The sun., 1879-05-04
PRICE THREE CENTS.
CAUGHT IN A FIERY RING.
4 MAIL COACH DRITER'S STRCGGLE In
a BURNJNG FORBSE


Losing hts Conch. hot saving his Man md his
u"rses-N More than 25.0OO AC,rs Of wood
land Destroyed In Cape May Couaty. \. j.
For over a week past q disastrous fire has
raged In the woodlands in the northern mart Of
Cape May County. Nj. Part of the tract burned
over was covered with young growth. which
sprnng up on tho ground swept by the great
timber fire Of 1879 The area now burned over
Is estimated at from 25 600 10 10000 ncres. and
not less than 400O.00D cords OF wood have been
DESTROYED. beside the hoop loe timber.
There were three different fires. one uf which.
n not two. was OF incendiary origin. These
three fires burned over tho swamps and wood
lands until they met. The first llre broke out
on Wednesday Of last week In barn nenr Dem
nisville. owned by Jonathan @. james. From
hero the flre sprond into the valuable timber
lands belonging to the estate OF Mrs. Hannah
Williams and the woods were destroyed. The
residents Of the village turned out in body,
and the fire was supposed to have been stayed.
On the Same afternoon John Camp. n farmer nj
the head Of Tucknhoe River. who was burning
brush allowed the fire to get beyond control
and II reached the woods on that night. II
sprend from Camps place to the woods owned
by Mrssrs. Wallace and Bcohe. whore hundreds
OF acres OF the finest timber In that part
OF, the country was destroyed. The
Of cord wood which had been cui and piied.
besides building timber and cedar lumber waa
%"9snimSa %nins ,vars ~ wac 0ny " nnsd work thm me
epread into the timber lund Of the cstntp Of
Daniel Estellr, decrns"d. This WIS consdered
"a" finest growth of young timber 10 Cape May
County. Several thousand acres Of IL were rem
dered utterly worthless.
On Thursday might the third fire wns started
in the woods nenr the Woodhin" stnilon on the
West J rs'y Railroad. and ii spread rapidly
towarl TucGnhor Tho people in the vicinity
% a n iIi u
tn he adjacent townships and did not realize
their danger The, sap having started in the
die out No organized effort was made 10 cx-
tingu sh Il until tho end Of the week. when the
residents OF Gucknhoo and Drnnisvllle sue
eerdrd In h"ading the llre in two dirrtsns,
but II spread to tho westward md northward
the Tucknhoe RIVER. There the fre hns sub
stantially burned itself ont in the swnmns.
The timber lands Of Slmn"l Stecmnn DR. L. B.
Walls, Capt. Weeks. II. Van Glider. and Cnpt
II. Godfrey ar" completely ruined, and many
other owners have suffered severely. The rx-
act extent OF the loss has not been ascertancd.
There were many narrow escapes from death.
One OF the most thrilling was that OF James
Woodbne and Turkaho-. The coach makes
two trims daily. one eAch way. and the turnpike
pqssps through the woodland; On Thursday.
when the conch was about midway through the
woods. Mr.. Sutton noticed the fire. burning in
two places, but hr Thought he could get through.
and he whipped UP his horses In hopes OF pass-
ing the fire. which by that time WAS spreading
across the rohd. He pnss.d the first STRIP OF
IRE, ana turn OF tne ROAD reN'.heu nlnss OF
fire as far as he could sea ahead. The horses
became frightened. and backed the conrh into
n clump Of trees. and Sutton could not get them
started. He hogan to fenr that he would not get
out 80 he cut the harness. seized the mHll. and
tried to lead the horses out by the way lie had
come in. but the horses would not go. The
smoke WAS SO dense that Sutton WINS almost
blinded. The horses were bewldered, but they
finally started on a run. and dashed through
the 6Hmee. dragging Sutton with them. Sutton
and the horses we're badly singed, There was
nothing lett Of the coach except the iron work
| when the f1re had passed.
An investigation has heen ordered to discover,
| II possible. who started the fire. in the woods,
| which broke out at II distance from any dwell
| ings.