FIRES IN NELSON PROVINCE.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1264, 5 November 1869, Page 3

FIRES IN NELSON PROVINCE.

FATAL FIRE ON THE BEACH.

j Atf OID TYOMAN BTJENED TO DEATH,

iiST night, shortly before ten o'clock, some people ■3 the Church hill saw a bright light coming from ie other side of the Port hills, not far from Mr. WFord's house, but it did not strike them that it was rased by a houae being burned on the Beach, which

. jreally proved to be. Mr. Lowe, the second pilot, L raile near the old Custom-house observed a glare of ( se apparently about the direction of the cottage srapied by an infirm old woman, named Margaret ■ kdman, better known as "Old Margaret." He [ » down and found it was her house which was on

r ire. He gave the alarm to the next neighbour } roused Mr. William Morrison and others, and rnn t $to get the hose from the lock-up station, and also • ?t a line of men to hand buckets from the tide-way, i ac tide being full at the time. The fire, however, , jid too; firm a hold on the house, and, as there was a chance of saving it, attention was directed to .' * ie?ent the fire reaching the adjoining building, a p-storied cottage, occupied by Greorge Crosbie. ■ jSorfcs were, however, first made by Mr. Morrison to 't into the house, and he burst open the back door, > .ihile another did the same with the front, but they «re both met by a body of flame which appeared impletely to fill the house, so that it was impossible - j render any assistance to the aged occupant, whose . "mains, frightfully burned and charred, with the

.jiwels partly protruding and with one lower limb t fTrned off to the middle of the thigh, were shortly i kt found among the smoking ruins. | The efforts of Mr. Lowe, Mr. Morrison, James t- and Frederick Freeman, with the assistance of k. Wright, and others, who supplied water and *i /Itemise aided, preserved the next house, about ' .Wive feet distant from the house on fire, from being h '.limed, although the flames caught the upper part of | -£c building, the boards of ■vvhich are considerably ■ arched, hut through the aid of the hose pipe and 5 )i buckets of water no further damage was done. 1 ijlld Margaret's house, too, exhibits evidence of the At of the water supply, for a portion of the father boarding still adhered to the uprights, the , |atside paint un blistered, although the inner part was ' |iite consumed. j After the fire had been subdued, search was made ■i p the old woman, and her body was found lying on , |h partially consumed mattress, and exhibiting the ( fostly spectacle we have described. Some years l )¥> Margaret broke her left thigh-bone, and it would that the limb had parted at the old break. H j The cause of the fire is not far to seek. Little * jJore than a quarter of an hour before Mr. Lowe saw V' Mre, Bhe had been visited by Mrs. Morrison, —who Wto look after her and see her to bed as often as l>B would allow her—for the poor old creature was ', positive and wilful. She found her filially undressed lying oil the bed; she would not , any assistance,, and after a little time, and i Mng the candle on the middle of the table, 'fe. Morrison left the house. It. is supposed that i. r Margaret had got up, or attempted to get up, soon >■' "Wards, and probably overturned the candle and J''fire to her bed-curtains,, as there was no doubt • t ' 1 ' ")e fire originated in the bedroom. • ,", (.•"W body was carried to the Pier Hotel, and h incited ,in an out-building, there to await the |,- ( 'goner's inouesj;. Margaret Eerdman, a native of d , fueshi^e, in Scotland, was about eighty years of age, '' tea was one of the oldest settlers, as well as the \'' * woman in the Province, and was much cared * ' ;i '^nd assisted by numbers of benevolent people, to ' t) "torn her sad end will cause much regret. !f I .'