The Inquest on the Late Fire.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2032, 18 February 1887, Page 2

The Inquest on the Late Fire.

The following is the conclusion of the inquest held last Tuesday on the fire at Mr Moriarty’s Greytown shop. Mrs Jorgensen was recalled by Mr GraySaid she remembered Mr Moriarty speaking to her about some £3O deficiency in January 1886, either in cash or stock ; he said he would take the books away and see to it ; she remembered writing to him shortly after (some time in January, 1886) about it ; she did not get a reply, but the next time she saw him he said it was all right; was quite sure the amount of the supposed deficiency was not reduced to £7 ; she said she went to Carterton to see Moriarty just one week after the fire occurred ; after the fire Moriarty said there was £4B short; he did not say £6O; she handed him a book showing all the book debts; he had not seen my book before he said there was an amount short; she got stock in from Moriarty every month ; there was not a great increase in the stock at the time Moriarty increased his insurance ; Fairbrother was not above five or ten minutes examining the stock when he came down to see it ; be at that time looked over her stock book ; when she left Moriarty’s employ she had no quarrel with him ; be said the day before that she was £6O short, and did she not know she was short; she left because she would not stop with any one who thought she had cheated them. She often put memos of cash sales on rough slips of paper, some of these rough slips wore burned at the time of the fire. She had no proper cash box, but sometimes put money belonging to the shop in a box by itself; sometimes left bank notes on a shelf in the shop. To Mr Tate—She said she received stock in August to the amount of £4O, in Bept £6O, aud the following month to the amount of , £4O.

Mr Jorgensen, in bis evidence, said he had nothing to do with the conduct of the business while his wife was in charge ; he went messages occasionally in his leisure time, and once looked after the shop for a week while las wife was in town ; his wife had an interest in properties in Wellington and in England, and at the time of the lire only owed a tew monthly accounts, about £l2; so they were practically out of debt Captain James Maguire, of the Fire Brio gade, gave some evidence as to bis services at the tire, and some amusement was caused when the detective asked him accidentally whether the captain of the Brigade meant the branchman.

Mr Gray, for the defence, addressed the Coroner and jury, contending that they could only come to one conclusion, and that was, that the fire was the result of a pare accident, and the only serious danger done was by the overszealous firemen who turned the hose on the stock in the shop after the fire bad been extinguished ; be said that the police who are ever ready to come to the conclusion that a person is b scoundrel because a fire occurs upon his or her premises, of course were only too eager an d ready to hunt up everything that would tend to throw suspicion upon Mrs Jorgensen, who, it had been clearly proved, bad everything to lose and nothing to gain by the accident. The insurance companies, who are always anxious to do business, are generally smitten with the same idea as the active and intelligent member of the police force. Note how the detective who had just examined the last witnesses, hammered away about the boots lying upon the floor, a circumstance, which no doubt to his mind was so very important, but which in fact was only the natural result of the strings being burned by the fire which spread over the walls. Because Mr Moriarty could not show that the value of the stock for which he was insured was upon the premises alter the fire, one would think by his evidence that he would leave it to be inferred that the young woman abstracted his goods, and stuck to his money ; he was inclined to think that Mr Moriarty’a considerable foresight in coming to such a conclusion, as he did before seeing the books, might stand in good stead perhaps some day. It would be extraordinary for any one to assume that this young woman would attempt to set fire to the place at a time when so many people were sure to be at band; all the circumstances went to show that an accident bad happened, all tbe materials of evidence that would tend to convict a guilty person were removed from tbe locality of the outbreak ; there were tbe books in which tbe record of the sales were kept; they were preserved ; if an act of incendiarism bad been premeditated these books would certainly have been placed in such a way that the fire could have destroyed them at the commencement, but all the materials that could be used against tbe woman had been carefully preserved by herself ; the police in the exercise of their duty had been raking up all sorts of evidence ; they knew what the breath of scandal meant, and in small places people could always be found who are fond of scandal and gossip. Mr Tate addressed the Court on behalf of his client and quoted the figures already given in the evidence to prove that Mr Moriarty had good grounds for his assumption that there was a deficiency. The Coroner, in summing up, reviewed the evidence at great length ; he said that there was a great deal in what Mr Gray said he endorsed ; but there was very much he could not concur with ; he said that the Insurance Companies had every right to have any cases of suspicion thoroughly investigated ; he thought Coroner’s juries would soon be abolished ; he considered the police of New Zealand were a credit to the colony, and their efforts to do their duty should be recognised ; he had no doubt by tbe attitude of tbe jury that they had made up their minds as to the verdict they wouldgive ; he then asked the jury to retire. The Coroner made the foregoing remarks in reference to tbe jury, because Mr Gray called his attention to the fact that they were not following His Wotship's observations. The foreman said they were discussing the matter of tbe necessity or otherwise of Mr Wood’s evidence. After an absence of a few minutes, tbe jury returned the open verdict already reported.