RESCUED FROM FLAMES

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1935, Page 4

RESCUED FROM FLAMES

CHILD IN BLAZING HOUSE CRIPPLE SINCE EARLY YEARS. FATHER’S DASH THROUGH INFERNO BUILDING TOTALLY DESTROYED. By Telegraph-Press Association. Auckland, Jan. 11. A crippled boy was rescued with difficulty from a blazing house at Ponsonby this morning. The house was owned by Mr. O. W. Hughes and contained his wife and five children, the youngest boy, aged nine, who has been crippled since he was aged two. His parents were sleeping in a front room, two girls in a bedroom across the hall and the three boys in a third bedroom. The father was awakened by a noise and went towards the boys’ room. He was met by a sheet of flame through which he dashed to find a tongue of flame coming tlirough the wall close behind his crippled son’s head. All the boys were asleep. He carried the cripple and hurried the others out of the house, at the same time calling to his wife and daughters. His wife tried to telephone the fire brigade, but was prevented by the flames. The house was doomed by the time the family reached the road. The family saved nothing except an aviary containing canaries and budgerigars. The sum of £9 which the father had hidden under a mattress was lost. The house was insured for £6OO and the furniture for £2OO with the Yorkshire Company.