, 1874-07-26
Letter from Mr.. Joseph Bird,
Of Boston.
Ho Urges the Adoption Of His sys-
TEN upon This City.
Communication from hir. Baun1ann on
the Subject of Watch Towers.


10 the Editor Of TAe CHICAGO Tribune:
SIR: II, as we ali agree, every person whe
be discovers fire should at once give an alarm
Why should not every person who has give
time and thought and practical experience to til
question of how to prevent fro present HI
views to Il suffering community We all agre
that Chicago is in great danger of conhagra
tons. Upon the question OF how to proyen
.s:s1a, 70 one yet seems to know what to do.
The abuse Of your fremen is wrong, and is hkol.
to do much harm. You may have some bad men
IS there are in every body OF men, but tell YOU
that there is not company in Chicago who
at every alarm. do not do their very
best to get their engines at work upon the fire
in the smallest possible time Thore is NOT ono
company in the city vino would not be glad to
dash out every fire in q minute. and with the
smallest possible loss to the owners. And onco
more: When fire in gale OF wind has become
acondagration, river OF fire, the sparks CATCH
ing and setting fire to many places far ahead ct
the engines before they be got to work,
there Il c work to do for which no man in
Chicago or any other city is competent This
problem must be settled IN some other way than
by abusing fremen. It ii not they. but the sys-
TEN, which is at fault, aud which must be
ci.augcd.
Ills the easiest thing in the world to find
fauls-it is one of the most dilic.lit things, at
least in Chicago, to Arrest large fire with the
present system. Let me show you why you eau
net with the present system avoid fires.
4 fire is discovered in come one Of . crowd of
:our wooden buildings on hot day and when
there ie gallo Of wind. At onco there il con-
fnsion worse confounded. Some one must be
sent to give tho alarm to the nearest box. Not
one in dozen Of those asked knows where it ID.
When person is started he rushes Out, knock
ing down the first halfdo neu he meets
Until he goes down before some giant himself.
At length he reaches the box. He cannot open
q r
Tued to death, he cannot epesk. hut screams
something which no one can under |
slsud. The man who is to give the alarm guets |
him RoEewha:. when he gasps out that ''orr !
houss Is OH tire!" At last he tells where the |
fire. il, when the alarm is rung, and tho engines
arc attached to the horses. the men mount, and |
are OF to the Ere. It takes Some time to go over
the average quarter OF mile. when the engine |
is to be put in position. the horses taken away,
tie erg:re attached TO the hydEaut, the leading
wster got upon the fire. The average time Of
throwing tie first water upon fires, from tho
frht moraent OF its diEcovety, is not less than
fifteen minutes in Chicago, or anywhere elso
where steam fre-ergiues are used. Does the
fire wait lbat fifteen minutes? Here is the So !
luton OF the whole problem.
AL tires double their proportions every min
ute. In gale Of wind, in crowded wooden |
buildings, or where there are iaaammable oils
Or other dangerous merchandise, they quadru-
pie every minute. This ia by the rule Of geo.
netr1cal progression. A few examples from this
rule will illustrate nv meanng. 4 gentleman
gave his daughter guinea On her birthday, and |
promised to triple it on the first day Of each
month for one year. She would have received
.i5, 10 guineas! 4 farmer would not pay Il
or the shoeiug OF his horse. 'sWell,a said
he blacksmith, give mo cent for tho first
1ail. two for the second, and so on for the thir
y-two nails.' "1es." said the farmer. Tney
I'D the little sum, and found the amount to he
3aid was more than $40 600 O00 In Pope's Arith-
netic, on page 241, ID the following sum
Suppose farthing had been put ont at
Christian era, what would it have amounted to
n 1874 yeare? and suppose the amount to be in t
tandaid gold, allowing cubic inch to be |
Forth 5Sl. 3. 3d., how large would the mass !
AVE been:" More than 415e3o,s39. .s4t. 258
lnaes larger than the globe NE lnhabit! Such is
'rccisely the power Of the increase OF fire when
! doubles each minute! What would it be I
hen it qnadrnples, as, alas, it too often ).
oes2 And the people have now in +
s Psfa3a 1cmen fo fys5sn ge.as Tsh to prszs9s wa4
or the first fifteen minutes The wonder is. r
OF that We have go many fires, but that the CITY
I Chicago, and all other large cities, are not !
rolled up as SCROLL" Aud now for the rem D
estroyed- To many thousands Of people it II
'ould be worse than . con1agration,-t loss, c.
lthout the sympathy OF the world. a
Others would double the number and the sizs c.
|
le telegraph, getting the engines ready. the
ose to the fire. etc. minute or two would bo c.
aimed in going to the fire. The expense of either
these plans, or Of the Holly system would be G.
lions Of dollars. O.
We have all seen or read Of monstrous can q
on throwing shot OF 800 pounds, or long shot a
900 or Geo pounds, and who has not seen c:
oit Z OF rRcmIl!ngton revolveTs which, weighing b
ss than LAO pounds. will kill half dozen mea II
Ench more quickly aud deceutly than the great | "
Funance Who. fearing that burglars would | se
tack him. would ask the city authorities tokccp st
Go0-ronEder in the middle Of the CITY, and q Il
'mpany of men and horses ready To move it to tt
s house, with which to destroy the burglars! sc
The same amount Of thought and ingenuity al
hach Lave Invented the efficient revolyers has pl
ertected al etlicient fre-engine which is 30 re
ieetiye and 20 cheap that It may be put into re
ets a3'1; n IN city, and SO effective
n1c, it will. with the others which
ould be Ut work in two minutes dash out nine | To
II OF every ten tires II . minute or two, or hold
EN- in control until the arrival Of the steam :,
event large fires. The War Department of tie he
>. a. have examined and made practical ex- fir
Hnents, proving these engines to be much m,
orc eiaeens than any 1rc-e1tlng1isher, and at I'M
I'd sent them to nearly ali their military sta tn
'ns President Eliot, and Professors Eustis, as
'oAe, aud Lowering, attended an exhibition for ca
s kurpose Of seeing their efficiency and the bu
"aa tAak LILY were purchased toT tue SO,
a!dlnSa Of Harvard University. Tie Fire o''
Of Boston recommend their use Ill
every exposed place, as do the Board Of pa
ade end the Board Of Underwriters of Boston. in,
Let tho city authorities Of Chicago contract ,,t.
II. .oeo Of them for less than 100000. aud w
stributc them as fast as they can possibly be- As
2de and before the last Thousand il G,str1but- fir
the rate OF insurance would fall ia tue citr 40 str
to more than pay for them, while the insur- IN
cc companies would havclbecone solvent and ..1 -
[e from any fire which could occur in the cty No
selve thousand would place one within q min. Fl,
C OF a6o10 buildingsl Tho proprietors will US,
I'D to Chicago and make such experiments be.
will convince every one Of their wonderful 49,,
lcicncy, the best manner Of introducing them. Au'
= accompanying thus is book published at OPP
as@haiugton. showing the experiments made at cal
g War Department. You in Chicago arc in the
ngez- perhaps more than any other citv, You imp
We mad the most awful ire the world has e7er wa
own. have IN this paper, think, shown ruk
at It Is not the fault Of your f1emeu, but Of Of
Q Q system. You can make no chnure with so ter
re expense as this, and you may be as an
req there will be mono so efficient. vii you Ho
y carefully examine it, aud it Is efficient as be
o v AZ Department Of the United States found lie
you will adopt it. ''s' 'oona su,
l LIE great fire Of Chic~oo ...-,. | ha