Two Narrow Escapes

this article originally appeared in the church bulletin the weekend on January 5, 2020

In the early morning of January 12, 1892, around 2 am, Fr. Canavan was awakened by the smell of smoke in the parsonage.  He quickly figured out that there was a fire in the basement and sounded the alarm at the Town Hall.  Within six minutes the Milford Fire Department had arrived and had three streams of water directed onto the blaze so that was extinguished in less than an hour.  During this time, Fr. Cuddihy was taken across the street to the home of J. P. Gallagher where he was cared for “until the excitement had passed.” 

Investigations later determined that the fire had started in the furnace and burned a distance along the floor until it broke through and up into the first floor of the house.  The parlor, a hallway and some furniture suffered damage amounting to $1,500.  Later it was recalled that smoke had been smelled in the house as early as 9 pm that evening but that it was thought to be coming from the coal being burned in the furnace.  It was also determined that the fire had another ten minutes before it would have been so fierce that it may have not only destroyed the entire house but have prevented any of the occupants from getting out.  Repairs following this incident included a remodeling of the heating system with the damaged woodworking replaced, pipes covered and five courses of brick laid around and under the fire box of the furnace.  All of this work was supervised by Henry Willard.

As fate would have it, three years later fire again struck Saint Mary’s Parsonage.  This time it was at 12:30 am on March 18, 1895.   Hugh O’Neil and his sister Julia were guests in the house when they discovered the building to be on fire.  The roused the sleeping occupants while George Stanley arounds the neighbors.  The bell in the tower was sounded as an alarm.  Steamer 2 arrived first, but its line was too short and the stream of water fell 15 feet short of the fire.  Hose 4 arrived next and hose was laid through the house to the top floor to direct a stream of water directly on the blaze.  Though two hoses burst once water was run through them, it was determined the blaze was extinguished by 3:15 am.

The fire was believed to have started in an overheated radiator in the southeast corner on the third floor that creeped diagonally under the roof until to broke through the northwest corner.  Arthur O’Neil was not awakened by the fire, which was discovered by his siblings Hugh and Julia who roused him from a sound sleep.  His “hair was singed, his moustache partially burned off, and skin on his face was peeled off by the heat.  His neck, arms and lower limbs were burned.” 

Once again, Fr. Cuddihy took refuge in the Gallagher home while the others spent the night in the Milford House.  The damage caused by the fire was confined to three rooms and a hallway on the first floor.  There was water damage to two floors along with some carpets and costly paintings from Rome being destroyed as well, amounting to a loss estimated at $5,000.  A valuable violin owned by Arthur O’Neil was retrieved undamaged by the event, which five years of his paintings, at a value of $7,500, were lost.  An interesting note is that “Of the 1,000 people watching the fire, fully one-third of them were women.”

The original rectory, where two fires occurred in 1892 and 1895. 

It was later converted into a convent for the Sisters of Saint Joseph.