost severed, and it hung down clear of his leg. Another man went absolutely mad, and careered right along the verandah, smashing glass at every step and finally threw himself down on the road. The scene -was a shambles. On the other side of the street the victims were gathered waiting for the ambulance, and the pools of blood lying there still testify to their sufferings. Mrs J. P. Smith (wife of the proprietor), who was badly cut in escaping along the verandah, died in the hospital this afternoon from shock. She makes the fourth victim.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/RAMA19171120.2.23

Bibliographic details

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11400, 20 November 1917, Page 5

Word Count
605

THE SILVER GRID FIRE. Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11400, 20 November 1917, Page 5

THE SILVER GRID FIRE. Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11400, 20 November 1917, Page 5