Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-25
TWELVE DWELLINGS
Continued from pace I


| the bay front is thing Of desolate ruin
and looks as If some gigantic fire-belching,
| devoiring mouth had bitten a huge chunk
| out Of the row Of pretty dwellings which
| at sun-down last night graced the strand.
| On each end of what WINS the row stand
| the houses that were spared-three on
| one end and four ON the other The space
| between is mass of charred debris. still
|, sending FAINT clouds of smoke heavenward
| Save this evidence of what was there If
nothing left.
Fire was the last thing the village ex~
pected when darkness settled down last
evening, especially in the cottages on
the hay front Not one of them WAS ocs
cupicd their owners using them rs homes
IN the late spring summer and fall No
body ls ever in them after the middle of
November when il becomes too chilly
here for even the most hardy Of the
owners To come down for few DAYS
fishing Furthermore, there was nothing
in them to start a fire unless Some human
agency had hand in II
II is not this fact alone that raises the
suspicion Of incendiarisrn R,nnor has il
that shortly before the farnes were dis
covered an automobile was heard coming
up from the bay front and speeding AWAY
ON the road toward Dover and the back
country
THE VILLAGE HOUSED
The town was just about going To bed
when some one discovered there was q
FIRE over in the tail Of cottages facing the
bay. somewhat isolated from The village
itself which struggles along the Murder
kill and turns ut right angles and continues
To- strnggle along Bowers Reach road
This isolation proved mighty good thing
for the village, because had the cottarca
been close enough to the main part of the
village to communicate their burden of
flame 10 the houses and buildings there,
II is highly probable that there would have
been no Bowers Beach today
Just who discovered the FIRE eeerns not
to he definitely known. and IL really
doesn't matter much What is certain Is
that about half past nine o clock somebody
ran through the village yelling that the
bay front cottages were afrc The result
was an almost instant outpalring of
Bowcrs Beach nilaltanta some nf them
pulling on clothes a. they ran
When the first Of the contingent arrived
on the sccne of the blaze they found the
cottage of Potter Colin scct thing mass
If flame and the two cottages on either
hand Of II beginning 10 burn This show
Cd conclusivcly that tho fire had started
III the Coffin place. tWu-story structure
like all the rest of the row.
ASSISTANCE SUMMONED
Fortunately the wind WIS light and
from the northwest, which meant that
unless there was sudden heavy shift
to the eastward tic MAN village was
safe Everybody NJ once set 10 work IL
do what they could The resort is quite
without fire protection and tire only way
m which the villagers could right tie
flames was hv means of bucket brigades.
u score of which were a once formed
Al the same time Dover and Milford.
the nearest towns in position 10 render
much assistance with frc-hghiing ap-
paratus. were notified hy telephone and
asked TO rush tHcmcn and flfe engines
They responded cHcrgctIcallv. but hy the
time the machines arrived the twelve
cottages we're long past saving.
Oddly enough. the fire spread both ways
from the Collin cottage. one after another
Of the structures lgnitng and going up III
flames Work with buckets vas Ike
pouring water on bonfire from a tin cup
and despite 81 that could be done the
twelve cottages were soon 50 many heaps
of ashes All night long the debris WAS
watched 10 sec hat Il did not set fire to
the remaining. houses Of the row.
HOUSES RrILT IN SPRING
Just what the losses will amount to can
not be definitely stated, although If IS
estimated hat it Viii reach at least Sl5,-
GOO The loss comes particularly hard on
tho owners because the dwellings were all
buit last spring, tho original ROW o. cot
tages along the hay front having been
almost completely wrecked last winter dur
ing he series Of gales that swept the bay
coast Is a result, what remained Of
them was moved back ont of reach of
the bays grasp and the whole row vir-
tually rebuilt