The Port Chalmers Fire.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 3565, 24 August 1907, Page 2

The Port Chalmers Fire.

SOLE SURVIVOR’S STORY. (By Telegraph--Press Association.) Dunedin, Last Night. The adjourned inquest concerning the deaths of Ruby Haberlicld and Jacob Taicki, her infant son, victims of the fatal lire at Port Chalmers, on July 7, was resumed to-day, having been previously adjourned so that the sole survivor of the tragedy, Wm. Ilabcrfield, might be available. Habcrfield stated that at five a.m. on July 7 he and bis wife discovered that the house was on fire. She told him, be being the strongest to jump out and she could throw the children to him. She caught her little boy in her arms and said, “For God’s sake, jump out quickly.’’ It was an old window, and the sash would not remain up unless propped, so he jumped right through it. The Coroner: Didn’t you think that you might break your neck or otherwise render yourself incapable ol helping your wife and children? Witness: I was dazed from being suddenly awakened from a quiet sleep. My wife stood by the window, holding her little boy, and the little girl clung to her. Continuing, witness said be landed on his hands and feet. There was no one about. He shouted for help and looked up, but could see no one at the window. He called to his wife to throw out the children and to follow herself, but there was no reply. He then clambered back up the side of the house. He was half crazy, but remembered putting bis foot through the glass of a lower window in his ascent. He reached the window from which he had jumped, and everything seemed red hot. His little girl was lying on her face close to the window. He caught her up and dropped her out, shouting for someone to catch her. He thought someone might have arrived by then. There was a door leading to another room, and seeing no trace of bis wife or child, he thought she had gone to the winflow in that room. The place was a mass of (lames, but he fought his way in. He could see nothing, and blinded and scorched, returned to the bedroom, where the liames gradually beat him back to the window, through which he fell. He did not remember anything else till brought out of his swoon.

Other evidence showed that by the time the police and lire brigade arrived on the scene there was absolutely no chance of rescuing the inmates, who were at first believed to have escaped. The jury found that the victims were accidentally burned to death, but there was no evidence to show how the lire had been caused.