The Beltana Tragedy
It is easy to understand why house fires were common with such materials as bag being used in construction. Dried out by the sun from the outside and the heat from the chimney inside, they were susceptible to the merest spark.
It was a house such as this in which the tragic death of the Johnson family occurred. No-one recorded the details of the accident at the time and so the story has been handed down by word of mouth.
The result is that there are some variations in details of what first caused the fire and on the reason why so many members of the family perished in it.
Mr James Hencher reported that at about seven o'clock that morning he thought he saw Mrs Johnson some twenty yards from her house trying to light a fire. Shortly afterwards his wife called to him that Mrs Johnson's place was on fire. When he rushed over the house was in flames with two females outside. Mr Peter Doig was also there, but the two men were unable to do anything to save the house. At the back of the house the Johnsons had a small out house and the men salvaged what they could from that. The two men then returned to the front of the main house from where, as the wind had changed, they could see the bodies of three children on the floor, but could do nothing to help them. Mr Doig reported the fire to the police and Sergeant Dunn arrived to supervise the removal of the bodies. Mrs Johnson's body was amongst them.
Peter Doig, a blacksmith at Beltana, then gave evidence which corroborated that of James Hencher.
Mrs Alvina Pittelkow was the next witness. Louise Johnson, eleven years old, woke her by crying out "Fire". She hurried across and joined Mrs Johnson at the door. She gave her baby to Louise Johnson to care for and went through to the bedroom with Mrs Johnson. However, the flames were too intense and she was unable to do anything but retreat. Once clear of the flames she dashed round to the side of the house, she called it a tent, hoping to tear the bags from the bedroom wall. A fire was burning in the fireplace outside, but the wind was blowing the flames away from the house. Mrs Pittelkow did not see Mrs Johnson make any effort to escape from the house.
Eleven year old Louise Johnson, Mrs Johnson's daughter, then gave her evidence. When she got out of bed her mother was taking a small fire on a shovel to the fireplace outside. Her mother had lit the fire on the shovel inside the house because it was too windy outside. She thought that as her mother took the fire out it must have ignited some of the material because a short time later she saw the house was burning in a corner near the door and called out. Her mother ran inside with Mrs Pittelkow. After a few moments Mrs Pittelkow came out again and gave her baby to her to hold, but she never saw her mother again.
The jury returned the following verdict: "The deceased persons, Mrs Johnson, and her four children, were accidentally burnt to death in their tent, but there is no direct evidence to show how the fire originated, and no blame is attached to anyone. The jury beg to express their deep sympathy with the bereaved husband in his dire distress."
William Johnson was a teamster and away from home at the time of the fire.
At the listed coordinates, you will find the headstone for Anne Johnson and four of her children.
The cache can be found at S30 48.ABC E138 24.D0E
where:
A= 6th line, 1st number
B= 4th line, 1st number
C= Sum of both numbers on the 12th line
D= 4th line, 2nd number
E= 10th line, 2nd number
Checksum: South = 14, East = 8
The cache is a short walk away.