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--------.-----. FEARFUL FIRE…

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FEARFUL FIRE AT SWANSEA. TWO CHILDREN BURNT TO DEATH. GALLANT CONDUCT OF A CONSTABLE. SERIOUS DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. A local addition has unfortunately been made to the long list of fires which have recently visited the country almost like an epidemic. Lower Oxford-street, Swanset, a populous neighbourhood, was, early on Sunday morning, the scene of a Catastrophe, which has cost two lives, im- perilled a third, and effected a wholesale destruction -of property. It appears that at ten minutes past one on the morning mentioned the attention of three men (P.C. Jones, F. Law- rence, and T. Collins) was attracted by a sound as of smashing glass, th8Y ueiug at the time stand- ing near the hospital in St. Helen's-road, whilst the report proceeded from Oxford-street. They hurried to the spot indicated, and upon arriving there saw smoke issuing from the shop of Mr Williams, a dealer in Birmingham and Sheffield goods, as well as in oil and other inflammable commodities. The legs of a man, who turned out to be Mr Williams himself, were seen hanging from a window on the second florr, and after despatching Collins to the Guildhall Police- station for the hose and reel, the constable assisted Williams down to the street. By this time tlii smoke had broken into flames. The men went to the back door of the house, which they succeeded in smashing open, when they met Mrs. Williams, dressel, leaving the premises, with a baby in her arms, whilst she was excitedly crying out, "Save my children." At this time one of the elder sons wat seen hanging from a window preparatory to dropping himself into the ttreet, and small voices were heard calling mother;" but Lawrence says he found it case was completely enveloped in flames. He then went round to Beach-street (Williams's shop occupies a corner and is partly in Beach-street)", and securing a broken ladder, raised it to a window in the Oxford-street side of the house. Here, however, fe<^ found to his dismay that the floor had gives if ay, and that it was impossible to obtain ingress to the premises from this situation. The rapid progress of the flames, and the know- ledge that there were a number of children in the house, created among the excited neighbours an alarm, which was somewhat appeased at this time by the arrival of the hose reel, in charge of a handful of police constables. The news of the fire had been telephoned to the various police- stations, as well as tK the house of the chief- constable, and in a Aort time there were as many as 32 policemen on the spot, P.C. Jones, before mentioned, endeavoured to crawl upstairs on his hands and knees, but the flames were too much for him, and he was compelled to retire. Wil- liams called out, "For God's sake save my children they are in the back room," and there- upou P.C. Williams raised the ladder to the Oxford-street window. On reaching the top ha saw il child, two years old, lying on tiiefloor upon its b-.ck, while the room all around it was on fire. The infant was throwing about its arms and legs as if in pain. To jump into the burning apart- ment. seize the endangered child, and to retrace his steps to the window, amounted to the work of a moment with the courageous man. "I He flames darted up all round him, out ho escaped Wiin little more ir.jurv than ilp singeing of the eyebrows, and the young life which he so timely rescued was shortly in safe custody. By this time the crowd in the street, consisting mostly of partially-dressed neighbours, was very large. The fire illuminated the whole of the surrounding locality, and the sound of falling tiles and crash- ing timber spread alarm both f r and near. Two hydrants were opened, and wdel' was discharged from three nozzles, but at the outset the pressure was most defective, the second storey being as a matter of fact beyond the reach of the water. About the time that P.C. Williams effected a rescue in the front of the premises, another constable was d>big good work elsewhere. A ladder was raised to the back of the house by P.C. Payne, with the object of searching for the other inmates, it being known that the household cons.sted of eight people, of whom only four were Understood to have Lft the premises. Owing to the distracted state in which Mr Williams wos, the police were unable to obtain from him any in- formaexon as to the whereabouts of the various meiaijers of his family. P.C. Payne first ascended the ladder at the rear, and after smashing the bedroom window he found the apartment to be in flame.?, whilst [,e saw a child lying upon the bed. Th- „ had not reached the ,v- of the bed, but it was suftigi^ pro vent I'ayne from Ciossiof the IV .Vi. He enveloped his head in a coat, but tb" i;1temity of the tire drove him baek. A wet eack was handed to him, and with this safeguard wrapped around his shoulders, he made a second attempt to reach the imperilled infant, but again he was forced to retire. It was," says Payne, in a deposition ofacially taken, "impossible to go into the room, and I rushed back." Thereupon P.O. Dee, a young stalwart officer, who has reo cently joined the force, ran up the ladder, and boldly entered the doomed bedroom, which was at this time as hot as an oven. Seizing the child, the courageous fellow hurried back to the window across the c.eaking floor, and handed it to P.Cj Parry, who was in waiting upon the ladder outside. Another child was reported to be in the room, and, notwith- standing the ferocity of the fhmes, and although his hands and face were burnt and blackened to a terrible degree, Dee again left the window and proceeded to search for yet another life. Here however, it wai shouted out that the remaining child had been rescued from the front, and as the two eldest sens had jumped from the window it appeared that all the inmates were off the premises. Thereupon Dee returned, and as by this time the flames were making rapid progress towards the adjoining property (for life had been the chief -constable's first care), the men were directed to keep the fire away from the adjacent houses. The child rescued by Dee was a boy 12 years of age, and he was taken to the hospital, where, however, he died im- mediately after admission from the effects of the injuries received. Upon the fire being finally extinguished, it was stated that there was still another boy in the house, whereupon a search was made by a couple of policemen, who found a youth of 14 dead and burnt to a cinder uuder a bed in the room from which Dee made the gallant rescue. This officer, it should be stated, was taken to the hospital in great agony, and although hi3 actual in juries are not such as to prove fatal, erysipelas is feared. Tha fire was finally ex- tinguished at three o'clock, but before that hour the house of Mr Williams had become a perfect wreck, whilst the roofs of two adjoining houses were burnt away. It was reported that a servant maid was in the house, and that she must have perished, as she was not seen to leave the building, but it appears that the young woman slept off the premises, and that she is quite safe. The origin ef the tire is unknown. CONCLUSION OF THE INQUEST. At the Swansea Hospital, on Tuesday, Mr Coroner Strick concluded the inquest opened upon the previous day into the circumstances attending the death of the two boys, Robert Charles and Ellis Williams, the former aged 14, and the latter 12, sons of Mr Robert Williams, general dealer, Oxford-street, upon whose premises the fire oc- curred early on Sunday morning. The evidence of Robert Williams was resumed. He said, in reply to the Chief-Constable, that he kept only one kind of oil in stock, and that was in the cask rolled back by the police. It was Royal Daylight" petroleum oil, which was guaranteed not to ignite in a temperature under 120. It would not ue necessary to have a license for keeping that oil. Witness formerly kept oil at No. 62, Oxford-street, where he then resided he then had a license for it, Ca; t. Colquhoun here handed in an analyst's certificate, which showed that the oil guaranteed not to explode under 120, would give off an in- flammable vapour with a temperature of 69j. P.C. William Jones said that at ten minutes past one on Sunday morning he was on duty near tho hospital, when he saw a light at Mr Wil- liams's shop in Ox;« j-d-street. He went there, and then saw Mr Williams hanging with his lags out (if a window. Ho said, For God's sake, save my children," but witness was unable to ascend the stairc.se, owing to the flames. A ch"d was ait si wards brought out of the house in front,* aud handed to another poli-reman. He then left the ladder and went to the hose. At this time the water was on in full force. He played right over the house, but he did not know wh.it the pressure was at first. By a Juryman The turncock had to be looked up -re'ore the water could be obtained. Francis Lawrence, plumber, Strand, said that about ten minuses past one Oil Sunday morning, he was on the hospital corner. When talking to the last witness lie heard some windows smashing, and they ran down together tv the house of Mr. Williams. They assisted him from the win- dow ar.d he a. terw ards saw Mrs Williams leave the house with a child in her arms. P.C. Jones sent U->!lins, another man, to the police-station for ti c reel. Witness went into the house before the arrival of the reel, but could not get up the stairs owing to the tire. Witness did not know that there were any children in the back room, otherwise, ho believed, they might have rescued them before the arrival of the reel, and when that room had not taken tiro. Witness and Collins fixed the hose to the stand- point seven minutes after the reel was sent for but there was no supply of water then. Twenty- five minutes or haif-an-hour elapsed between the time when they sent for the reel and the time when full pressure was obtained. Thomas Collins, 13, St. Helen's-crescent, plumber, said that 20 minutes transpired between the timo he left the fire for the hose-reel, and tho time when the water was obtained. Lewis Richard Lewis, of the Brookland Hotel, Oxford-street, which is immediately opposite the Bcene of the fire, gave some evidence as to seeing Mr Williams leave the premises. i P. C. Williams, who arrived at the scene of the fire at tho outset, said that a ladder was put to the first window in Oxford ttreet. P.C. Payne asked, "la there anybody inside?" when the Crowd shouted out, "Theyara all there; they are in another room further on." They moved the ladders to other windows, but were met by large bodies of fire, and then returned with the ladder to the first window in Oxford-street. Wit- &¡œ8 uw a Mild lviDa ttuoa & bad. in its uiuht- dress, throwing its arms and legs about, whilst some parts of the room were on fire. He threw himself into the apartment, and reaching the bed on hands and knees, picked up the child and con- veyed it to the window. Ho then handed it out to another constable who was on the ladder. Thay broke open the door with the end of a lad- der, and then put the ladder up to the back win- dow. Deceased ascended the ladder, and brought a child out of the room. when the crowd shouted that the other children had beeu got out elsewhere. Witness and the other constables left the spot, and directed their attention to the discharge of water. P.D. Payne, who went up the ladder before I Dee, said he saw a boy ou the bed, but the flames were such as to drive him back, although he put a coat first and subsequently a wet sack over his head. There was a supply of water upon opening the hydrants, but not an effectual supply till 15 minutes afterwards. The crowd was very excited, and it was as much as witness could do to pre- vent their pullingthe stand-pipe out of the ground. P.C. Parry said that he went up the ladder at the back of the house, followed by P.C. Dee. He was just entering the room—having one foot in- side-when Dee put his hand on his (Parry's) shoulder and got before hi:n. He then crossed the^oom, took from the bed a boy. 12 years of age, who was lying there, and brought him back and gave him to witness. The boy was then ahve. He was the ouly occupant of the bed. Dee went back to see if there were any other children in the room, whilst witness descended I the ladder with tho boy, who was carried to the hospital. Some people said that it w. all right, and that all the children were out, upou which witness and the other constables returned to the water pipes. After the fire had been extinguished, witness found the dead body of another boy (Robert Charles Williams) under the bed in this room. Robert Argent, 2, Wyndham street, turncock, said the water was supplied from the Velindre reservoir. It had been customary to turn the water off at night for years. In tho lower part of the town no water was left; on, the object being to keep sufficient pressure for the higher districts. At 1.14 on Sunday morning he was informed that a fire had occurred, and lie dressed and went out. He opened a nine-inch valve at the top of W yndham-street,and then another near Diliwyn-street. He next shut one in Richardson- street, opened one in B8ach-strect, one III Bond- street, one in Fleet-street, and one in St. Helen's- crescent, St. Helen's-avenue. He closed one in Gorse-lane, and one in Catherine-street, and one in Phillips's-parade. The effect of this wouid be to concentrate a. force of water in the neighbour- ^e^work of opening Mr Humphreys, the hospital surgeon, said that he was called at 25 miuutes to two on Sunday morning, and on reaching the surgery found the youngest of the two children, Ellis Williams, who was quite dead and terribly burnt about the upper part of the body. Death had only quite recently taken place. He thought it probable that the boy was first rendered insensible by the smoke; although he did not consider that he was suffocated. He attributed death to the burns. The other boy, Robert, was brought to the hospital quite dead, at four o'clock. The Coroner, in the course of summing up, spoke highly of the courage displayed by Police- constables Dee, Williams, Parry, and Payne. There seemed, he added, to be no clue to the origin of the fire, but he could not help thinking that a spark must have flown from the lamp in the shop when Williams extinguished it. He considered, how- ever, that the jury would not be able to say what was the origin of the fire; thay could only say that it accidentally arose. A juryman said he should like to hear the coroner say something upon the water supply. It was not right that in a populous town like S wansea a long time should elapse before water Could be obtained. In reply to the Coroner, tho turncock said that a fresh arrangement with respect to the supply of water was about to be made. The Coroner remarked that the jury could append to their verdict a recommendation as to the supply of water. If sufficient pressure had been obtained, the two lives lost might have been saved. The Jury, after deliberating for about a quarter of an hour, returned the following verdict The two boys came to their death by fire, the s-v.d fire, according to the evidence produced, resulting from accident. The police lose no time in con- necting the different appliances for extinguishing the fire, but the jury regret the great delay which occurred in getting a full force of water, as had a full force been obtained the two lives might have been saved. The jury wish to compliment the police, and Mr Lawrence and Mr Collins, on the way in which they aded, and would make special mention of P.C.'s Dec and Williams, the former of whom, at the risk of his own life, performed a most daring and heroic act in the cause of humanity,"

--------------_.-THE WELSH…

THE STRANDING OF A SWANSEA…

[No title]

CARDIFF.

LLANDAFF. j1

PENARTH. Ii

MONMOUTH.

TINTERX.

PONTYPOOL.

----LYDNEY.

----------CRUMLIN.

----BRIDGEND.

NEWPORT.

ABERGAVENNY.

DOWLAIS.

MERTHYR.

MOUNTAIN ASH.

.... SWANSEA.

HAVERFORDWEST.

PEMBROKE.

--------BURRY PORT.

--BRECON.

PONTYPRIDD.

VAYNOR.

ACCIDENT to17ADY~CASTLE- <…

j CARDIFF AS A TIMBER PORT.

RIVAL COFFEE TAVERN PROPRIETORS.

--------NEWPORT"TOWN"COUNCIL.

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WRECK OF A CAPvDIFtf STEAMER.

---..-----"----.--THE NORTH…