The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-08-21
MANY MILES or FLAMES.
Alarming Progress Of Forest Fires
in New Jersey.
GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

u IL Estimated That the Various confin-
| grations wnI Cause Damage Amounting
20 Hundreds OF Thousands of Dollars.
| The Supposed Work of Incendiariss.
r CARE MAY. Aug. e1.--A forest fire COW
airing zoo aores of valuable timber is burn.
Ang bctweon Cape May Court House and
Goshen. The residence and barn Of George
Borton were destroyed by the FIRE. A high
wind famed the flames all day, and the
few farmers who are attempting to check
thc progress Of the fire have had little
success.
Reports from other places In South Jer-
sey show that there are many miles OF
Game sweeping onward. A terrible forest
Ere has been raging In New Jersey since
Monday morning between Atco and Taun-
con. How the fro broke out is not known,
but it.started close to Andersonyille, and
has burned out thousands OF acres OF val
uable timber, cranberry bogs and the
jackson meadows between that place and
Oak Knoll. Crowds of men from Med
ford and the hamIets in the vicinity OF the
flames have been fighting the fire for
hours The reports from the scene are
q meager owing to its distance from tele-
graphic stations, but 1t is said the West
Jersey cranberry bogs are burned. The
nre spread to the extent of three miles,
burning everything before 1t houses,
barns and outbuildings and the cranberry
bogs Of Henry Thorn, DIR. Richard Brad
dock aud Japhet Bowker.
There is the greatest feeling among the
people in the vicinity of tho fire. Huckle.
berries grow In abundance on burned
ground, and some of the cabin dwellers.
Mho make their living by picking berries
1t 10 said, occasionally set fire to bush
Hands regardless of consequences and 1t
As believed this fire is Of incendiary origin,
and the citizens have appointed COM
mittee to inquire into the cause.
Joe Anderson, o charcoal burner, who
had just arrived from the scene of the fire,
was seen by a reporter at Berlin. He said
the fro had inysterlously started near his
home at Andersonville, and TINT the cab
FMS Of several charcoal burners were do
stroyed, and that number of cranberry
bogs had been burned over, entailing n
loss Of many thousands Of dollars. The
fire now threatens Oak Knoll, Crows
Foot and other hamlets, and everybody is
out fighting flames and trying to stop
their course by back firing.
A big forest fire Is raging about fifteen
miles from Cape May. The corn crop is
In great danger. and will be destroyed un'
less rain puts out the fire.
Considerable valuable lumber in the
woods at Mays Landing is being burned
by forest fire. A big crowd of men and
boys are fighting the flames to prevent the
fire from spreading to Mays Landing
proper, whore the residences arc located
The forest fire In the vicinity of Abse
com Is still burning. Many of the mer
who were called out Of church on Sunday
TO fight the flames are still doing SO, but
khA flames continue to sprend
The forest flres which started neal
Toms River on Sunday, and to which
but little attention was paid, are spread
ing and now threaten serious loss Mon
- day night strong northwest wind sprans
- , and the flames were driven towards
= Nne farms along the Manchester pike ant
at iroatened for hours to reach the farm
al nildings.. The farmers, aided by volun
Il iers, fought the fire all night. Thro,
hundred men worked throughout tn,
7anieht In ralAps. Valuable timber wa
burned, but the efforts OF the fighter
were entirely directed toward saving thl
crops and buildings Yesterday the winC
shifted, and the flames were driven to
ward the Lakewood road, but not towart
tbe village. If the wind holds it will carr,
she flames into the extensive cranberr,
boRs, which arc dry and will burn.
The fires near Egg Harbor City arc still
burning fercely and have more headwn,
than at any time before, despite tho fac
that hundreds are fighting the flames Th
flames are now headed directly towarl
Mckee City, and there are many house
in the path. A drenching rain Is abou
all that will save eight or ten building
which are in tho way. Embankments ar
boing thrown up in places to stay tn
fre.
1t is estimated that the various fores
fires will do damage amounting to hun
dreds of thousands of dollars.