Fatality at a Fire.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 96, 23 December 1913, Page 5

Fatality at a Fire.

A WEST END SENSATION.

FIREMEN'S SPLENDID WORK. [By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [UNiTiin p REgB .Association.j Ldndon, December 22. , During a fire in the Park Mansions flats at Knightsbridge in the early morning, the occupants of the sixth floor were rescued by means of ladders. A charred body was found. This was the largest lire in the West End since the burning of the Carlton Hotel. (Received 10.30 a.m.) London, December 22. The inmates of Knightbridge were ! aroused by the shouting of the onllookers in the street. Three maidservants in their night--dresses took refuge on the roof, and a fireman climbed ladders 200 ft. high to the screaming women, who threatened to jump unless rescued immediately. Then- were finally rescued singly on a swaying ladder. The two upper stories blazed furiously.

A waiter named Edwards died when returning to secure some money. A housemaid states that whilst escaping down a corridor in suffocating smoke she heard Edwards stumble and fall helpless. She dragged him until the flames and smoke overpowered her and obliged her to leave him.

• The firemen's heroic; efforts in scaling the building held the spectators spellbound. .

WEEK-ENDERS BURNT OUT.

MANY BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

(Received 9.20 a.m.) Melbourne, December 23

A bush fire at Aspendale "swept miles (long the foreshore, upon which stood hundreds of houses, bungalows, and reek-end camps. The damage is estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand pounds, mostly covered by insurance.