The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-11-23
Bull DING BURNS
MORNING AFTER
SHE BOUGHT IT
Incendiary Fire Destroys
North End Woman's New
Home Before Dawn.
ADJOINING HOUSE
BADLY DAMAGED
Sparks Carried BY High
Winds Imperil Many
Nearby Dwellings.

A spectacular fire Of incendiary orr
gin, which reused the entire North
End Of the city, destroyed the new
two-family house at los and lot Gar
field avenue. which was purchased
only yesterday by Mrs. Minnie Gilbert
of 139 Pennsylvania avenue. and
greatly damaged the residence OF w.
A. Halliday, 1O3 Garfield avenue, at 3
o'clock this morning.
Residents in the immediate neigh
borhood were reused by the cracking
of the glass in their windows. due to
the intense heat from the flames, and
were kept busy extinguishing roof fires
with buckets of water, started by
sparks, which were carried a great
distance on the wings of a high wind.
Silhoutted against a black sky, the
burning structure presented a brilliant
spectacle, lighting up the entire sec
ton and could be seen for miles.
The fire was discovered by Mrs.
Halliday shortly before o'clock.
in her bedroom. which faced
the new building, she was awakened
by the crash Of the window panes,
cracked by the heat, falling into her
room. Jumping out of bed she dis
covered the new building totally en-
in flames.
She rushed to her telephone to call
the fire department. She says she was
forced to wait four or five minutes be-
fore she was able to get any reply
from the operator. Chemical No.
was notified and the crew responded
to the call. A few moments later an
other call was received by the depart
ment stating that two houses were
burning, followed by the sounding Of
alarms from boxes S51 and S41.
Chief Daniel E. Johnson ordered two
trucks and four steamers to the scene.
When he arrived nothing was left OF
the new structure but the brick foun-
dation and supports. The. roof OF the
house was brtskly burning
and the department turned their at
tention to the saving Of the structure
and measures to prevent the flames
spreading to adjoining dwellings.
In some instances, dressed only in
their night clothes, residents of the
section, who had spontaneously organ
ized bucket brigades, climbed to the
roofs of their dwellings,, smothered
burning shingles, and wet down their
-oofs with buckets of water handed to
hem by other members of their
household or neighbors.
The loss of the new dwelling is esti-
mated at $500 and the damage to the
structure at $500 by Chief
Johnson.
Yesterday Mrs. Gilbert purchased
the property. The house was entirely
finished except for interior plastering
and decorating, material for the lat
ter having been piled in the cellar
and destroyed. Mrs. Gilbert had
obtained transfer Of the insurance
policy on the property from Halliday,
who built the house and sold it prop
erly to Mrs. Gilbert. She increased
the value Of the policy 1000 and
her entire loss is covered by insur-
ance.
That the blaze is the work Of a fire.
bug the police and Chief Johnson are
firmly convinced. No stove or heat
Ing apparatus Of any description was
installed and in the opinion Of the
fire was set
Investigation of the statement Of
milkman by the officials. and Detective
Frank Holbrook, that a brush fire
was responsible for the destruction
Of the structure proved groundless.
The brush fire was burning a great
distance from the house and was not
responsible.
The Halliday dwelling is a two fam
lily house, but the first floor is unoc-
cupied,