New Britain herald., 1915-12-14
THRILLING RESCUE AT $l5,0O0 BLAZE
 ON LEXINGTON ST.
HySteriCal Maid Taken Down Lad- der From Third Story By Fire
 men Higgins and Hartnett
SL0PER AND THOMSON HOMES BURNED OUT AT "A. M. TODAY

Fire Department Has Hard Struggle
 Through Storm and Auto Truck Gets Stalled in DTift-AIar1n System Out of Order, Causing Costly DeIay-Jap Valet Tries to Halt Flames With Garden Hose-NIrs. Sloper Hurt. Starting from a gas heater in the Kitchen on the first floor, fire, which broke out at 2:O5 o'clock this morn ing in the house at No. 55 Lexington street occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Will liam T. Sloper and MT. and Mrs. H. C.. M. Thomson, did damage of between $10,OOO and $15,00O. The entire rear of the house on all three floors was gutted by fire and water and a large portion of the rest of the house was flooded by water
 This fire was one of the most sen sational as well as costly ones that has visited New Britain in a. long time. Everything was present which would tend to make it exciting enough to satisfy the most blase The crack ling flames, famed by a heavy gale, 1eaped and roared high into the air, reflecting their lurid glare on the white snow and lighting up the sky for miles around; the firemen, bat ting against great odds; the heroic rescue of suffocating woman from q small third story window by two fire men; the brave work of MT. Sloper's Japanese valet in fighting the flames alone until the firemen arrived; all went to make exciting and spectac- ular a blaze as ever visited this city
 Snow flinders eDcpartmeM.
 The fire department was badly handicapped from the start but did work of the highest grade. In the first place, at Il o'clock last night the fire alarm telegraph system was broken down by the storm and when, at 2 o'clock an attempt was made to send in an alarm from box 1 3 it was impossible to do so. Accordingly, a telephone call was sent in to Engine company No. 1. Chief Dame at once ordered Engine companys 1, 8, and 4 to speed to the Lexington street house with all possible haste. The big hook and ladder auto truck was left be- hind because of the depth of the snow, but the automobile chemical was sent out. Between Comm ercial street and Main street the big car be- came stuck in a snow drift and ex- perienced no little difficulty in get ting out as the low hanging gasoline tank acted as an anchor. Once on Main street, however, the big car bucked the drifts and succeeded in reaching the scene. At No. and 4 stations four horses were hitched to each of the two nose carts and the animals, after great exertion, managed to draw the wagons to Lexington street. Owing to the hard going and the depth of the snow the department was a long time in arriving
 When the fire department arrived more trouble was experienced by No. company when the hydrant was found to be frozen and had to be thawed out. Several lines of hose were directed on the house and the firemen worked with great energy. Tn entire rear of the house was mass of flames. Clouds of black smoke were rolling from all the windows and tongues of flames were leaping fif- teen feet into the air from the roof and third story windows. As there had been no bell alarm the fire de- rartment was furthermore crippled by lack of men, only those firemen who sleep in the engine house being pres ent for duty.
 Maid Rescued by Bremen.
 On the third floor of the house are tho maids and servants quarters. The only entrance is by way of a staircase in the rear. It was up this staircase that the flames burned their way, cutting off all retreat for Miss Elizabeth Englesty, a maid employed by Mrs. Thomson, had room in the front of the house. The only win dcws to this room are small, flush with the floor. They are but two feet square and open inward. The panic stricken woman, her escape cut off from the rear and the dense clouds of acrid smoke suffocating her, threw herself face downward on the floor and showed her head through the small glass window. Her terrified shrieks were heard by the f1remen and, again hampered with having only a small ladder, Bremen John Higgins and William Hartnett climbed to the second floor porch roof and from there showed ladder up to the window from which the hysterical woman was hanging. The two fire men then dragged the maid through the narrow opening and carried her to the ground in safety. She was cut about the body by the jagged glass in the window. But for the heroic work of the two fremen she would have