Suffren, NY Town Mostly Destroyed By Blaze, Sep 1915

WHOLE TOWN IS BURNED.

SUFFREN, N. Y., IS NEARLY WIPED OFF THE MAP.

TWENTY-FIVE HOUSES AND A BUSINESS BLOCK CONTAINING TWENTY STORES GO UP IN FLAMES.

Suffern, N. Y., Sept. 29. -- Twenty-five residences and a business block containing about twenty small stores were destroyed by a fire which swept Suffern during last night and early today. The fire burned for hours. Early today the blaze was under control, but the property loss will be heavy.
A smoking mass of charred ruins is all that remains of the principal business block of the town. Occupants of the destroyed residences were driven into the streets in their night clothes. About twenty merchants lost everything in the conflagration.
Fire departments from the nine surrounding towns battled against the flames all night long. Hundreds of persons were carried from their flaming residences unconscious by firemen. At the Rockland house, the principal hotel, upwards of 100 guests escaped or were carried out in their night clothes.
The police said there were no reports of deaths. A fireman had both legs broken by a falling wall.
The fire is supposed to have started in a livery stable near Rockland house.
The telephone exchange somewhat miraculously escaped. About four o'clock the fire got so close to the building the windows cracked, but the girl operators stuck to their places and summoned more aid from nearby towns.
The Erie railway was a heavy loser. A string of twenty box cars was consumed, as was the private car of MRS. THOMAS F. RYAN.

Kokomo Tribune Indiana 1915-09-29
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!