LIFE FOR A LOVE TOKEN

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8162, 9 November 1904, Page 2

LIFE FOR A LOVE TOKEN

■ . « TWO GIRLS PERISH IN SAVING TRIFLES. i , . . . Two young, girls lost their lives in a fire at Crouch End, London, on Saturday, August 27, in the most deplorable circumstances. Both had ample) notice of the outbreak, and were seen in the street watching tha flames. Both went, back to the burning houses— one, a shop assistant, to rescue her bicycle, and the other, a sert vant girl, for her engagement ring. Neither was seen again alive. It was not until three hours too late that some friends of one of the girls arrived, and, failing to find her, instilled a doubt in the minds of the-police and the firemen. Three houses were then a wreck, with the walls toppling ; and, as the charred beams. : cooled; firemen made a risky search, and ■ on the first floor of No. 41, Tkpsfield ! Parade, where ,the ' fire originated; they found the dead bodies of Nancy Newton, ' aged twenty-two, the shop assistant, and of Ida Woods, aged twenty, the maid. • Both. were close", together, and' had shared a terrible death. But though their fa^es were blackened and scorched, and their clothing burnt off, it was mercifully evident .that they died of asphyxiation, and that, finding their retreat cut off, by the stone staircase, which had become a chimney of flame, they retreated into the dining-room, and fell to the floor, made unconscious by tha thick, yellow smoke. , . RETURNED TO DIE. Above and below them, the firefnes were working hard with hoses, and outside was a crowd of thousands, all unconscious of j human lives being at stake. ' | At about five o clock on Saturday after- - noon, when the Parade and the Broadway were thronged with suburban shoppers, a i fire broke out in the boilt-out kitchen of No. 41, Topsfield Parade. The cause of ' it was unknown, but the first alarm was given by Ida Woods, the servant maid, who j returned to die. «; „ : . ! The shop assistants rushed, into the j Parade at the alarm, and locked the shop door at a time when the premises were not actually threatened,. Tja. the excitement of the monien^ the return of the two girls to the. burning house was overlooked. Not till later was it known that Miss Newton j had gone back for her bicycle, and that Ida ■ Woods, last seen on the leads of the built- '. out kitchen at the back, had shonted to a. friend that she had left herringjupstairs. This must have been when- the Hornsey Brigade was coupling up ite hoses. The fire spread with incredible swiftness, and in half < an hour both of Mr Moi-ley's shops, which communicated, were aflame from top to bot r torn,. Mr JliWyat-d'jS premises caught from the roof wd hvtn&d downwards, in .spite of tons of water directed on it from dozens of hoses. , k , . Once again the handyman proved^ Jus right to the proud title. -A seaman of the RpyaV Navy home on furlough, worked hard in saving the goods, and later, diverting himself of hat, coat, shirt and boots, "tinned '> up the longest fire-escape with great agUity and helped the firemen to play Upon th.B incandescent mass below.