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Fire At Belfast

(Allegany County Democrat, June 8, 1877. From Allegany County Historian files. Transcribed by Michael Weber.)

A very disastrous Fire occurred in the village of Belfast during Friday night last, or about 2 o’clock Saturday a.m., destroying all that business portion of the place on the west side of main street opposite the Park, between Hughes and Canal streets, comprising seven business places.

The origin of the fire is unknown, but first appeared in or near the rear of either Saunders’ or Hopper’s store. The following is a list of the business places destroyed

H. F. Willis, store and stock.
A millinery store next door north of Wills’
C. W. Saunders & Co., store and stock.
A. R. Hopper, two stores and stock.
Meat Market building.
Olive Flynn, furniture store and stock.
One dwelling house on Hughes street, in rear of Willis’ store.

While we are enabled to give the exact location of the fire, and a correct list if the buildings burned, we have not received a list of the respective losses, particularly on stocks of merchandise. It was a wooden block, and, burning rapidly at a late hour of the night, much of the contents of the buildings must have been destroyed.

The insurance firm of B. Hanks & Son of this village hold policies accounting to $3,000 in five different companies, distributed among different owners of the buildings. We hear that Mr. Thos. Miller also has insurance policies on buildings and stock, from which we assume that at least a fair proportion of the gross loss is covered by insurance .

There is some talk of probably incendiarism (sic), and a full investigation will doubtless be had.-Reporter