The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-09
Rich Widow Is Murdered
 By Burglars
Mrs. J. E. Nichols is Strang led to Death By Masked Intruders Who Bind Ser wants and Then Attack Aged Woman.
Signs of Desperate Struggle in House A Table Cloth
 Used To Cause Death
 Servants Held At Point of Gun.

Servants Held At Point
 of Gun.
 New York, Sept. 9.-Mrs. James B. Nichols. widow of a member of the wholesale grocery firm Of Austin, Nichols & Co. was murdered in her home at 4 East Seventy street late last night by three masked men who carried frevolvers- After the men had entered the house at the point of their guns and had bound and gagged two of Mrs. Nichols ser wants they went into. Mrs. Nichols room.
 When she was found by the maid, who managedN in an hours time to free sherself from her bonds, Mrs. Nichols was dead on the bed in her own room and had been strangled by means of tablecloth and a>doily. Mrs. Nichols was 60 years old and inherited more than $1,000so0o from the estate of her husband. who died abroad a year ago.
 Inspector Faurot and Inspector Gray. who hurried to the Nichols home immediately after the murder was reported to them. were unable to find that anything had been stolen. Their first search was. however. hap. hazard.
 
 shallboy in the house, Owney Pallis by name, and the maid, who was unable to talk intelligently. so distraugIt was she from her experience,
 At about 10 o'clock there was ring at the basement doorbeI1, Pa.1lis told the police. At that time Mrs. Nichols wasEin her own room on one maid were in the basement. The. house ic five cfo h1.cvzvr stone aY1G just off Fifth avenue.
 Pallis answered the bell. He was confronted by one man, who stuck a gun in the hallboy,s face, and stepped into the house. He held the boy still at the point of the revolver.
 In a. moment the maid, who had heard Pai1is answer the bell. thought that something was wrong. as she didn't hear any conversation She stepped into the basement hall to see what was the matter. The man with the revolver. said the servants, cover ed her with. the gun also.
 Then, keeping them covered, he opened the door and two masked men each carrying revolver, stepped in- The three men bound and gagged the servants and went into the upper stories of the house.
 That. is all the servants knew of the entry of the, Auppoaed burglars. they said. They did Fot Hear the men leave. - az
 The maid struggled with the ropes that bound her, and in an hour she was able to wriggle free from them Her first care was for Mrs. Nichols, ! she said, and she went to look for her mistress.
 She found her in her room lying on the bed and obviously dead, although the maid didn't know what the cause of death was She thought that Mrs Nichols, whose heart was weak, had been frightened-t death by the ap- pearance of the three men.
 The maid freed Pa1lis, and they te1e- phened to the police. Inspectors Faurot and Cray. acting Capt. Jones and d squad of detectives hastened to the house. They found that Mrs. Nichols had been strangled: that a a dolly had been used for this pur- when the police got to- the house they found the maid examining Mrs. Nichols corsets. She told the police that she was looking for some, keys which Mrs. Nichols kept there.s The keys were gone.
 The maid said that these keys were to the drawers where Mrs. Nichols kept her valuable collection of jewel ry.
 On one side of Mrs Nichols home T. y4 on the other that of William Freder- leha Across the street at No. is the home of Mrs. Isaac ". Brokaw, and l other residents of the block include Mrs. Virginia Danziger, Mrs. Charles Walton Ogden. MT. and Mrs. J. Wood ward Haven and MT. and Mrs. John R.. De1afie1d-
 The house is a five story brown stone one, with a wide frontage on 1 Seventy ninth street.
 Mrs Nichols was the widow of 1 James E. Nichols of the firm of Aus tin, Nichols & Go. wholesale grocers, who died in Marienbad, Austria, on July 21,1914. She was with him when he died.
 Few men in commercial life were better known than MT. Nichols. He Twas actively unidentified with the Irv- Trust Company. the Fidelity Trust 1 Company, the Chi1ds Company and a number of other important enter l prises. He was member of the New York Athletic, Camp Fire and Ark wright clubs. | Mrs Nichols before her marriage, which took place on October 16, F1S7S, was Miss Lizzie Briggs, daugh- Eyears general passenger agent for the IBoston and Albany railroad. When MT. Nichols died his widow experienc- ed much distress because the coffin containing his body, which she had shipped for New York, failed to ar rive, and for a time all trace of it was lost. It was located in Hamburg four weeks after it had been shipped from Marienbad.
 MT. Nichols. left s2, 600 ,oooo, of -.