The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-01-24
THE FIRE FIEND.
A Description Of a PanguItch
Blaze.
cp,sKY CHARACTERS PRESENT
,,,n with the Axe-Thc Man on
the Beer Keg-The Man
with the Ladder.
p,yeU1rcH, GARFIELD Co.. UTAH,
January 10th, 1885.


January 10th, 1885.
~, an occasional Correspondent.
Having a great desire to have our
-.-fof the country represented in the
poIumns of your valuable paper, at least
zoo in a decade, I send you a brief de-
arintion of a fire which occurred in this
-, little hamlet a short time ago,
sorsnming blacksmith shop and sa-
Loon and all the paraphernalia of bill
lard hall
There was, as is always at every fire
lumber of stereotyped char
,tore who attend all scenes of
.bis class. At the first alarm
,.onr humble servant arose from his
5od and through excitement put his
cocks on wrong side out, rushed up
town to the scene of the confagration
Nth one suspender trailing on the
gronnd, and arrived at the fire in half
Jrossed and GREATNESS condition, and
Sr,I,5 the above described characters
Tread on the ground. There was one
61,nisSTse,yoiced man who acted as if the
-rboIe eonhagration was under his i'm
,nnGiate supervision, and he stood on
an empty beer keg in the middle of the
erect Ct, wildly gesticulating and bowling
SUGGESTIONS to the chief of the bucket
brigade He finally got knocked off
his perch by a ladder, and had the
hin, o0oiHanf.
then. when he got all the
muddy water out of his mouth and ears,
he dreamily propelled his despatched
corporation to the opposite side of the
street, and calmly looked on at safe
distance. He was heard to softly
murmur something about the in
efficiency. of a homemade 'bucket
brigade.h An equally dangerous and
absurd character, was n man with an
axe He was early at the fire accom-
panied by a new axe; no one knows
where he got 1t, and nobody ever saw
him carry it back, but while he re-
manned on the scene, he made
things lively. He was a perfect
bosom of destruction. " He battered in
doors, hacked the fence in a vain effort
to cut it away to make room for the
boys with the buckets, and in his wild
desire to save property, demolished
everything that an axe would make an
impression on. This fiend, who is too
weak to do manual labor, and who lets
his wife chop all the fire-wood at home,
created sad havoc and desolation for
two blocks around the fire, and he even
tried, when everything including the
lightning rod, and the pump, was cut
down, to hew 10 pieces with his little
Ratchet" the shade trees in the adJoin /
/ ing lot to keep the fire from spreading.
There was still another "crank" who
seemed to have an inordinate craving for
ladder. His inmost soul was stirred
with yearning for a step LADDER In
tones swelling with pathos, profanity
and excitement, he shouts: Have any
of you got ladder? My heaven! will
none of you give me a LADDER" As if
tWenty-four foot ladder were some
thing that-like a six-shooter or
charm to prevent rheumatism-every-
one carried in his pocket. When he
failed to obtain the coveted ladder, he
tried to climb up the water-spout, that
ne might, at the risk of his
life, break open some of the second
story windows, let the air in, and
give the fire a chance. In contrast
with this last vigorous individual, was
helpless man who went about wringing
his hands and carrying an empty
bucket, getting in everybody's way and
wondering if the buildings were insured.
lie got tripped up frequently, and
knocked about generally. He wanted
TO stop the foreman of the Tin pail
corps" and ask him how the fire origi-
mated, and if he thought there was any
Ghance OF the fire spreading to his resi-
dence across the Sewer River, but the
energetic fire laddie" had only=time
TO address some bad words to him.
very prominent in the crowd was the
nan VINO hrst discovered the fire. He told
nov! ana was very particular regarding
ustonS he was standing talk
ny 10 a friend, on the
Sidewalk about two blocks away. when
ne Houced small quantity of smoke
oozlng' etc, etc, but EVERYONE knew
nun zoe well, having suffered from his
esotlsucaI narratives, and his immedi-
a!e trends took him silently away, and
h.1diy advised him to 90 home and re-
are ana recuperate, as he was wanted
' vi. Inc morrow to fulfill the responsible
EHsltion OF juror in 4 Justices court.
ne very kindly took his friends advise.
1iig soon his detestable presence was
suddenly lost to view. ]. ND.