Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-15
NEW Y0RRS FIREMEN.
ADMIRABLE QUALITIES REQUIRED
OF APPLICANTS.

Edu alton OF the Men Before They Arc
Al pointed-Tests Of ProHciency-what
Co Institutes Fireman-courags Is Very
Es ential-Must Bear smoke.
.Firei The house Is on iirer, When that
cry h heard in building panic seizes upon
the inmates and indescribable confusion
| ensus .. Some one runs to a fire. box and
send, in an alarm, which sounds in every
engine house in this city.
| Tho response on the part Of the firemen
| and heir horses Is immediate There ia
haste without laundering, there is no in.
terrier ence OF one man with another. Eager.
ness 10 be on and resolution to work are
depic ed on each mans face. In ten sec
onds he drivers are on their seats, lines in
hand, waiting the order to go. II Is given
and way they dash, the horses needing no
urgin 3, the men clingfng With one hand to
rail Of the cart, wriugi6g into their rub
Der &C ats Not many minutes. later they
are on the ground, the hose is attached to
the hydrant, ladders are run up and the
battle with the fire begins.
The inmates of the burning huild;no
who u few minutes before were panic
strick n, regain confidence. Our firemen.
who, without hesitation, plunge into a
burning building, are men who at one
time IN life We're as liable as any one to
nre lanic, which influences men TO do
very foolish and cowardly things. That
they e not SO now is due to the training
they receive and the trials to which thew
are subjected. Let us follow the course
which an applicant for appointment to the
IRE department in this city must undergo
before he can wear the badge, which is the
emblem of courage and fidelity"
TRIAL OF QUALIFICATION.
After being recommended by the fire
commi 'sioners for appointment the appli-
cant is examined as TO his physical quail
icatiors II they are up to the standard
ne IS u rned over to the civil service COM
mission ers for examination as to his
knowle dye of the common school branches.
II he passes he is sent to Headquarters.
where lie enters the school of instruction
OF the fe saving corps. OF which the drill
master Is Mr.. Henry w. McAdams. He
has had charge Of the school since its orgau-
ization n 1882. No one can 60 behind his
returns there is not political pull enough
in the ty to secure the appointment of n
man WI ON he rejects. It is in this school.
and during the thirty days he is in train
ing, that the applicant proves his fitness
or unfitness to be enrolled in the service.
Z The New York fire department has n
complete gymnasium, where. besides the
apparatus for the development and
strength ening of the muscles, are all the
appliances 1t has in use. Thorough in
struction is given 70 the applicant by Mr..
McAdsnis, himself a veteran fireman, as
TO their purpose and proper handling.
Familiarity with these appliances is abso-
lutely in dispensable TO celebrity on the part
of fireman. whose essential characteristic
must be luickness. A slow man has no
chance for appointment in the department.
TRAINING PRoBATIoNERs.
Probat loners are also taught morality in
an indirect yet forcible manner. Remem-
bering Il at their calling demands of them
courage and honesty, the probationer who
is with Sc me company, either in the engine
house or 1t fire, feels that he is associa-
ting with men who are gentle in their man.
ners, respectful and obedient TO superiors
ready at my instant to hold the muzzle
close agsins flame that menaces them
with dea ID, and who would not disgrace
their uni orm. If he has the true stuff in
him he viii soon conform with them in
thought, purpose and demeanor, and on
every occ aston emulate them in zeal and
honor.
The Gu tivation of good manners and
ONAS4 tudb CONSTITUTE a man ll
taught in an unobtrusive way. For in
stance, ths applicant learns the story of the
hre at Chambers street and Broadway
years ago, when the employees of a bank
rushed into the street, leaving sl60 900 in
cash on the counters. The firemen ran IN.
gathered he money together. threw it into
the safe, nd locked the safe door When
the money was taken out and counted only
- was mis- sing, and that consisted OF silver
dollars. Which in the excitement had prob
ably rolled away. Hearing such a story
the apple ant OF the right material is very
likely to n solve to behave with equal hon
esty at every fire 10 which he is called.
ME,J OF NATURAL COURAGE.
Men art natural towards where there's
a fire. said Capt McAdams to me. Put
all Barnunfs wild animals in that lot over
there and hen drop child among them,
and In mint cases out OF ten the father of
that child win go in after it, But let there
be an alarm OF fire in the house in the night
time and tl at same man will run into the
street and leave his child behind. have
never seen q man suffocated at a fire with
a child in h s arms, but have seen women
lying dead from suffocation with a child in
each arm. The mans first thought is 10
get into the street when he hears the house
Is on fire. The woman's first thought ia
her children"
The probe TONERS are, no doubt, naturally
courageous, and each one resolves to be as
heroic as anR man who has won the Ben |
nett medal; but when there is fire and
they go In with the fremen their true
metal is shown. The captains eye is on |
them. II they waver he sees it, but IL they |
resolutely hold their faces to the fire and |
obey orders, no matter II the smoke is thick |
enough TO be cut and II their teeth are chat |
terine loud enough to be heard above the |
cracking of The flames, he knows that they
are OF the rig ut stuff and reports favorably |
upon them. II an applicant cannot stand |
the smoke, which, Capt. McAdams sazs.
feels in you, throat as IL some fellow were |
trying to force you to swallow a BASEBALL
he is dropped from the list-Epoch.