Evening star., 1922-12-02
1900 HOMELESS
IN $2,0l0,ODO FIRE
One Person Dead at New
Bern, N. c., and 500 Out
of Employment.
by the Associated Press.

NEW BERN. y c. December g
Property damage estimated at around
100000. loss of employment for 500
persons. destruction of the homes of
approximately 1900 persons and one
fatality was the toll of the fire that
swept through this town yesterday,
according to check up today
Numbers of persons suffered burns
and injuries in attempts to save their
belongings or to aid firemen of New
Bern and nearby towns in fighting
the flames, but none was believed to-
day to be seriously hurt. 4 negress.
whose neiehbors said was 1O5 years
old. was forgotten in the excitement,
it was reported, and left to perish in
little house on Cedar street
With the approach of dawn today
the firemen. who had finally conquer
ed the flames. had retired and their
places had been taken by three details
of Battery D. 1l7th Field Artillery.
The soldiers guarded the hundreds of
piles of household goods dumped in
discrlmlnately around the town after
frantic householders had snatched
them from the flames. but throughout
the night and morning no reports
came OF even attempted vandalism
among the 10000 or more inha bitants
Crowds About Ruins.
There were numbers of persons in
the ruined district. some seeking to
find remains of valuables, some mere
ly walking around Many had refused
to go to bed in the homes. churches
and buildings proffered them. but had
stalked around or lain shivering on
the ground near the devastated dis
trict.
The church societies. Red Cross.
Salvation Army and other oreaniza. p.
TONS were busy providing food
North Carolina obtained a promise
from Brig. Gen. Bowiey, at For:
Bragg. Fayetteville. last night that
he would rush Army cots, tents and
bedding here and Mayor Edward
Clark issued call for mass meetings
today to take definite action toward
relieving the sufferers
Most of those who lost their homes
and household possessions were ne
groes. probably 1.400 of these suffer-
ing. since the flames started in the
negro section of West New Bern A
$2oO.0OO fire was raging at the time
in the sawmill of the Roper Lumber
Company's plant across town. and
winds of galelike force were blowing.
and continued until sundown. A fire
In the Kitchen of a negro house was
said to have been the beginning of
the great fire. and that in the saw
mill was believed TO have been caused
by friction from belt.
200 Residences Burn.
The blaze in the negro section gain
ed such proportions that it swept a
path almost through the center of
the town. destroying around 200 resi-
dences, two negro churches and three
large warehouses on the Neuse river.
and threatened the union station and
nearby structures, but in some way
leaped across them. Railroad tracks
were so warped by the heat. however,
that train service through the town
was suspended.
Starting on kilarmonic street, the
blaze. despite the dynamiting of
houses and pulling them off their
foundations by cable attached to a
switch engine. was driven eastward
almost on straight line until it
reached George street. Along here 1t
was bounded on one side by Queen
street and on the other by Court and
Dunn streets. On the south side of
Cedar Grove cemetery the fire swept
along for a block on New street as
far as Crescent street, then, leaping
over the union station. attacked the
warehouses along the water front.
Citizens Raise Fund.
Hundred of Newbern's :nore fortu-
nate citizens who escaped the ravages
of the fire gathered in mass meeting
at the courthouse to lay plans for re-
lief of the others.
Put me down for $1,000" shouted
a voice as the meeting opened.
"lIl also give $1,000"
Put me down for $500"
The calls came so rapidly that
Harry NJ. Jacobs. general chairman Of
the relief committee. had to call the
assembly down and beg the donors to
go slower. SO the individual gifts
could be recorded.
The city and county donated $1,000
each; Sudan Temple of the Shrine
that $4,000 was raised before any
organized effort had been started.
other cities of the state sent offers
of aid by telephone and telegraph,
and Mayor Edward Clark said these
would be accepted if needed. There
were hundreds of persons this morn
ing who had not tasted food since the
fire started yesterday, and committees
were soon at work supplying them
with food, while another committee
laid plans for housing the homeless.
Wholesale concerns shut up their es-
tablishments and put their trucks to
gathering up household belongings
scattered over town and storing them