HEROIC MOTHER.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12469, 19 February 1909, Page 3

HEROIC MOTHER.

... p!he Newcastle i coroner and jury expressed their .high' appreciation of tte c/ourage. displayed by the mother of a "child on whom an inquest" was being meld. : .'■■" •" ■ : , [ The child, William Barnes, five years old, had been playing with twt ! -younger children in the attic of a tenemenj. house, while Mrs Barnes was occupied downstairs. . The boy had .found ..two matches, and striking them, said he would burn the tail oi a kitten -with whicw.they were play- : The /kitten feluded the i boy \arid he accidentally set fire; to the bed. He tried to extinguish the flames with his ?a\i * f -*J led » and the room rapidly filled with smoke.. The children's screams brought Mrs Barnes upstairs! After two. attempts she succeeded m removing the' two younger children to safety: She was driven back bj the.jsmoke, and; she called on pas-sers-by for assistance. • A number ol persons attempted to enter the room but , they, too, were compelled to re^ tire._ Efforts .: at- rescue were' alsc made by a. policeman. _, A _fireman ; entered the attic and found the child dead in a cradle A verdict .-pf "Death from burns accidentally received," was returned, and- Mrs Barnes and a fireman named l^avanagh were highly praised f OI their courage. ■-, -