Telegram-herald., 1891-05-02
6ILLOWS OF FLAMES
weep Over the Pine Forests OF
New Jersey,
LEyELIyC ACRES OF ylLUiBLEIIa
Leaving . Trait Of Black DestFsetion Ia
Their wAks- May Villages And
aAnlsts la A~faf Peril OF
Extfas<ioa.


( PLzAsAsrviLLE, Y. J.. May The
rereest and most disastrous forest tre
On record IN Atlantic county for thirty
years was raging Thursday night in the
vicinity Of ConovertoTn and PortRepab-
lie, and the heavens were Illuminated
Ike MONDAY. In the morning
she pines IN the p.sighborhOod took IRE
from spark from engine. The
heavy westerly wind famed the blaze
and the ranacs soon spread ~ the
large pines. and IN . short time the
whole forest south Of Pomona was
like . raging furnace. The air was
Glled with smoke and flying sparks.
and amid the roar of the flames could
be heard the thunder Of the falling
pines and oalls. The path of the IRE
IN several directions. completely enyel-
opins the cedar swamps. BY = change
OF the wind the town Of Abseeon WAS
saved from destruction. bat the fire was
guided from is old path into the midst
of some Of the most valuable young tim
Der in this region.
Gradually the flames worked their
way toward Conovertown, and by ,
o'clock ?. m. had reached the outskirts
Of the town. What few men there
were about the fields or on the streets
seized branches, sticks or shovsls and
hurried TO the woods, hardly knowing
where they were going or what they
were going for. A panic had ensued
among the women In the town. They
rushed about madly. asking each other
what they should do. The fire he'd
driven the men who were fighting il
back almost 70 their own doors
Finding the efforts To get the fire
under control useless, the men turned
their attention 10 their homes The
flames AZ this time were not over a
quarter of a mile distant IL did not
take long to remove their house
hold goods across the street and
down into the open fields Hardly
was this accomplished when the fire
burst out OF the woods and ignited the
houses, which were soon reduced to
ashes. A strong wind aided in the de-
struetion. All the wooded land in the
direction of the shore road was burned,
and the fire worked its way then in a
northerly direction.
1T o'clock the wind had gone down,
which assisted the efforts made To get
the ire under control. Still il was hard
work. the water being scarce and p,any
of the men out in the bay dredgin for
CLANS and oysters. The fire gradually
worked its way 10 the town of Port Re-
public.
IL is estimated that the loss IN timber
alone viii e~cecd 800. 900.
About dark fire broke out Just west
OF Pleasantvillc. The house, with con-
tents. Of Wesley Abbott was destroyed.
By o'clock West Plcasantville was
surrounded by fire.
MnLvuLE, n. j., May bailey
town. which was completely sur
rounded by the forest flames Tuesday
and Wednesday, has not yet been heard
from. but IL Is thought TO be all right.
as the few people who reside there
have had q great deal of ex-
have undoubtedly saved them
selves by "back- firing" The smoke
from these fires has been so great as TO
obscure the sun in many places Farm
ers coming into town say they drove
for miles through clouds of dense
smoke, through which they had to
grope their way, although they were
miles from the fire. One FIRE has al
ready burned over 1000 acres
A ere was started in the forest below
the wllliamstown junction on the At
lantie City railway Thursday morning
Hundreds of acres of wood have been
destroyed. but most of the far,n-houses
were saved. Toward evening the fire
divided. and by night the main branch
was burning furiously in the neighbor-
hood OF Hayes mill. near Atco. Hun
dreds Of men were fighting the flames
and endeavoring 10 save the buildings
i'm it's course.
The other branch of the fire swept
through the avenues in Chisclhurst.
The section men on the railroad fought
the ire all the afternoon A fire above
Crew road destroyed thousands Of acres
Of small woods and big scope OF cedar
swamp early Wednesday morning. This
town and the surrounding towns are
covered with cloud of black smoke.
II is rurrored that thirteen houses were
destroyed near Absecon Thursday.
SAGINAW. Mich. May High winds
have famed fires in the pineries and
the atmosphere Is filed with smoke.
Five million feet Of pine logs valued al
s1e0oe banked on Tobacco river and
owned by C. r. Eddy q SON. OF Sag.
NAV, are reported 10 have burned
Wednesday Buriingame's saw-mill
near Gisd~in burned Thursday
and Cary Bros. shiagle-mili near Hsr.
rison burned Wednesday night There
are no signs Of rain and hundreds OF
r1eu are out fighting Gre in Clare. Glad
win and Roscommon counties Heavy
fires ere also reported on the Michigan
Central near vsnderbils and many thou
sand dollars worth Of logs and timber
burned.
REsprSs. Pa. May obstructive
fires are stili raging On Blue mountain.
Fire on south mountain has covered
an area miles long by miles wide.
The air il stil flied with dense smoke.
BsILrFoxrE. Pa. May The forest
fres continue IN rage in this vicinity
with most destructive fury. Millions
OF feet If valuable timber have alread J
been destroyed. and IL III reported thai
every sawsnsn on the mountains be
tween Beilefouse and Lewiseur1 has
been burned.
BAruwND. " T., NAY The frs
has swept through niles 81 valnsbl'
timber 20 Bsrregzt Der. The heat sns
srsl<. were terrible. and the residents
ef the settlements "a the line 1T III.
er~ became xrestir alarmed and fee