The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-23

VIEW
Both without N~arninE-Porce the vvo.
man TO Tell where Cash wa, Hidden
ana Discarded $40 900 worth OF Securities
which They Found-Got Pies ana Cakea ana
cider from tho Cellar ana Toasted on Them
in the Room with Their Victims. to whom
They Gave brandy and wntcr-LauEhinEiy
Told Them They Were Not BADLY Hurt
Hours Der6rc the Crime IL Discovered.
BRlDGEroRT, Conn. July 22.-Two masked
burglars who had been frightened early this
morning out OF tho house OF George Marcus
Nichols. n wealthy farmer living ut Daniels
Farms, u village in the town Of Trumbull, Fair
Held county. returned to the house fifteen min
utes after their scare, smashed in a door behind
which they could see Nichols and his sister still
searching for them, aud without warning shot
them both. They forced the slster to tell
where $500 In money was concealed, and
they took that. They loaded the table
in the dining room with pies and cakep
and liquors, and sat with the dying
farmer and ate and drank and made merry.
They even fed brandy and water to him. They
ransackcd the house, and finally, two hours
after their first visit. they went away, promis-
ing to leave word with a neighbor that a doctor
was needed. Farmer Nichols died shortly after
they left. His sister, though terribly wounded,
may recover. Tho crime resembles In many re-
spects another robbery and another murder.
each Of which occurred within three miles OF the
Nichols house.
Daniels Farms is a school district in the town
of Trumbull. 1t is at the end OF Daniels road.
about ten miles from the city OF Bridgeport, and
is two miles from the old Housatonic Railroad
running from bridgeport up into Massachu-
sets, now the Berkshire division Of the Now
York. New Haven and Hartford road. Tho
Nichols homestead is on the Daniels road, about
a half mile below the district schoolhouse.
There is q little settlement all round 1t. The
nearest house to the Nichols house is a hundred
yards to the north. Facing 1t. down in the val
ley. there is another house; there is still an
other on the Daniels road. 200 yards south.
Mr.. Nichols and his sister lived alone in their
house. He was 63 years old. and she is 81.
They were born there, and their father and
mother before them were born there. They had
accumulated a fortune Of from 100000 to
$3.50 600, most Of which they kept in the house.
but not In the form Of cash. They were economic
almost to the point Of being misers. They never
had any help even to do the farm work, and the
old man was often called Ladders Nichols."
because, instead OF having n man help him
TO store his hay in the barn, he would climb up.a
lsd6eF With thes s1 lived pi tsirfS xeii. Ts.7 hal ai t as1T
little to do with their neighbors; they never told
ANY one Of II she i5. business sDsn "a af sSis a; and an rs that
everybody knows everybody e!se's business, waD
that they were rich and were good people to get
money from II gilt-edged security was offered.
How rich they were nobody knew, not even
The house in which the Nicholses lived was an
old-fashionedf farmhouse fully as COCA as that OF
any Of their neighbors. Miss Nichols slept In Q
and Mr.. Nichols slept in the room on the south
west corner of the same floor. There were two
there were two rooms in front and the hall.
way between. In the back OF the house was
summer kitchen: There are three doors on me
lower floor in addition to the windows, of which
door door, in s 'front.' Ste and nd a door on tbe south SIDE Of the
house. Both OF them have plate,Slass tops.
It was g few minutes s,s after I ! o's sSsk, shis
out Of the window, he thought he saw q figure
mSnshs t Ss { fe asaf irons ens the fest door .'eh He "s aiso
thought he saw a light, 1t was raining. There
vivid wSi II streats Of lighiDine. He listened. and.
becoming more certain that something was
wrong, he put on his trousers and coat and went
Mary" he said to her, II believe them pesky
eh Eyee9 t ohe OF e S II 3 our me {s[fSS; had lost
chickens within a week. Mary Nichols jumped
s eSi b of b bed sPS we're pgtt on heir w stGsRins f ssta She she
liz a lamp, and together they went downstairA.
They moved noise!essly, ana the beating OF me
Of any, kind. They stepped from the
doors are open. OF course tho light Of tho lamp
Of the couple got there, Til erobbers. who werein
the house. did see it, and they rushed out OF the
SSH iSho i t and S bis sister We're jqst in time 70 So
them disappear into the darkness. Ihey went
s GO fsiI t Rha n'i It Ws 81 , faS ' Sad : seen, Nf But sS sSs
back door was open, and that was evidence thae
WALKING side by side the brother and sister
searched every nook and corner downstairs, and
Chicken chH S5n'f thieves" He told his sister to bolis
The nd door S.n a:ssr Of hip her SO bei that h sas5s T Is 10
around. the house three times. He searched
road, bu. he saw nothing, and his chickens were
all right in the coop. So he returned to the
dow in the pantry. This window was up. and
some OF the milk pans that had stood on the sill
When he got back into the house Nichols
closed this window, and putt nail In IL TO Keep
bol seqs all the DOORS % Il Il had BEEN about twenty
minutes from the time he hrst awakened ThSS
the : aiming IN $? ROOM oos SHE the r che Of which could
be seen through the glass door on inc soulh sias
well, Mary. 1 guess II there was anybody W
scared EN-. and We might as well SO back u
They started toward the door leading to tbs
sitting room. They had not gone two feet wheA
to the left of them there was a smash and TINS
door on the south OF the house flew open, carrying
with it a great piece OF the door jamb. That same
instant, quicker than 1t takes to tell II, TWO men
lCaped into the room, and The next instant there
were two pistol shots almost simultaneously.
Nichols threw up his hands and fell nat on the
floor. Mary Nichols felt n sting in her LEFT side
In a moment her right arm, in which she held
the light, became paralyzed, and the lamp
ing the place in darkness.
For a moment Mary Nichols wayered. ans
then she staggered toward the rear stairway
which leads from the aiming room, up TO hep
brothers room. she stumbled and staggered
up these stairs, blood squirting from n wound IN
her side, and after, her, stumbling and fnllinsi
went one of the robbers. hut he only followe1
her a couple Of stems. He saw her fall at the top
OF the stairway. lie probably thought she was
done for. and no returned to tho dining room.
where Marcus Mel OILS lag moaning feebly.
The other, robber struck a light, and the TIVE
OF them picked up the diving man and sealed
him In an old.faahioned arm rocking chair. One
Of he robbers sat down in 2 chair beside nm.
Walked IN the back stairway after the woman,