Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-08-01
OUR GOTHAM LETTER.


ment OF our Fire Brigades, by which the
boisterous alarms of other days are made
unnecessary. So fascinating was the sto-
ry to me that I cannot refrain from show
ing my three hundred thousand readers
through one of the engine houses near my
city home, and asking their verdict upon
the virtues of our brave fre-laddies
''Come in and look through the house"
courteously said one of the 1.-THE, supple
fellows who work Steamer No.. a right
manly looking crew they were; finely
built men, all muscle, and having that
elastic tread which delights lover of
masculine physique In front of the
broad open doors stands the steamer, the
water hot in her boiler by connection with
boiler in the cellar, and her own fires
ready for the match. The hot water con-
nectiOn is instantly SeYered and the match
applied the instant she leaves the house.
In the rear corner stands the single horse
| hose cart, with its shafts in the air high
enough for its horse to run under. Back
of the house is a little paved courtyard,
and then the stable, containing three no.
and his place vastly better than some bI-
peds,
''Shall we let the horses out?" asked the
fireman, and then disposing my boys so
they should not get run over, he closed
ali the doors, and stepping to the alarm
gong, gave one pull at the chain. Open
flew every doer, and through them
DASHED THREE HORSES
/ n, L, p l..
of the steamer, his mate to the other;
both swung themselves in against the pole
and stood impatiently shaking their eager
heads while the men snapped" trace
fast here, hook there, and the steamer
was ready for action. The other horse
darted quickly under the shafts of the hose |
cart, which dropped, and with two or three
SNAPS he was ready Every fireman has
his own special part to play whenever the |
gong strikes and by this minute subdivis-
ion of labor they accomplish the wonderful |
feat Of dropping their ordinary avocatiOns /
about the house, reading, smoking, nap |
ping, etc., hitching up their horses, cut.
ting off the hot water connections with !
the boiler down stairs, starting the fire, |
and landing steam fire engine, a hose |
cart and twelve equipped firemen on the |
street, ready for run,
IN NINE SECONDS
from the first tap of the bell! They har-
ness and prepare for work every time the |
alarm commences to strike, ready, if it /
happens to be in their district, to apply |
the match and dash away at gallop to
the scene Of confagration. If the alarm
strikes some number not in their district
they unhitch and take the horses back.
Minutes, and even seconds, are of so much /
value in fighting fire that every time an /
alarm is struck in any part of this Island, /
thirteen miles long, every company pre- !
pareS for action; over three hundred bors-
es dash alone and undirected out Of their |
stalls and are hitched up, and nearly eight.
hundred men stand on the alert for the /
final taps of the alarm which tell in whose /
district the fire is located. In such city /
every man and horse is thus called to his
post many times every day and night. The
horses are trained so that at a tap of the
gong in the stable (the striking Of which |
loosens every halter-chain) the horse near
est the door backs out of his stall first, the
next follows, and the inmost horse after /
his next neighbOr.. Neither of the latter |
horses will, under any circumstances, pass |
his leader, and if he gets fast from any /
cause, his followers
CIRCLE ROUND AND ROUND
till the obstruction is removed. The hors-
es are great noble creatures, the very best, |
most valuable and most intelligent of their |
kind, who quite make you hope there is a |
heaven where good horses may go.
The gong arrangements are a curiosity. |
Ali alarms are telegraphed by the police
men in whose district the fire breaks out to |
Police Headquarters, and thence are in
stantly repeated over all the ''circuits" in /
the city. With the first tap of the gong a |
little brass weight hanging on the hammer |
is detached and falls the length Of its |
chain, starts lever which throws open ev- |
cry door Of stable and engine house, strikes |
the horses gong, and loOsens their halters. |
1t also stops a clock on the instant, so that |
when the company return after the fire |
they can note the exact moment the alarm |
was received, and make an entry thereof |
in the records. In this house one of the |
firemen has little dog to whom he says: |
''Let out the horsesP' and he runs to the |
gong, seizes with his teeth rubber ring
attached to the above weight, pulls it
down and then rushing to the stable barks
at the horses heels to hurry them up.
The entire company sleep on the second |
floor, on neat iron bedsteads. The room !
is airy and comfortable and kept with suru- |
pulOus neatness. When a fireman retires |
be takes of
BOOTS AND TROUSERS TOGETHER,
folding each trouser's-leg outside its own |
boot. These he stands at the bedside. A /
man remains on watch below all night, and |
on receiving an alarm strikes a gong IN the |
dormitory. Instantly eleven men sit on |
the edge of their respective beds, plunge |
feet into boots (which operation it viii be |
seen puts him inside his pants also) and /
then pulling up his unmentiOnables and /
fastening them about his waist as he runs, |
he goes down the stairs in two jumps, does
his special part in preparing horses and
engines for duty, seiZes hat and coat from
a peg near the door, and does all that in
but three seconds longer than is required
for day alarm.
. Who shall say that such an exacting
life and such qualifications, physical and
mental, should not be well remunerated?
And they are, comparatively speaking.
True, scarcely month passed during the
whole Winter but that some fireman, brave
ly fighting his smoky foe, was killed or
manned. They handle fires with marvel
GUS skill and bravery that amounts often
to recklessness, and when a man puts his
life and limb, and his wife and children's
whole earthly hope against property, prep
CITY NdA o4OA4 " pay cAAu Ou5ub " pay
for it. The men get about 500 month,
officers slight advance, and this is little
enough for the character of service they
render and the risks they encounter. A
movement was made last Winter towards
the reduction Of their salaries. 1t was
shameless demagogery, which fortunately
was fruitlesS. The city pays thousands Of
dissipated, worthless fellows who can han
die primaries and are incapable of doing
courageous and manly deed, larger salaries
by far than these men get who brave the
fiery element and the tottering wall by
night and by day; who plunge every month
into some burning death trap to rescne
human beings from the flames; who do
hard, honest, manly, dangerous work the
year round. Economy" is good, ''Re-
trenchment' is first-rate; but he who would
not advertise himself demagogue will, be-
fore cutting down the we'll earned salaries
of our Fire Brigades, make a crusade at
the half-earned and unearned emoluments !
of the political pets and the ward bum
mers. Till that is done the insincerity Of |
his ''retrenohment" cry is plainly known
and read of all men, and will but pull
down upon himself the contempt of all de-
cent men-but I didn't mean to philoso-
phize with the thermometer trying its best
to count hundred in the shade!