The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-03-26
Narrow Escape Of Mrs. VIII
liam Nicholson and Her
Children
From saturdsY,s Daily.

Fire last night destroyed tue uWeil-
ing on the Belgrade road at the ex.
extreme west end OF North Mankato,
where William Nicholson and family
made their home This was the
small house where .ast New Years
eve n dead man was found under
circumstances that indicated plainly
that he had committed suicide with
n revolver. When the building
caught fire. there were sleeping i'm Il
Mrs. Nicholson and seven children.
Two of the children. Clara. n girl Of
nine. and Clarence. her twin brother,
the two youngest children, narrowly
escaped death I'm the flames. The
little girl was reused in the down.
stairs bedroom. where the bed was
already aflame by her older sister.
Pearl. aged fifteen. The little boy
had been sleeping upstairs with lis
brothers. and he failed TO appear
when the other boys came rushing
downstairs His oldest brother. Wes-
ley. aged eighteen. rushed upstairs
and cot him. The mother met him
N the foot OF the stairs. grabbed the
hoy and carried him outside.
Narrow Escape For Family.
II was indeed narrow escape for
the whole family. All had gone To
bed. The mother and her two daugh-
tiers. were sleeping downstairs In a
small bedroom. which was separated
from the sitting room in the front
part OF the house. by thin, wooden
PARTITION. In the sitting room stood
the heating stove. From this pipe
ran through tht partition into the
hon FafaH
and went up through the floor and
through the boys bedroom upstairs,
10 the chimney II was safely in
sulated from the floor i'm the usual
way with metallic fixture, hut no
such prccautiOn had been taken with
the wooden partition downstairs, Here
the pipe itself was separated from
the partition merely with a piece of
tin. The tin was right against the
wood and also right against the pipe.
II was q coal stove. but the supply
Oi coal had run short. and the boys
had managed To gather quite guam
thy or wood Mrs. Nicholson had
filled No the stove with wood before
retiring. The result was that the
fire grow very hot. II seems that
the heated pipe caused the partition
10 take fire. for. when Mrs. Nicholson
WAS awakened by the smoke. she saw
that the partition was on fire and
soon she perceived that the mattress
IT, ELF OF the bed had caught.
Mother Called Daughters.
She quickly called 60 her daughters.
The cider girl awoke and both the
mother ana daughter hastened TO call
the boys who were sleeping upstairs.
II was with some difficulty that the
boys were aroused The oldest boy
rushed downstairs. without stopping
10 dress. and attempted To put out
tho fire with what water was handy.
In the meantime the mother had
thrown together what clothes were
handy into trunk and dragged the
trunk into the sitting room. After.
wards the trunk was taken outside.
The fire had gotten too much head
way TO be checked and the oldest boy
soon saw that IL was useless. He
hurried upstairs again. where he put
on more clothing. such as he could
grab i'm moment. thrustinE a shoe
upon enc foot and rubber
upon another. The other boys i'm the
meantime came rushing downstairs,
with such clothes as they could grab.
Only the youngest failed 10 appear,
and the oldest made one more trip
upstairs and with the help Of the
mother. rescued him, still sleeping.
from the ROW flaming house.
Older Sister to Rescue.
In the meantime. the older girl had
pulled her little sister out or bed. just
in time to save her. All rushed out
of the house and part OF the dressing
was done outside Much of the cloth
ing that the family had worn the day
before was consumed in the flames.
and all were very poorly protected
from the cold night atmosphere. Sew.
eral of the boys were out in the snow
barefoOted as much rs fifteen min.
utes
Pearl. the fifteen-year-old girl. hur-
ricd To the home of John Page near.
by and managed TO rouse Mrs. Page.
She then made her way TO the Law
renee home. where she got access to
telephone, with which she called
UP her father. employed as temporary
night Waterman at the office of The
Free Press. The father at once hur.
ried over 10 the place.
Saved Some Household Goods.
Meanwhile some of the boys grab
bed an axe and broke in the kitchen
door. Thus they managed to save
some OF the household goods. Two
tubs, n sewing machine. three straight
chairs. a rocking chair and one trunk,
besides the scanty apparel that the
members of the family had managed
10 seize, constituted all that was res.
cued from the quickly burning build
ing. The whole thing was soon n
mass Of embers. II f. probable that
the family lost $50 worth OF furni.
tire.
Most of the family were housed
during the rest OF the night at the
Page residence. Two of the boys
were taken care OF at the residence
OF Sherman Batcheller. Two boys, un.
noticed by the Page family, slept in
the Page barn. Had they been no
ticed they would have been invited
into the house.
The large family Is now sadly in
need OF help. The older boys, aged
eighteen and sixteen. would like to
obtain farm work.
The house was the property OF NJ.
c. Johnson, 40 River street, North
Mankato, real estate dealer. When
the Nicholson family moved in, Mr..