THE WELLINGTON FIRE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10503, 26 November 1901, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON FIRE.

Death of one of the Injured jj Boarders.

Theatricals in Distress.

(Per United Press Association.') _^_ WELLINGTON, November 25.-

William Crawford, one of those who escaped from the Oriental Hotel this morning, died in the Hospital to-night from shock. The unfortnnate man was discovered wandering about the streets half a mile away from the fire about ah hour after it broke out, apparently bereft. He was conducted to the Central Police Station, and after his burns had been dressed by a surgeon, was conveyed to" the Hospital.

The following, offices hold risks onthe buildings affected by fire as reinsurance :—lmperial,: — Imperial, Victoria, Australian Alliance, Liverpool, London and Globe, Phoenix, Norwich Union, Royal Exchange, Manchester, Northern.

The known insurances are £12,500.

All members of the theatrical companies who were staying at the place lost their entire wardrobes, and there are many pitiable cases of distress amongst them.

A benefit performance on their behalf will be given at the Opera House on Saturday afternoon.

The following details are from last evening's Post: —

TRIALS OF THE INMATES. From the first moment of the raising of the fire alarm in the hotel the scene became one that is beyond description. Women screamed and men shouted, 'the great majority of the inmates entirely lost their presence of mind, and pande^ monium prevailed. " It is generaßy~ agreed that the fire began in the centre of the house, and -it would appear to have spread first along the middle floor, upon which there were many sleepers. Then the flames, which travelled with great rapidity, ran to the top floor, and persons who had rushed to the front of the house in their search for means of escape found, on turning back, that a wall of fire barred their way. A way of escape was improvised for one party of eight persons from a bedroom overlooking the Geisha tea-rooms. Mr Arthur Law," who occupied that room, with a friend, was awakened by the entrance into the room of several frenzied people seeking to get" through it into Wifii3 Street, which the room overlooked. The young men helped several people down a rope into the street. Among those rescued was a woman, who was clad in her nightdress only. One man who came into the room could not patiently await his turn at the rope, and strove to go back to another part of the building. But Mr Law and his friend, seeing the flames in the passage, forcibly detained him, and eventually grot him into the street.

SOME TeIbXLHNG ESCAPES. " By this time the other inmates of the hotel, not finding the ordinary means for escape, were getting out of the furnace in the speediest manner. Sparelyclad men and women leaped from windows without looking where the leap would take them. They did not hes£ tate to jump from 1 the third story, and irtth shrieks which were awful to hear would .let themselves go into space. Some broke their falls upon the roofs of the outhouses, and so got to the. ground safely. The marvel is thatr^--many who took such leaps in the dark should have escaped without broken limbs. Mr Blanchard jumped from the top floor into the backyard, without injury. As it was, there were not a few twisted ankles and wrenched wrists.

Messrs J. D'Arcy, Wm. Crawford, and Charles Bell were those most seriously injured as the result of landing awkwardly after their jumps. Mr Bell, who is * son of -Mr James Bell, of the Ada Delroy Company, jumped from one landing in the hotel to the lower floor, and fell upon his head, inflicting such injuries that he had to be taken to the Hospital.

REFUGEES' EXPERIENCES. As seen from Boulcott Street, the scene was startling in the extreme. The flames drove most of the inmates towards the back of the premises, and as they got away both men and women clambered up the face of the bank, which was exceedingly rough to the feet, and, even in daylight, presents a difficult climb. Some who escaped that . way reached Boulcott Street, and found refuge in houses there. Others clambered along the face of the bank, and passed several back yards of shops until they came to a ladder which provided - a convenient means of getting once more to the street level. By this means a number of men and women, most of whom were clothed only in night dresses, reached the back of Mr Richard Brown's premises. Some were taken in and attended to hospitably by the proprietors of the Welcome Restaurant, and others went on to the Britannia Hotel, where they were well treated. The morning was bitterly cold, and the women who had thus escaped were bleeding from feet and hands, having been cut and bruised during their exciting clamber over the rqeky banks. ,^ THEATRICAL SUFFERERS. .^& Quite a number of theatrical people were staying jn the Qrietnal Hotel last night, and nearly all sayed little but the clothes they went to bed in: The inmates included members of the Ada Delroy Company, the Empire Specialty Company, the Waldorf Dramatic Company,- and the Dix Gaiety CompanyMr Packer, who had been staying fqr some time at the hotel with his daughter, who sings with the Empire Company under the name of Miss Beryl Gilman, had felt nervous, abqufc the safety of the hptel, an 4 had .node up his' mind to seek .fresh and safer quarters this week. A member of the Delroy Company escaped in a pair of trqua<-ra and singlet only, and lost all his belongings. One of the Empire Company, - when alarmed, hastily put on a pair o.f trousers and seized another pair, and got into the street. His wife did pot stay to gather up anything, being thankful to get away clothed as ahe was in nightdress only, COOL CUSTOMERS. Several young men, noted in town as being always well dressed, stayed to put 'on collars and ties, and appeared to-day as natty as ever, though they had .lost many suits of clothes hetweon them. One was accounted very lucky because he had been, cool enough to carry off three of his suits of clothes. One of the party had a favourite deg, and just as its owner was getting out of the window the dog whined, Going back, the young man got the dog, end threw it out into the arms of a roliceman in Willis Street. -A numoer of bookmakers were boarders in the ht.tel, and it is reported that they all succeeded in escaping with their "books. 1 ' THE ORIENTAL AS A BAD RHK. When Superintendent Hugo took charge of the Wellington Fire Brigade he visited the prinoipal buildings «of . the city and all the hotels. One of th<^f first places that struck him as be ; cg_ - dangerous for inmates was the Oriental Hotel. Its intricate passages and jack of means of escape made it what b& termed "a bad risk." When he was appointed Fire Inspector for the city under last year's Municipal Corporations Act, Superintendent Hugo remembered this fact, and the owners of the Oriental Hotel were the second proprietary to be served with a notice that they must provide proper means of escape ill case of fire. He informs us that at the time of the fire the hotel had not been equipped with the proper facilities. It would be well if the owners of other hotels in the city that have not been brought up to date in the matter of fire-escapes now made some haste in supplying the need. A member of the Fire Brigade who lived in the Oriental at the time of the outbroal, found the fire-escape in flames when he sought an outlet this morning, and he was one of those who took a leap in the dark and came a .nasty croapcr. But he managed to climb up to Boulcott Street, and was able to take part in the operations with his comrades. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. Mrs Watson, licensee of the Oriental, is a serious loser by the fire. She had the whole of Saturday's takings in Ver room at the time of the outbreak, and 'in her efforts to rouse the people in the ' house and get them safely away &he lost the opportunity of saving ths money, or any of her effects. In fact, Mrs Watson had a narrow escape, like so many others, in getting away alive. i Whilst Mr Wynn Williams was making his way to the fire this morning he met a stranger wandering about in a pitiable state near _ the Government railway station. The man was apparently bereft of his senses with excitement, but indicated that he_ had es- <a, caped.from the fire. Mr Williams took him to the Police Station, where Dr"^: Henry was called in. The doctor dressed *" the burns and wounds of the unfortunate man, who was in such a serious plight that- he was taken to the Hospital in an ambulance. Inquiries show that the stranger was Mr Crawford, blacksmith, of Masterton.

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