Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-31
THREE DIE IN FLAMES
C0Iored Children Perish When
Home Is Burned.
TWO NARROWLY ESCAPE
Girl and Woman Are Carried Down
Ladder by Firemen.
BODIES FOUND IN BEDS
TWO NARROWLY ESCAPE
BODIES FOUND IN BEDS
Little Victims Had Tried to Save
Themselves by Hiding Under
the Clothes.

Three colored children We're suffocated
a fourth one and woman narrow
ly escaped suffocation In a fire which de-
stroyed the house 800 street northwest
shortly after 1 o'clock this afternoon.
The children suffocated were Nava
Armstrong. two years old; Clifford and
Clara Hickman, three and seven years
old, respectively. Florence Young, seven
teen years old and Mary F. Harris. forty
years old, were rescued by the tiremen
and brought down a ladder from the third
floor.
When the firemen arrived on the scene
they found the two young women stand
ing at the third-story front window. When
they were brought to the ground by the
firemen they were SO excited they failed
at first to tell of the presence of the three
little ones on the second floor.
Dead in Their Bed.
AS soon as the fact was learned, the
and brought the children out. They were
found huddled together under the clothes
on a bed. Two of the children were dead.
The third. Clara Hickman, was still
breathing when rescued, and she, together
with the two dead children. was rushed
to the Freedmens Hospital. She died
upon reaching the institution.
Privates Sullivan and Barker of engine
company No. IL and Private Watts of No.
truck. after learning of the presence
of the children on the second floor. i'm
mediately put ladders to the windows
and after working their way through the
smoke found the children huddled together
on the bed.
They had apparently tried to avoid the
smoke by burying their heads in the bed
clothing and pillows. A large crowd
watched the rescue and cheered the fire.
men
When the two women were brought to
the ground, it was found that they were
in a very serious condition. A doctor was
summoned and after treating them, ex-
pressed the opinion that they would re-
cover. They were removed to a neigh
boris house.
Cause Of Fire Unknown.
The cause of the fire could no. be learn
I'd. but 1t was thought to have started
from an overheated furnace. The flames
lid no damage above the first floor, the
aremen getting the blaze under control in
.uick time The damage is estimated al
1000.
No trace of the children's mothers could
be found. The father of the dead Arm
strong girl is employed in the quarter
masters office of the War Department,
while Frank Hickman, the father of the
other two children, is employed at the
navy yard. They were notified of the
tragedy.
Women's Delay Fatal.
The police say 1t is their belief that
had they been notified promptly by the
women who were rescued from the third
floor they might have gotten the children
out in time to save their Aves. but the
women were hysterical and excited. and
faI fnr minutes to give the
information to the police.
The assistant fire marshal made an in
vestigation as to the cause of the fire.
He learned that the three children who
were suffocateu and several others from
the neighborhood had been playing in the
basement or furnace room all the morn
ing. This room contained lot OF waste
paper, rubbish and coal and wood. 1t is
believed tie children had matches and
ignited the rubbish. causing dense vol
umes of smoke to fill the house.
The two women who were taken down
on the ladder were In a sacond-Story ROOM
and when they opened the door dense
masses OF smoke filled the room. They
then rushed onto a portico on the third
floor and shouted for assistance.
NJ s. Hickman, the mother of two OF
he children, was downtown on a shopping
expedition. and when she reached home
about 215 O'Clock and found that her
children had been suffocated her screams
could be h h,ard or long distance. The
three children are all in the dead house at
Freedmens Hospital.