Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-01-02
A COLLEGE FOR HORSES.
HOW THE STEEoS IN THE NEW YORK
FIRE. DEPARTMENT ARE TAUGHT.
Marvellous Things Accomplished i'm Few
Seconds-AppIes and Lumps of Sugar
for the Good Scholars rs-Started In Eleven
Seconds.

That's the best educated horse in New
York. He is the most Intelligent horse that
ever came out of school,
The speaker was broad shouldered fire.
man, who stood at the d Dor of down town
engine house. The handsome roam which
stood a few feet away ready to jump into his
harness, seemed to know what was being said,
for he twisted his head and arched his neck
IN the proudest manner moment later.
under the direction of the fireman, he went
fhrough a wonderful exhibition of fast har-
Messing, showing almost human intelligence
He practically harnesseo himself, and did it
so quickly that the eye could scarcely follow
him
What the fireman said of the horse was
true He had been 10 school, from whence
be graduated with q stinguiShed Donors.
There arc many Interesting things in New
York, but t1ere are few things more inter
esting than the school rom which this par
ticular horse graduated It is situated in the
UPPER part OF New York and is under the
management of several veterans of the fire
department., commanded by a well known
veterinary surgeon, who is practically prin-
cipal Of school.
Ard there is as mucl hard studying done
il this school rs in any il New York, even if
tho pupils are horses.
The school in New York educates horses
for the fire service only. 1t is more i'm
portant institution than most people may at
first thought imagine it to be. Intelligent
horses are almost as indispensable as are in
telligent men. A tuI id, a slow or a balky
horse may at times cost the loss of thousands
of dollars, and perhaps many lives. The de-
lay of two or three seconds in getting a fire
| engine out of the engine house sometimes
n fire 81 n imnetuS that iS ari1y "
,, damaging to life and property. The horses
turned ont from this school are warranted to
be strong, intelligent and to have a thorough
knowledge of their business. They never
balk, they are never lazy, and are in every
respect reliable, being sound of wind and
| limb and more than in Jelligent
SELECTION AID TEACHING.
The horses are oil picked, but they seldom
are OF any use for fire work after five years
| of service. They are selected by experts from
| among the best horses that are to be found at
the Bulls Head horse market, the chief horse
market in the United States. The horses
| selected come mainly from the west 1t re-
quires somo skill to pick out horses for use in
the fire department. Big and clumsy horses
| arc OF no use. But the horse must be speedy
and strong. The horses selected are usually
about sixteen hands high, weighing from
| 1890 to l 40 pounds, and their ages range
from to years. Younger horses are not
strong enough to drag heavy fire engines, and
| older ones are too old 20 train.
As soon as the horse is bought he is sent to
the school, and Dr. Shea, who is in charge OF
this institution, says that in his opinion
horses and boys are very much alike, and
must be managed in very much the same
manner. But DR.. Shea believes in kindness
as means TO get control of his pupils and
| teach them.
1t Is marvellous how quickly these young
horses learn what it is necessary for them to
know before they can be put to work. The
men who handle them know their business
thoroughly, and are in love with it. Under
their careful handling the green horse under.
| stands his duties i'll little moro than q month.
| No whip is used in this school. The first test
| is that which establishes the soundness of the
animals wind. Then he is put in his stall
He is led backward III d forward to where the
harness hangs until he becomes used to the
engine and until he also becomes accustomed
! to oducling or lowerin, his head to get it into
| the collar.
When he accompIis hes his task we'll he i:
| given apples OF caniy or humps of sugar
! and Is pctted and male much Of He is next
| taught to rush to his place in front of the en-.
| gine at the clang of the gong. When he be
comes expert ct this his education is com
plete and he is ready for serious work, and q
| week later can run to a fire as well as the
most thoroughsoing veteran.
There are always dozen horses being put
through their PAGES at this school, which is
constantly becoming more and more of q
necessity. These hor5 5es cost about $500 each
and after their five years they are disposed
OP n r,nddlars corrr,,a,, for o,,~,
| from $50 to $3.50 These horses are so well
taught that they never forget their training
| 1t Is not an uncommon thing when n fire en-
| gine dashes through The streets of New York
to see some dilapidated looking nag attached
to some huckster's wagon prick up his ears
| and join in the race 20 the scene OF the fire
1t Is an old and broken down fire horse who
| can't forget the stirring days when he helped
draw an engine. 1t is. the same spirit that
led broken down hunters to join in the hunt
| at the sound of the cry of the hounds
THE CHAMPION TEAM
There are some wonderful horses in the
| New York fire department. but the cham
pions are joe and Charley the splendid
| team that are attached to engine company
| II, in Chambers strest These were the prizt
winners at the world S fair at tho American
| Institute IN 1885, and they are still the cham
! pions. They are the two most famous scholar.
| ever turned out from New York's school
| Joe is the champion Of champions, and hs
| entertains many visitors who como daily Il
admire his intelligeI ce. Joe is roam, and s
handsome one, too. His mate Charley is G
bay. and this team can drag a heavy engine
| over the ground faster than any team in the
United States and probably in the world. Al
the worlds fair, when they won the media
which they still hold, they were tried on
dash of 26 feet inches They made thre,
| tests, one ut 10 in the morning, another at
in the afternoon, am yet another at o'clocl
| in the evening.
The time for tho first : lsh was one anc
| five-eighths seconds fer ,ne second two anC
one-half seconds AMI for the last two seconds
! The intelligence of these horses is simply re
| markable. Chief Shaw. of London, coult
scarcely believe thai they could do what wa!
| said of them until it was done before his owl
| eyes Even then it was hard TO believe. Or
| three ordinary trials the other night Joe anc
| Charley got into their harness and had theil
| engine on the street and on their way to fire
ia an average time Of eleven seconds. Ant
| there was no special effort to make extraordi
| nary speed, either St. Louis Globe
| Democrat.
| Ancient Oyster Shells.
| In cleaning out the lower levels of the cave:
at Dordogne, in France, along with some oi
the most rudimentsry arrow heads yet dis
covered there were ,ound a great many oyster
shells piled in such manner as to show that
the Neanderthal nan used the bivalve as Q
n,-$. l. - e. -.