The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-08-14
FALSE FIRE ALARMS.

false ire alarms were beginning to be
looked upon as nuisance. The parties
responsible for mos. of such alarms, and
department is in good working order and
Kept so, are not at all surprised at above
statement, in fact they never expected,
nor bad they right to expect anything
else, for it is not pleasant to hear these
alarms without apparent reason for some.
But the public may believe me when l
say, that it is not done for fun, by any
means, as it involves, often, the loss OF
time in business, and labor for the fire.
men. How necessary frequent false
alarms are where there are so few fire
alarms as, fortunately, are experienced In
this city, any one interested can as
certain by asking the committee on Fire
dept. or the firemen themselves. With
no actual practice, or a substitute there
for, a fire department cannot more be
drill and sham battles. Our fire dept. is
doing as well as can he expected-better
than many In some larger cities, but they
and we have learned something every
time they are called out. The last alarm
was to test the pressure through thou
sand feet of hose, at south city limits,
and a second alarm was sent In to close
gate at tower and give direct pressure.
Such an alarm is indicated by five double
taps of the bell in quick succession. The
The gate at tower is then closed by cleo
tictricity from pumping station, some
thing that had just beeu finished and
never tried by dept. and which worked
satisfactorily. We know from the ex-
perlence of our neighboring cities, as well
as from our own, that fire departments are
often-very often, most inefficient at fires
for the very reason of lack Of practice,
and as such practice can only be obtained
here through false alarms, false alarms
must be resorted to. Now then knowing
that that fire alarms are mostly false ones,
especially in the evening, land sometimes
but very seldom during the night why
should people continue to notice them.
If there is real fire, the danger is that
there will be too many rather than not
enough people to stand in the way If
people run to the box from which an
alarm is sent out of curiosity, they have
a perfect right to do so. There will be
dissatisfaction anyway, but the most JUS
titiable if at fire the dept. does not APP
pear promptly and does not work system
atically. Therefor it is deemed best to
choose the less of two evils, and con-
tinue to send in false alarms. F.S.
The game of base ball between the
exciting one on Thursday last, and took
10 innings for its completion. The Mani
towocs won the game fairly but could
not beat the umpire and the club both.
Dunn the Sheboygan umpire is employ
ed by tie Sheboygan managers. There
are number of sports from that city in
regular attendance at every game who
bet on the club. The club is by no
means poor one but to make assurance
doubly sure the umpire is expected to
supplement the efforts of the club when
necessity requires. His decisions are
generally fair while the Sheboygans are
in the lead, particularly when Partially
could not escape notice. But he is
adroit at all times. When ''three balls"
and ''two strikes" are called the next ball
is Invariably ''strike" if the opposing
club is at the bat. If the conditions are
reversed "ball"i is always called and the
Sheboygan man gets his base. There
was not an exception to this rule in the
two games played between the Manito-
woes and Sheboygans in this city this
year. Even with this policy the Manito-
woes were winning last Thursday and
then Dunn adopted holder tactics and
threw every semblance of fairness to the
winds.
The Sheboygans are paid club, al
most wholly selected from outside.
They play for the money that's in it. The
Manitowocs are all home boys not a
salaried man among them and they play
wholly for amusement. Under these cir
cumstances the umpire who would pros
titute his position in the interests of the
professionals is indeed very mean. The
Manitowocs are to blame in making any
engagement with club which employs
such an umpire and profits by his dis
honesty. It is safe to say that no further
games will be played with the Sheboy-
gan team, at least not while Dunn is on
hand to Go what the club feels unable to
do.