BURNED TD DEATH

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 62, 25 May 1928, Page 5

BURNED TD DEATH

JCt ! v SETTLER AND CHILDREN. t tragedy near hawera. ;.V MOTHER AND TWO CHILDREN : ABSENT. Kress Association —Copyright.,/ j HAWERA, This Ray. A shocking 1 tU'b tragedy oc- u | corred at midnight at Arawata, 51 \ ”, a farming district n«t far from ; j .■Hawera, a settler and six child-rbi being burned to death. tPh, The names of deceased ai'cs—a.? Alfred Waller (40), Buoy (13), Eileen (11), Alfred (8), Ray (10), Daphne (6), all Waller’s, , children, and Charles- Parnell,,, ‘ (|8). . , >W ' The mother and two children spent the night, in Hawera. ~, BROTHER’S DISCOVERY.

Press Associative — Copy rig) it HAWERA. This Day. (Special to “Post”). The first intimation of the tragedy; Was received in town when Petfer Woiler a brother of the deceased man, with/ a neighbour came into Hawera about one o’clock thi s morning to report the matter to‘/ the police. This morning about i ; six o'clock Sergt. Henry with Constables Mullin Hid Thompson went out to the scene and the charred remains off two bodies could be plainly seen amongst the blackened sheets of iron whidh was practically all that was left of the cottage ana mut© evidence of the dreadful tragedy enacted during the bitterly cold nighty Peter Wboller the brother was the only oije to see the house before it was consumed. He saidi he was living in a tent about a couple of chains away down a little valley ihind the house, and to the east. He was awakened about midnight by the sound of crackling timber and looking out saw that the building was on lire. He .dressed and rush, od up but by the time ho reached the front of the .cottage, the back had already been, destroyed. The dames and smoke, wor© so fierce that hh' was unable tp get inside and saw no sign ,oil,life whatever. He tried the door handle, but it was red hot ajid he could not open the door. i; HIGH SOUTHERLY WIND. ; There was a high; southerly wind blowing, aha us we coii/age stood on the. edge .of . the hill, it became hko a, veritable furnace as soon as the; place caught fire. . Mr Wobdhead, said he wag over .at, Mfopfier’ a .about • seven o’clock' in the evening and -was* sitting with Alfred,. Wqoller in the kitchen nour the Stove, while three, of the children any. Parnell were amusing themselves at the table, *the two little ones having gone to bed. . . n

Pie left shortly a«ter and states that ■ho saw, "the, house at elcyery o’olbok, when there was nci light or ahy; sign of fire. He added that . .it was about half jiast twelve when. ■Peter Wooller came over to Ids house, and wakened Ihim. He Man giiye no clue or suggestion as to the origin of the fire. When a Hawera “Star” representative, who went out with Sergt. Hen-ry-saw the scene of tho tragedy, liothing was left but a few sheets of iron, with smouldering embers round them. Tho remains of one body in the left hand back bedroom could bo seen, while in the kitchen opposite,, lying near the stove was a body with the skull leaning forward as though the person, had fallen to the floor to- , wards the stove. The charred remains of one other 'body was to bo seen but that was all. The rest of the evidence of the dreadful tragedy wag concealed under the roofing iron. - t . FOUR-ROOMED HOUSE. Wooller stated that it was a four- , roomed cotta,ge, ~thre© rooms being used as bedrooms and the fourth as a kitchen and living room, inis had a small range in the right hand corner, and a lean-toi iron chimney outside against the back wall, tie said that .the father usually slept in the front room ’with a tiny girl Daphne, aged about s ix, while behind ih the back bedroom were the twoolder girls, Ruby aged thirteen, and Ellen, eleven. In the other frcait robin were two beds one occupied by the two boys, Ray, aged 10 years, and Alfred, aged eight, while in the other was Charles Parnell a boy of about thirteen, employed by Wooller. flisi parents live in Nolantown. ,Wooller wag a man of forty years of age, with family in ail of eight. His wife was living in Hawerai with two oij the children, a baby and a little one of about three years of age. - .

WOOLLER IN BAD HEALTH Mr Woodhead said that Allred Wooller did not always enjoy good ■health, and it was a common practice for him, to get up during tho night and make) himselT a cup of tea _ and get something to eat. The* position of the body in the kitchen, Which would appear to be that of a man would, lead to the supposition that this had happened during the night. , hut naturally there is no proof of this.