Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-04-25
FOREST FIRES!
And Other Fires. Hundreds OF
Acres of Timber DESTROYED.

About Ills o'clock Monday night
the cry of fire awakened the people of
Snow Hill who found, bv the time
they could get ont OF bed that the
whole section OF West End was bril-
liantly Illuminated by the flames. The
fire was consuming the barn and stables
of Mr.. w. Sampson Lewis and had
not been discovered until the flames
were beyond control. II was with great
difficulty that Mr.. Lewis dwelling was
saved. His barn, stables, lot of corn,
fodder, one horse cart, lot of harness
and one horse were burned and another
so badly injured by the fire that il had
to be killed Mr.. Lewis loss amounted
to several hundred dollars, on which
there was small insurance. The fire is
supposed to have originated from IA
lighted match dropped in the stables
by someone who was in there to steal
corn, as a quantity of it was found
scattered on the ground nearby.
Woods on Fire.
Fires and rumors of fire were common
occurrences last week and on Sunday
it seemed As il all the woods between
here and Pocomoke were ablaze, but it
was not quite that bad As stated in
the MESSENGER last week, Messrs.
John i. Hargis and George 5. Rich
ardson lost in the neighborhood of $50
cords of wood, and since then nearl,
all the woods between BENEFITS
Mill and Snow Hill. on the Pocomoke
River side OF the road, have been ablaze,
and the farmers, up to Sunday night,
had been working night and day for
several days to check the spread of the
fire. The downpour of rain Sunday
evening put out the fire and the people
for the first time in at least rs hours.
were able to 90 to bed without fear OF
having all their property destroyed.
On Saturday the dwelling house of
Mr.. George Richie was in imminent
danger OF destruction. The woods set
fire to his kitchen and had not all OF
the iirefighters in the woods deserted
their work there and gone to Mr..
Ritchie's assistance, his house and CON
tents would have gone up in smoke.
While the men were out Of the woods
the fire there spread more rapidly than
ever and destroyed many hundreds of
dollars worth of valuable young timber,
fences and cord wood Mr.. George II.
Riggin is heavy loser, rs are nearly
all the farmers in his neighborhood.
Among the heaviest losers of valuable
timber is the Drexel estate. Quite
large number of the people Of Snow
Hill drove out on SUNDAY To see the
appalling sight OF forest fire"
Fire in Colbourns.
This was M the only section visited.
for Colbourn's District also met with
great loss, and as every where else in
the county, her forests were as dry rs
powder. owing to the long time since
any rain had fallen. William Black
was burning oil some new ground for
Alex. Malone, near Piney Grove, on
Saturday, when he lost control of the
fire and ii swept through the adjacent
woods with the speed OF TIE wind,
destroying young timber for Mr.. Ma
lone valued at $4,000 or more also Il
lot of fine young timber belonging to
Dickerson Bros. The fire spread until
it reached the public school and Mt.
Olivet NJ. p. Church, and it was only
by the hardest kind Of fighting fire that
these buildings were saved, as they
were on fire several times.
1000 Bushels Of Corn Burned.
Another. and very disastrous fire
occurred in Colbourn's District on Sat
urday, when the barn, stables, meat
house and other ont buildings at the
home Of Levin J. Twigg. hardwork-
ing and economical farmer, were de.
stroyed. Mr. Twigg was ia Snow Hill
when the fire occurred and did moi
know of his loss until his return home
Saturday night. lie lost, in addition
10 his buildings. lot of farming i'm.
PIGMENTS, 1000 bushels of corn and
most of his meat. The fire originated
from children playing with matches in
the barn yard. Mr.. Twigg had no
insurance and consequently his loss is
a great one.