The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-21 00:00:00

THE FATAL FIRE AT GREENWICH-
ADJOURNED INQUEST.

Yesterday afternoon, at 1 o'clock, Mr. Y. C. Cart-
tar, coroner for west Kent, resumed the inquiry, at
the Rose and Crown Tavern, Greenwich, into the
origin of the late fatal fire at Greenwich.
Mr. F. Scudamore, solicitor, and Mr. E. Lendon,
secretary to the Kent Fire Insurance Company, at-
tended to watch the proceedings on behalf of the
company; and Mr. Ingle, solicitor, appeared on
behalf of Mr. Roper.
The court was, as on previous occasions, occupied
by large numbers of respectable inhabitanti of the
district, and the coronercommenced the proceedings
by observing that on the last occasion the inquiry
was adjourned at his own request in order to secure
the attendance of a most important witness. lie
had seen this witness, but from circustances which
had transpired he believed it would be necessary to
have other persons in attendance, and he should,
therefore, be compelled to adjourn the inquiry until
5 o'clock.

The coroner and jury rQassembled at the hour
named, when the following witnesses were exa-
mined :

Mr. B. Savage deposed—l am landlord of the
Saracen's Head Inn, St. John's-street, Bedford. On
the evening of Friday, Oct. 1, about half-past 6
o'clock, a man whom I did not know came to my
house and asked for a bed. He was told he could
be accommodated, and he then asked for a sheet of
note paper and an envelope, with which he was
supplied ; and he then sat down and wrote a letter,
which he went out and posted before he went to
bed. He slept at my house on that night, and on
the following morning he came down stairs about
8 o'clock and called for a glass of ale, which he
drank off, and then left the house. The man was
attired in a suit of dark clothes, was about 5 ft. 10
inchesin height, had sandy whiskers, and from his
general appearance I thought he was a traveller.
By the Coroner—l know a person at Bedford
named Layton. He is a boat-builder, but was not at
my house on that night. I had no conversation with
the man. At the time I took him the sheet of note
paper I also took him a newspaper. It was either
the News of the World or the Devonshire Indepen-
dent, as these are the only two papers I take. My
house is the first from the railway station in which
beds are let. I have seen several persons who have
been pointed out to me at Greenwich this day, but
have not identified the man who slept at my house.
This man used the tap-room, and as he did not
answer quickly when spoken to, I considered that
he was deaf.
By Mr. Ingle—l remember your coming to my
house. You read a letter, which you said had been
received from George Layton, Saracen's Head, Bed-
ford. You also said that you had seen the chief
officer of the police. Since I saw you at Bedford,
this officer has called twice at my house, but had
received no information about such a person as
" George Layton."
Elizabeth Waterfall, servant, in the employ oj
Mr. Roper, was now recalled, and deposed that
four gas burners were on her master's premises,
viz., two in the shop, one in the parlour, and one in
a back room. She remembered that one of the glass
bells over a burner in the shop was broken by the
shopboy. This took place on Friday evening, eight
days before the fire. It was the glass belonging to
the burner over the counter.

By the Jury7—When aroused from my bed by the
fire I opened the door and saw a mass of flames at
the bottom of the bed. After I went upstairs to bed.
I did not return to fetch anything. The door of
my room was blistered with the heat inside. My
arm was burnt by opening the door, but I scarcely
know how it was done.

Robert Monis, shopboy, in the service of Mr.
Roper, was re-examined, and deposed that a glass
bell belonging to a gas burner over the counter in
his master's shop was broken about a month before
the fire: No other glass was purchased for this
burner.

By Mr. Ingle—l was in the habit of cleaning the
glass bells, and after doing so they were placed in
a bin. On one occasion when I took the glasses
from the bin for use I found that one was broken.
This was about a month before the fire.
By the Coroner—l do not think that I had
cleaned the glasses during a fortnight before the fire.
At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Inspector
Barry was sent to the residence of Mr. Allwright,
appraiser, Lewisham-road, to request his attend-
ance for the purpose of explaining a portion of his
former evidence. On his return Inspector Barry
stated that he was unable to find Mr. Allwright.
The Coroner—lt is too bad that he gives us so
much trouble, and apparently keeps out of the way.
We went to him thr2e tim2s yezterday, but he was
apt to :Jo found.

This being the whole of the evidence, the coroner
proceeded to sum up the case to the jury. He must
first direct attention to the fact that the fire took
place on the 12th Sept. The inquest on the bodies
of the two children who were burnt to death took
place on the next day, and the jury .would remem-
ber that at that time no suspicion, hatever attached
to Mr. Roper, but, on the contrary, the sympathy
of the public was generally expressed for him on
account of the bereavement he had sustained. The
inquest was then adjourned for a week, and during
that period he (the coroner) received such informa-
tion as had subsequently led to repeated adjourn-
ments, and grave suspicions against Mr. Roper.
The evidence given by the witnesses Cowell, sen.,
and Abbott, was most contradictory, and it was per-
fectly clear that they had endeavoured to keep back
the truth. When Mr. Roper was first examined,
he stated most distinctly that the whole of his fur-
niture had been consumed, but it was soon found
that a very. large amount of property had been re-
moved daily before the fire to the house of Cowell,
and that other valuable property had been pawned.
The very day after the fire took place a most com-
plete inventory of goods alleged to have been con-
sumed was made out by Mr. Allwright, at Mr.
Roper's dictation, and this document was actually
concocted at the house of Cowell, and the property
remaining at Cowell's house, in addition to that
pawned, was included in the inventory as having
been consumed at the fire. After referring to the
large amount of stock claimed for, as compared to
that consumed, the coroner alluded to many incidents
of the case which were certainly suspicious. The
jury wouldremembcr that a writing-desk had been
removed from Roper's house. This desk remained
at the house of Mrs. Cook, Roper's sister. It had been
sealed by Police-Inspector 'Wilson, and yet Roper
had thought proper to open the desk and remove its
contents without the presence of anY- competent
witness. With regard to the statement made by
Roper that ft few days before the fire a strang4 had
called and paid him £2 on account of the bush res s,
it certainly did appear strange that a man who
' knew nothing of a business should agree to pay
£l3O for it. The letter sent from Bedford, and
purporting to be from the man who paid this money,
has thrown no light upon the subject ; and if such
a man was in existence, why did he not come for-
ward and prove a matter of so much importance ?
It was near midnight before the coroner com-
pleted his review of the evidence.