BURNED TO DEATH.
(BY TELEGRAPH. — PRESS ASSOCIATION.)
Dunedin, this day.
A fire broke out in a three-roomed tenement in Castle-street, shortly after 11 o'clock last night, and resulted in Margaret Leary, the sole occupant, being burned to death before assistance could reach her. The place was a semi-detached cottage owned by Mr Keas. Deceased was about 35 years of age and was not of very temperate habits, and there seems little doubt she was drinking last night. On returning home she must have gone to the middle room of the three and lain down upon the bed; this room was a bedroom. Behind that was the kitchen and front room tolerably comfortably furnished as a sitting-room. The brigade extinguished the fire before any harm was done to the tenement adjoining. Deceased's half of the building was quite gutted, and on penetrating to the bedroom the firemen found the body of the woman lying on what seemed to be a quantity of straw bedding, the bedstead having given way under her body, and she was shockingly burned, the head and shoulders being completely charred up, also legs below the knees. A fragment of the lamp was found in the bedroom and it was probably by the upsetting of this that the fire occurred. The cottage was insured for £100 in the South British. -Auckland Star, 19/3/1889.
THE FATAL FIRE IN CASTLE STREET.
INQUEST.
An inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Margaret Leary, who was burnt to death on Monday night, in Castle street, was held at the Bowling Green Hotel yesterday afternoon, before Mr Coroner Carew and a jury of six, of whom Mr J. Sherwin was chosen foreman.
Geo. Bawden, labourer, residing in Filleul street, deposed that he identified the body on view as that of Margaret Leary; he identified it by the jacket. He last saw deceased wearing the jacket at about a quarter to 10 o'clock on Monday night in Hanover street. A woman named Brown was there with her. Witness spoke to deceased, and she was under the influence of liquor, but quite capable of taking care of herself. Witness had known deceased for about 11 years. They came out in the Ayrshire from London together. Witness had seen her every week since. He believed her to be an unmarried woman. She was kept for the last year or so by a sailor on board the s.s. Kakanui. It was only during the last seven or eight weeks that she had taken to drink. No one lived with her. Her daughter ran away from home.
Alice Brown, residing in Scotland street, deposed that she knew the deceased, but not very intimately. She met her on Monday night at another person's house, and walked home with her, remaining in her house about 15 or 20 minutes. She left the house a little before 10 o'clock, There was nobody in the house when she left it, but the deceased, who appeared to have had a little drink, but was not incapable. When witness left the house deceased was sitting in the front room. There was a kerosene lamp in the room, but no fire. The deceased lit the lamp and wound the clock up after they went into the house. They had some beer in the house together. The deceased opened a bottle, but they did not drink all of it. They had no drink together before. The deceased was quite capable of walking home by herself. Witness had known the deceased ever since she landed in the colony, but was never intimate with her. Deceased was drinking owing to some family trouble, Witness thought that the trouble was about deceased's daughter.
Geo. Bawden, recalled, stated that ho thought the deceased was born in the county of Cork, and was about 35 years of age.
Henry Moffatt, ironmonger, residing in Leith street, deposed that he noticed the fire between halfpast 11 and 12 o'clock on Monday night. He was standing near Alexander's, the butcher, in Hanover street, when he saw some smoke. He thought it arose from some rubbish burning in the hospital grounds, but when he got to the hospital he discovered there was no fire there. He subsequently went over to Castle street, where he saw flames coming out of a house. There was no one about, and he thought the house was empty. He knocked up the people next door, and they told him that some one had been in the house that night singing. A woman then came down the right-of-wav and informed him that there was some one in the house. He then went round to the back, and was going to open the door, but he feared to do so as the place was all in flames inside, and the draught would cause them to come through. He subsequently went to the house next to the one which was burnt; it was full of smoke, but there seemed to be no one in it. He lit a match and crawled in a little way on his knees, and then came out. A fireman afterwards burst the door of the house that was burning open. There was a good bit of the house burnt before the crowd gathered, and the flames had a good hold before witness got to the house.
Robert Robertson, superintendent of the City Fire Brigade, deposed that the alarm of fire was received at the station at about a quarter-past 11 o'clock. The brigade hastened to the scene of the fire, and the place was all in flames when they got to it. After the fire was all put out witness entered the back part of the premises, and went through the building. There were three rooms in it— a kitchen, bedroom, and a parlour, with a passage running through from the street door. On entering the bedroom witness immediately discovered the body of the deceased, lying face downwards, partly on the bed, which was level with the floor. The body was perfectly naked, the clothes having apparently been burnt away. From the position of the body, witness did not think the deceased had been in bed. After discovering the body he immediately sent for the police, into whose charge he gave it. He could not see what caused the fire, but it evidently broke out in the bedroom.
To the Foreman: Witness did not notice any remnants of a kerosene lamp or any candles.
To the Coroner: When the Fire Brigade arrived at the scene of the fire the front door was a little open, and the back door was burst open afterwards.
Sergeant O'Neill deposed that he was on duty at the fire in Castle street on Tuesday morning, when the last witness called his attention lo a dead body lying in the centre room of the building. It was that of a female. The lower part of the body was naked, the clothing evidently having been burnt off. There was a pair of corsets and a slip-body on the body. Witness removed the body to the place where it was shown to the jury. The feet of the deceased were burnt away from the ankles, and portions of the body were considerably burnt. The left hand was burnt away and the right hand partly so. The flesh of the face was also partly burnt away. It would be impossible for a person to live with such injuries. He knew the woman Margaret Leary, but he could not recognise the body on view as hers. He knew that the woman lived in the house that was burnt. He was speaking to her about six weeks ago, and she told him that she was kept by a man on board of one of the boats, but he did not remember which.
The Coroner, in addressing the jury, said there was no reason to suspect that the fire originated from any other than an accidental cause. Possibly the woman, from the state she was in, left the lamp in an unsafe position or capsized it. It seemed pretty certain, at any rate, that the fire originated from the lamp.
The Jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased was burnt to death by a fire; but there was no evidence to show how the fire originated. -Otago Daily Times, 20/3/1889.
Margaret Leary lies in Dunedin's Northern Cemetery.
No comments:
Post a Comment