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Three men, a woman and an 11-year-old girl were burned to death in what was described as the most disastrous fire in Plymouth&rsquo;s history on Nov. 19, 1924.
				Seven people including three firemen were injured in the inferno that destroyed six buildings on East Main Street. More than 30 people were forced from their boarding rooms escaping wearing only their night clothes, the Times Leader reported Nov. 20, 1924.
				&ldquo;The fire started in the saloon conducted by Mrs. Mary Sherako at 204 E. Main St.,&rdquo; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported.
				Sherako was the proprietor of the Sherako Hotel, a boarding house where mostly single men and coal miners resided.
				Sherako and her niece, Emily Petroski, 11, were found dead in the basement of the hotel hours after the fire had been extinguished.
				Buildings and businesses damaged were the American Store, George Simokatus Tailoring, Taske&rsquo;s Meat Market, a furniture store and a cigar store and pool room.
				&ldquo;The flames spread quickly from the Sherako building to the American Store, which adjoins it on the lower side, and then with amazing rapidity made its way through the four other buildings up the street,&rdquo; the Record reported Nov. 20, 1924.
				Luzerne County Deputy Sheriff Ignatius Hosey first spotted the fire while he was on his way home at about 1:45 a.m.
				&ldquo;Deputy Hosey was passing the Sherako Hotel when a burst of flames suddenly shot out of the cellar window. Hosey blew his police whistle several times and several persons in the neighborhood quickly rushed to the street, turned in an alarm of fire to the Plymouth Borough fire department,&rdquo; reported the Record.
				Hosey rushed into the burning building running down hallways knocking on doors of boarding rooms.
				&ldquo;Hosey made his way to the second floor where he found several boarders had been overcome by smoke. He carried three of the victims to the street and by that time Patrolman John Piscotty, Michael McAvoy had arrived on scene and together with Thomas Dwyer and Joseph Gallagher, they managed to carry to safety all of the other occupants of the Sherako hotel,&rdquo; the Record reported.
				As the fire consumed the six wood constructed buildings, firemen from neighboring towns including Wilkes-Barre City arrived with pumpers. Buses owned by Frank Martz stored in a nearby concrete building were removed in fear the fire would ravage the structure.
				&ldquo;The fire gained such headway, it was decided to call the Larksville Fire Departments and appeal to Wilkes-Barre. Men and apparatus from the city and borough were soon on scene,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported.
				Sherako&rsquo;s son, Edward Sherako, 21, was awakened when a stone was thrown through a window of his room that faced East Main Street.
				&ldquo;He made no effort to save anything and dashed from his room and through the flame filled hallway to the street clad only in sleeping garments and a shawl he picked up enroute,&rdquo; reported the Times Leader of Edward Sherako.
				Once outside and realizing what was happening, Edward Sherako, who played football at Wyoming Seminary, ran to an adjacent building to warn others who were sleeping.
				&ldquo;The young Sherako made his way to the home of a friend, crashed through the front door and fell to the floor,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported.
				After the fire was extinguished, Edward Sherako returned to the ruins, climbed a ladder to the charred sections of the second floor and found $75 beneath a pillow.
				&ldquo;There was little left of the pillow but the few wet feathers kept the flames away from the money and it was found intact where Edward Sherako had laid it,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported Nov. 21, 1924.
				Although an exact cause of the fire was never determined, Plymouth Police Chief Horace Cooper told newspaper reporters a moonshine still was found with burnt debris in the basement of the Sherako Hotel.
				&ldquo;Horace Cooper revealed several parts of a moonshine still and a barrel of mash in the cellar of the Sherako saloon. The fire started in saloon&rsquo;s basement having been discovered by passers-by, who saw smoke and flames coming out of a cellar window,&rdquo; the Record reported Nov. 21, 1924.

Look back: Five people died in Plymouth 1924 fire