Risen from the Ashes

Risen from the Ashes. . , Roscoe, November 19, 1916, a Dark Cold Night at 2am, a Horrific Fire Burned Down 23 Buildings. , Roscoe Village Ravaged by Fire Early Sunday Morning , A Score of Business and Other Buildings Devoured, with Most of Contents -- Many Families Made Homeless. $150,000 Loss, with Little Insurance. , The lively village of Roscoe, on the O and W railroad thirteen miles north of Jeffersonville, experienced one of the most devastating conflagrations ever seen in Sullivan county early last Sunday morning, when eight prominent business places and ten or eleven other buildings were burned to the ground. together with nearly all their contents, entailing a loss estimated at above $150,000 with insurance of less than a third of that amount. , Cause of Fire A Mystery , The cause of the fire is a mystery. It started about 2 a. m. in the bowling alley building, owned by Frank H. Mauer of Liberty. The fact that the people around there were aroused by an explosion gives rise to the belief that the fire was caused by a coal stove exploding. , Woman Breaks Leg Jumping From Building , When Wesley Sipple and his mother, who lived over the bowling alley were aroused by the fire they found the entire lower floor of the building on fire and escape by the stairway cut off. Wesley jumped out of the front window to the sidewalk and then caught his mother as she jumped but she broke her leg at the ankle in striking the sidewalk. , Firemen soon had the fire hose out and connected to the hydrant in front of the hardware store next to the burning building. They thought they had the fire under control when the water pressure began to give out and the water got less. It then became a forlorn hope and the firemen could only do the best they could with the water available while the occupants of the neighboring buildings began to move out, placing their goods along the sidewalk, having to move them to more distant places as the fire progressed. , The O&W Railroad Deserves Censure , When word came to the Manor for help, over a hundred men gathered at the station ready to come up. The railroad refused to send up a special train. There were two crews at hand, engine and can. But the mean act did not deter the Manor boys. They scurried around town and requisitioned every automobile and wagon they could find and came up with a hundred strong. , Roscoe is truly grateful to the men of Livingston Manor and Liberty for their help. There was little they could do because there was no water, but their hearts were true and Roscoe thanks them. Special mention must be made of the heroic work of the Manor boys, who saved the Maus house while the Roscoe boys had their hands full elsewhere. There was no doubt that they not only saved the house, but also the Presbyterian church and some other buildings.