The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-13
FATAL FIRE AT HIGGINS HOME
 IN NEW HAVEN
Mrs. Isabelle H. Moore, Mother of Gen. Manager ofNew Ha- ven Road, Burned
 to Death.
OTHER MEMBERS OF FAMILY HAVE A
 NARROW ESCAPE

Forced to Jump for Their Lives
 and Are Severely Injured I Mrs. Corbin, His Mother-in.
 law, May Die - Wife And l Daughter Sustain Broken l Limbs - Handsome Resi- l dence Destroyed With Loss
 of $1OO,OOO.
 Special from United Press) New Haven, Jan. 13.-In a fire ttat
 completely gutted the handsome lew
 residence in St. Roman Terrace early | today of General Manager Samuel | Higgins of the New York, New Haven
 X Hartford Railroad, Mrs. Isabella H.
 Moore, lis mother, 84 years of Age, was burned to death and four other
 members of his family including h m-
 self barely escaped witt: their lives by l Jumping from a second story window Those who had to jump for u teir
 lives were Mrs. Higgins, the railroad
 mans wife; his daughter, Isabel; son l Corbin, and Higgins himself. A col
 ored maid also was forced to jump for her life from third story window and
 as she is heavy she probably wolld I have been killed had not Policer,en i Connolly and Kennedy broken the sail | with their bodies. Both of her logs ! were broken.
 l Mrs. Higgins and her daughter both
 sustained broken legs in their julnp,
 and MrN Higgins was badly bruised.
 It is feared that Mrs. Corbin received 1 fatal injuries. Harold was the only
 one of the six who got out of the house alive who was not injured.
 l The cause of the fire was an ov sr- | heated furnace. Higgins said that he | was awakened by the noise and smell | He rushed first to the door of his mothers room but owing to her deaf l ness he could not make her hear. Hop | ing that she had awakened and left he 1 walked the other members of the fam l fly. He tried to go back to. his mosh- er's room but was cut off by a wall of flame, and soon the six had to jump from the rear windows. Mrs. Moore probably died in the fiery furnace soon after the others jumped.
 The five women. Harold Higgins and 1 the New Haven roads general man 1 ager all were clad just as they had been aroused from bed with the ex- ceptiOn of a few wraps that some of them had grabbed in their rush for life. All were quickly taken into the
 homes of their wealthy neighbors aud
 as soon as an ambulance could De summoned the injured wife, daughter and mother-in-law of MT. Higgins and the aged colored servant were taken to the private Sanitarium of Dr. Che ney who lost his brother, Consul Che ney in the recent earthquake at Mes sina.
 St. Roman Terrace is a small restrict ed part of the exclusive Whitney ave- nue district. Next door to MT. Hig gins is the home of Benjamin Camp bell, vice president of the New Haven road, and all about are some of the wealthiest and most fashionable homes in Connecticut.
 The streams of water did not reach higher than the second story and for time the whole district was menaced by the shower of sparks. Many of the wealthy residents of the district turn ed out in bathrobes and slippers to help keep water on the roofs of their homes.
 At daylight nothing but the walls were left Of the Higgins residence. It was a four story frame building of Venetian architecture.
 Later at Dr. Cheney's sanitarium it was said that Mrs. Higgins, wife of the railroad man, had suffered a dis location of the hip in her jump instead
 
 she possibly sustained internal 1njur- ies. Her condition is serious though not necessarily fatal.
 The firemen were able to save from the house but two pieces of furniture valued at $25, all the rest being a total loss, now estimated at about $100000.
 Mrs. Moore's body, charred beyond recognition, was found in the ruins when they cooled today.
 One of the most pathetic instances in hay. Dr hit more was attending the survivors of the fire today he received a letter written to him yesterday by Mrs. Moore telling him how greatly improv- ed was her health.
 The front porch on which the sur vivors. except the negro servant. crept for their leap for life, collapsed short ly after Mrs. Higgins, the last to jump, alighted on the ground.
 General Manager Higgins of New Haven while buying a complete set of clothing for his family to-day and hunting a place for them to live, made 8 brief statement. T personally saw to the furnace," he said, just before retiring about midnight. I fixed it for the night as I usually have done. It must be that on account of the high wind, causing a greater draft than us- ual, it became overloaded, setting fire to the woodwork"
 The fire was one of the most spectac- uIar New Haven has suffered in years Located on the top of a high hill, the l flames from the house lit up the neigh borhoOd for many blocks around. The firemen were badly hampered by hav- ing no hydrant nearer than several blocks and with very low pressure could make little headway against the fire.
 MT. Higgins himself turned in the l first alarm by telephone and another 1 was later turned in from regular alarm. For a time it looked as l though the adjoining houses must | surely go and the two sons of Vice | President Campbell who are i'll with | pneumonia in their home next door to | the Higgins house, were taken from l bed wrapped in blankets, and taken 1 downstairs in case it became necessary l to vacate the house.
 Other families nc arby prepared to va- cate among them Prowessor George H. Nettleton who lives within a few houses of the ruin. The neighbors turned out and worked heroicaly, some forming a bucket brigade though scan- tily clad, to keep nearby buildings from while others cared for the in- jured members of the Higgins family. Among those to render first aid to the