DEATHS
ISBISTER. — On May 31, 1931, at Greymouth (result of an accident), David Frederick (Percy), son of Eliza and the late David Isbister, of Maori Hill (late of Central Otago); aged 29 years. -Otago Daily Times, 1/6/1931.
GREYMOUTH HOTEL TRAGEDY
FOUR MEN SUFFOCATED
OTHER BOARDERS BARELY ESCAPE
[Per United Press Association.] GREYMOUTH, May 31. A disastrous fire occurred in the Union Hotel at 5.30 a.m., resulting in the loss of four lives. The names of the deceased are as follow: —
DAVID ISBISTER, aged twenty-nine, a railway fireman, formerly of Maori Hill, Dunedin.
WILLIAM HADDOCK, aged twenty-nine, railway linesman, formerly of Petone.
PATRICK PHELAN, aged twenty-nine, a barman.
EDMUND RYAN, aged forty-one, a bushman.
There were ten inmates of the building, all of whom were sleeping in the upper story.
Mr James Collogan, the proprietor, and his wife and daughter escaped through a window to an adjoining roof, and the housemaid, Mary Southern, by means of a rope, escaped through a window on the opposite side.
John Cosgrove, a railway shunter, and Michael Deere, a waterside worker, had narrow escapes, being burned slightly before getting through windows. Deere opened the door of his room, and, meeting a blast of flame, he turned and jumped out of the window to the ground with his night attire afire. Cosgrove’s hair was singed off.
The alarm was given by the fire brigade superintendent, Mr Patrick Deere, whose house adjoins the hotel, and the brigade made a wonderful save of most of the building.
It was thought that everybody was out, but after the fire had been mastered it was found that the bodies of Isbister and Phelan were in a passage in the upper story. One lay at either end, indicating that each of the victims had groped towards an exit.
Ryan’s body was in a front room, from which he had sought to escape. Haddock’s body was beside his bed.
All the victims had evidently been suffocated, except Phelan, whose body was considerably burned.
The structure, a wooden one, was insured for £1,200 in the Phoenix Company, and for £600 in tho South British Company. The stock was insured for £400 in the Phoenix Office, and the furniture for £224 in the same company and for £274 in the South British Company.
Two boarders, William Baker, a motorman, and William Ryall, and also a member of the staff, Miss Belle Irvine, were absent from the hotel last night, being out of town, while Thomas Donovan, a boarder, was sleeping in a cottage at the rear.
The doors at the ends of the passage on the upper story were unlocked, and the victims had evidently been partly overcome in their rooms. Isbistor and Ryan shared a room, and Phelan and Haddock shared another, both at the top of the stairs. Deere, in escaping, narrowly missed a fence.
[Mr Isbister was a son of the late Mr David Isbister and Mrs Isbister, of Maori Hill. He entered the railway engine sheds in Dunedin, and later served at Balclutha, Wellington, and Ward, being transferred to Greymouth some eight or nine months ago. He was employed as a driver until recently, but reverted to the position of fireman under the retrenchment scheme lately put into operation by the department. He was a member of the Star Football Club in Greymouth. Mr Isbister is survived by his mother, four brothers, and a married sister.] -Evening Star, 1/6/1931.
IN MEMORIAM
ISBISTER. — In loving memory of our dear sons and brothers, David Frederick, who lost his life in the Greymouth fire, May 31, 1931; also Robert Victor, who passed away at Palmerston, January 28, 1932. "At rest.” — Inserted by their loved ones. -Otago Daily Times, 31/5/1932.
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