The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-25 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUEST.

FRIGHTFUL CASE OF BURNING—A WOMAN
BURNT TO DEATH.
On Saturday evening at five o'clock, an inquiry cf a most
painful description was gone into by Mr. Higgs, the coro-
er for Westminster, at the Flask Tavern, Ebury-square,
Pimlico, before a jury of thirteen highly respectable gen-
tlemen, for the purpose of investigating the cause of the
death of Mrs. Hannah Burrows, aged 57. It appeared
that the unfortunate deceased was the wife of a schoolmas-
ter occupying apartments at No. 6, Flask-row, Ebury-
isquare.
Robert Burrows, the husband of tho deceased, was called
and examined. He stated that on Friday morning about
half-past seven o'clock she arose from the bed, and after
lighting the fire and making breakfast ready, she called
him shortly after eight. He got up, but after breakfast
was compelled to go to bed, owing to his feet being cold.
He had not been there long before he was alarmed by
bearing deceased scream out, " Oh, Robert, Robert, I am
on fire." The bed was in the same room, and on turning
he pc roeived the deceased's apron in flames. He jumped
out of bed, and succeeded, he thought, in effectually ex-
ti iguishing the fire, and she sat down on a chair near the
window. Shortly after she appeared in one blaze and set
the room on fire.
CoitoNEß—Wero you sober at the time? Witness—
! was:

Juror—When did you discover that she was again on
fire? When she sat down on the chair I think she fainted
away, and it was some minutes before I perceived that the
whole of her underclothing was on fire. I got hold of her
and put her on the floor, when I threw a cloak over her,
and endeavoured to extinguish it, but could not. The
fire and smoke became so great that I was almost suffo-
cated.
Juror—Was there no ono in the house to assist you ?
Witness—Yes ; and they came immediately. I gave the
alai m.

A Juror said it appeared to him that the witness had not
exerted himself as he should have done. The poor wo-
man :rust have suffered dreadfully—in fact he never saw
a more shocking sight. She was completely baked. Ad-
dressing the witness—How long was it before you called
assistance? Witness—l can't say exactly, for I was so
frightened.
Juror—Did you attempt to do anything else to extin-
guish the fire after throwing the cloak over her? Wit-
ness-1 threw over her a piece of oil-cloth, and burnt my
hands in so doing.
A Juror here requested of witness to show his hands,
which he did, but there were no burns to be seen.
CORONER—How long was it before the fire was put
out? Witness—Upwards of twenty minutes.
A Juror (to the Coroner)—lt's most extraordinary that
she could have been burning that time. There must be
grea: neglect somewhere.
The CORONER observed that the witness was thrown into
such a state of excitement at the time, that be knew not
what actually occurred.
A Juror—How long did deceased live after the flames
were got under? Witness—She was dead, Sir, long be-
fore that was done.
CORONER—When you gave the alarm, what was done ?
Witness—The landlord came up, and subsequently other
parties, and they extinguished the flames.
Mr. Bassan, the occupier of the house, said that about
nine o'clock on Friday morning he was alarmed by cries
of fire. Thinking it came from the street he opened the
window to see where it was, but seeing all was quiet, a
thought struck him that the cries were in the house, and
he immediately ran up stairs. On reaching the landing-
place of the first floor be was met by the first witness, who
was in a dreadfully excited state, and was crying out,
" Fire, fire." lie rushed into the front room, which was
full of smoke, and on fire in several parts. Under a
table in the centre of the room lay the deceased appa-
rently in the agonies cf death. Her clothes were on fire,
and it was burning fiercely about her. Witness managed to
get hold of her arm, dragged her outof the room to the top of
the stairs, where he left her, and ran down stairs to give the
alarm. He returned as soon as possible with a blanket,
and wrapped it round the deceased, but he was unable to
put the fire out; subsequently two pails of water were
brought to him, which he threw over her and it was then
extinguished. On examining the room he found the chair
upon which the deceased had been sitting burnt through.
It seemed as if her clothes had been on fire when she sat
down, as stated by her husband. The flooring of the room
in several parts was much burnt In answer to severs!
questions, witness added, that he had never seen the hus-
band or deceased intoxicated during the period that they
had lived in his house.
A Juror (to the husband)—Can you in any way account
for deceased's clothes taking fire?—Husband. No, sir, I
cannot.

Several of the jury considered that there was a mystery
about the case, and that the unfortunate deceased could
not have been burned more had there been no one in the
room.

There being no other evidence, the Coroner made some
few observations, and the jury returned a verdict, " That
the deceased, Hannah Burrows, was accidentally burned
to death."

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

MANCHESTER-FRIDAY EVENING.

There was certainly a good muster this morning, and as
certainly no business; all were offers.
THE CHESTER CUP.--100 to 10 on the field, 15 to 1
bar Bloomsbury ; the field v. 12.
THU DERBY.—I 3 to 1 were offered on the field.