Pine Barren History Shorts

Teegate

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3/1/1921

Sealed Proposals

Bids are invited for rebuilding Bridge No. 80, on the Fleming Pike, near Parkdale, in Waterford Township, with a Timber Bridge in accordance with plans and specifications on file in the County Engineer's Office, Court House, Camden, N.J.

All bids must be accompanied by a bid letter and a certified check for one hundred dollars ($100) made payable to John W. Sell, County Treasurer. They must be in a sealed envelope addressed to Fred W. Gercke, Chairman Bridge Committee, and bear the face, name and address of the bidder.

Bids will be received, immediately opened and publicly read at the Freeholders Room, Court House, Camden, N.J., on Monday, February 7th, 1921, at 11 a.m.

The County reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

Fred. W. Gercke
Chairman Bridge Committee.
J.J. Albertson, County Engineer
 

Teegate

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Note: You may remember Henry Beck meeting John Ford at Rockwood in More Forgotten Towns of Southern NJ


7/28/1927

Hammonton Suffers Accidents Epidemic

Hammonton, July 27-- Russell Nasso, 16 years old, of French Street, was rushed to Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia Monday , suffering with a gangrenous attack of appendicitis.

Albert Morris, blacksmith, received a badly lacerated left hand when a horse he was shoeing delivered a vicious kick. Morris had his hand treated by Dr. A.L. Esposito.

Bobby Schench, so of Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs Schenck, was treated this week for the removal of a piece of champhor ball, which had become lodged in one of his nostrils.

John Ford, or Parkdale, is suffering from a smashed left foot. The injury was caused by a horse which Ford was using to assist in spraying cranberries.
 
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Wick

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Note: You may remember Henry Beck meeting John Ford at Rockwood in More Forgotten Towns of Southern NJ


7/28/1927

Hammonton Suffers Accidents Epidemic

Hammonton, July 27-- Russell Nasso, 16 years old, of French Street, was rushed to Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia Monday , suffering with a gangrenous attack of appendicitis.

Albert Morris, blacksmith, received a badly lacerated left hand when a horse he was shoeing delivered a vicious kick. Morris had his hand treated by Dr. A.L. Esposito.

Bobby Schench, so of Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs Schenck, was treated this week for the removal of a piece of champhor ball, which had become lodged in one of his nostrils.

John Ford, or Parkdale, is suffering from a smashed left foot. The injury was caused by a horse which Ford was using to assist in spraying cranberries.

Horses are quite unpredictable, sounds like life was hard work and very rough then
 

Teegate

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Any newspaper article before 1923 or so is under the public domain. So starting now I will add them in if applicable.
 

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Ever wonder how Lauries Road got its name? If you don't know, Lauries Road is this road off of 72. Google says it goes across 72 to a short distance behind the chemical dump also, and I suspect it at one time extended further to at least the Sykes Branch. Just guessing there.



In any event, as you may know from my recent post about the Old Half Way tract, we know that George Sykes and many other Sykes family members owned the Old Half Way tract back in the early 1800s. The Sykes also owned property on the other side of 72 by the Sykes Branch and Lauries Road basically runs between Old Half Way and the Sykes Branch area. What I am getting at is the Sykes family pretty much was involved with that complete area.

So, with that said, I did a little searching and found this article from 11/7/1844 in the Monmouth County Democrat. Notice that various names from that area are mentioned. William McKnight owned the Greenwood Forest which is along Lauries Road, the Bullocks were nearby at Bullock, and if you notice George Sykes and Gilbert S. Laurie were executors of the property in this article even though the property really is not exactly in the area in question. That tells us they knew each other or may have even been related. So with Lauries Road passing between Old Half Way and the Sykes Branch, I would suspect Lauries Road is named after William Laurie (Lawrie?), Gilbert S. Laurie or his family.

12633
 

bobpbx

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I like how they wrote descriptions back then. Think if they did so today: "Land for sale. Laid off in lots starting at the road corner where Guy Thompson lives..."
 

Boyd

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Any newspaper article before 1923 or so is under the public domain.

While that is true, a company can place old articles on their website where it is copyrighted. For example, the NY Times website displays a copyright notice with all their old articles, and they have a pretty clear policy about permissible usage. I think it would be OK to scan your own old copy of the NY Times, or to transcribe an article word for word, but not to post a screenshot from the copyrighted newspaper website.
 

Rooftree

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Looking at Google Maps and the Satellite view on NJPB Maps, that Lauries Rd is labelled on the road at Long Causeway from Baptist Rd up along the east side of Shoal Branch to where it goes through the Shreve Branch. (If you were heading to the south side of the Sykes Branch)
 

Teegate

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While that is true, a company can place old articles on their website where it is copyrighted. For example, the NY Times website displays a copyright notice with all their old articles, and they have a pretty clear policy about permissible usage. I think it would be OK to scan your own old copy of the NY Times, or to transcribe an article word for word, but not to post a screenshot from the copyrighted newspaper website.


I am not doing that. I paid for that article and they even give me a link to share it or embed it. I chose to download and post. I will dig deeper and find out more.
 
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Teegate

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Looking at Google Maps and the Satellite view on NJPB Maps, that Lauries Rd is labelled on the road at Long Causeway from Baptist Rd up along the east side of Shoal Branch to where it goes through the Shreve Branch. (If you were heading to the south side of the Sykes Branch)


Yes, I think it is pretty clear that it crossed 72 and then turned west just past the chemical dump and went all along the Pope, then the Shoal then across the Shreve at an old bridge that is there and then to Long Causeway. I have been wanting to get to the bridge that is mentioned on even recent survey maps but have not been there yet. I will soon hopefully.
 

Boyd

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I am not doing that.

I certainly wasn't accusing you of anything! Was just pointing out that "any newspaper article before 1923 or so is under the public domain" might not be true in all cases. This issue has come up a couple times in the past, specifically with old articles from the NY Times website.
 

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Rooftree brought it to my attention that a T. Laurie and Company was located in the Dukes Bridge and Long Causeway area. So Lauries Road may have been named after T. Laurie. This is an 1859 map.

12635
 
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8/8/1887

The dead body a young woman from near Atsion.


Theories of the cause of her death.
Was it Murder, Suicide, or Due To Natural Causes

Investigating the case.


Residents are excited over a mystery and the whole community has set to work in an attempt to solve the affair. Just 10 days ago a number of section hands employed on New Jersey Southern Railroad found the dead and decomposed body of a young woman, who looked to be about 25 or 30 years of age , in a small clump of trees, just on the edge of the great pine belt near a small post in the village which was formally the seat of the great woolen mills of Maurice Raleigh. The deceased was decently attired in a dark, neat fitting suit of cloth, and seemed to be a person of respectability. By her side lay a dark chip hat and a pair of dark gloves. She had evidently been dead for several days. Her features were swollen and bloated, and across the lower portion of her right cheek was a dark mark like a bruise. One of her hands resting on her forehead and the other, clinched by her side

Was she Murdered?


“Could she have been murdered?” This was the question each one of the second hands asked of the other. No one could answer the question. Then one of them stepped forward to obtain a better view of the body. And as he did so remarked: Why, that is the girl we saw down the road a piece several days ago. She was walking along under the shade of the pine trees with both hands clasped behind her and with her head bent towards the ground. I spoke to her but she paid no attention to me. Then I called to her again and she raised her head. She was quite pretty. I noticed, she had brown hair and eyes that looked you through and through. What she said I could not quite make out, but now and then I heard her say something about the beauty of the country and then she would wander off with a lot of talk I couldn't understand.

I made up my mind then she was daft crazy and I wondered what she was doing all alone in this part of the country, for strangers are scarce here-abouts. I paid no more attention to her. “The next day while I was walking along the track, I saw her again. This time I thought I would walk towards her and see what was the matter. When I was a few feet from her she turned quickly on her heel and ran like a deer into the pines swamp. I made no attempt to follow her and never saw her again. This is the same women, I'm sure.” A telegram was at once sent to Coroner Carr, of Mount Holly, notifying him of the fact and urging him to hold in inquest. He did so, and made diligent inquiry into the circumstances, but was then unable to learn anything definite. And as the body was decomposing so rapidly, and there being no undertaker in the vicinity, a crude pine box was secured, into which the body was placed and buried within a few feet of the spot where it was found.

The prosecutor notified.

Before interment a physician from Medford viewed the body and said he saw nothing that would indicate that death had resulted from anything but natural causes; perhaps hunger, perhaps exposure, he could not say which.

After this nothing further was done until C. E. Hendrickson, the prosecuting attorney of Burlington County, received an urgent letter from a prominent citizen of Woodland Township, requesting an investigation of the girls sad fate, as he had good reasons to believe that the girl had been foully murdered.

In the letter, however, he enjoined the utmost secrecy upon the prosecutor and told him that the information thus given was not to be disclosed unless the writer’s identity was kept a secret, which the prosecutor promised.

Yesterday Samuel Carr, the venerable coroner of Burlington County went down Atsion to make some inquiries in regards to the matter and made but little headway, although he succeeded in running across what may prove to be valuable information for the state. It was a small leather handbag containing the effects of the deceased, which was accidentally picked up by a party of young people who were out for a days jaunt in the woods and who were discussing the girls death at the time.

As they approached the spot where the body was found one of the party a little in advance of the rest noticed the bag, which seem to be wedged under an old tree that was partially decayed at the butt. There was a good deal of speculation at the time as to who was the owner.

An attempt was made to open it, but it was locked and the key could not be found, so the bag with handed over to the custody of Iran Crain, Crane, the hotel keeper, who in turn delivered it to the custody of Coroner Carr.

Upon his arrival its contents excited a good deal of interest and furnished additional incentive to learn more about the fate of the dead stranger and her antecedents. The contents consistent of a small quantity of underwear, toilet requisites. etc., and one or two letters in German, from which the signatures had been torn. There was also a policy of insurance issued from the branch office of an insurance company in the name of Anna Maria Nehrwein, together with a receipt for the amount of the premium. There was also a certificate issued by some institution in Germany to the effect that Maria Nehrwein was a qualified teacher of the ordinary branches, and there was also a card bearing the name of Susan Weller 260 First Avenue, New York City, and a number of visiting cards of different persons which bore no address.

Footprints in the sand

The corner will take charge of these until differently instructed by the prosecutor. “Was the girl murdered?” This is the question that all are now asking. Popular opinion has already decided that she was, but by whom, or for what purpose is yet a mystery.

Careful examination of the ground immediately surrounding the spot where the girl was found showed a number a footprints, as if someone had walked around it several times. This was noticed by the railroad men the day the discovery was made, and one of them remarked that it had I strange look. Owing to the sandy nature of the soil it was impossible to tell whether the footprints were those of a man or a woman. On a scrap of paper in the leather bag were the words:

“I quitted the straight path in my weakness. The beauty of the way made me forget the end.” It is likely that the body will be exhumed and a careful post mortem examination made.
 
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8/12/1887

The Atsion Mystery

The inquest in the case of Anna Maria Nehrwein, the pretty German girl whose body was found near Atsion some three weeks ago, was held at Small's hotel, near Medford, yesterday, and an autopsy was made by Doctor Braddock, who reported that no marks of violence were visible on the body. The jury rendered a verdict "that deceased came to her death from exposure or some other cause unknown to them."
 
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July 26, 1918

The new Jersey Department of Conservation and Development has organized within the state a search for black walnut trees needed by the Government for the manufacture of gun-stocks and airplane propellers. Boy Scouts are already at work searching for and reporting upon walnut trees and everybody is asked to help in this matter. Those knowing of black walnut trees are asked to report to the state forester Trenton, the name and address of the owner and size of each tree. Reports should be complete, covering all points mentioned above. The Government is not buying the walnuts direct, but is locating it for firms manufacturing war products.


One month later August 29, 1918

Black Walnut Owners Asking Excessive Prices

The attention of the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Development has been called to the fact that many owners of black walnut trees are asking prices for their trees much higher than those fixed by the War Industries Board.
 

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8/11/1915

State Board Invokes Recent Acts of Legislature to Prevent Fires


The second order is issued against the Cedar Crest Orchards (Bamber) which has obstructed a fire-line made by the Tuckerton Railroad Company in Ocean County, by throwing upon it and adjacent to it the tops and littler from felled trees. Under the authority of the act know as the "brush disposal law" also passed last winter. The company is required to clear up three places aggregating about 1000 feet in length and 20 feet wider than the width of the fireline. This order must be executed within 10 days, so that no chance spark from a passing locomotive shall start a fire in the debris close to the track.
 
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