St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-09
General Complaint of the
Failure Of Boxes to Turn
in Warnings.
Something Wrong Which May
Cause a Disastrous Con-
flagration.
Supt. jenkins Explains What
May Be the Occasion Of
the Bungling.
What a Niggardly Appropria-
ton May Cost in a Fire
at Any Time.

There has been a good deal of COM
ment recently on the failure of the fire
alarm system at critical moments.
Boxes have been pulled which never
registered at the department headquar
ters; others have rung in in such con-
fused and utterly unintelligible char az
tiers as to render the alarm worse than
useless. The city of st. Paul has
superintendent of fire alarms drawing
$4,000 yearly, with staff of men whose
business it is to keep the system in per-
feet order, and naturally enough whole
salerS and owners of buildings gener-
ally want to know what the reason is
that fire alarm boxes do not ring in Just
when their failure to act may result in
the loss of many thousands of dollars
1t is understood among practical cleo
tricianS that the failure of box is
among the possibilities with even the
best of care, but no ordinary eXplana-
ton can be offered of the refusal
OF five or six alarm boxes in
succession to get out the apparatus.
The series of failures may be explained
in such manner as to show that nei.
ther Supt. Jenkins nor his staff are to
blame therefor; but this will not alter
the fact that certain alarm boxes in the
very heart of the city have repeatedly
refused to act. The failure of Box rs,
according to the statement made at the
time by Police Officer Smith, resulted in
the burning of forty-fve horses at
Cooks barn on Jackson street, and a
loss amounting to $4,000. The police
officer reported that he pulled the box
at Twelfth and Robert streets, No. 75,
when the fire in the barn was in an in
clpient stage; that he waited for the de-
partment, but there was no response.
Then he, in company with the foreman
at the barn, ran to Box 62, at the corner
of Tenth and Jackson, and pulled it,
1t was twenty minutes from the time
paratus arrived. By that time the
fire that cost man his life
and involved heavy financial loss. was
blazing furiously. On April 4, Officer
Newell pulled Box Is at Eagle and
Washington streets. 1t was never
heard from. Yesterday morning Po-
lice Officer Carey pulled Box 81 for the
fire at the old Milwaukee depot. The
alarm registered at fire headquarters
was %. This box is private one situ-
ated at the side entrance to the Grand
block. 1t
Had Not Been Pulled.
The department ran to Box %, found
nothing and started home when Box "a
came in for the first time correctly.
Then the run was made to the fire. The
loss of time is apparent. Sunday after
noon, last, Box 473 on Aurora avenue
was pulled. 1t rang in beautiful
chime something like the ringing of a
telephone bell when the little girl at
central is out of humor. Nothing could
be made out of the alarm. and it was
necessary to wait for repetition. Again
lost time.
Now. all this sort of thing is held by
the interested public to be well enough
for an aspiring village, but hardly the
proper caper in a city like st. Paul,
where millions of dollars may hinge on
the accuracy of the alarm service.
A representative of the GLOBE called
on Supt. jenkins, of the fire alarm sys-
tenn, last evening and asked an explaua-
ton. That official was ready to exhibit
his records at a moments notice, and
he explained the reasons for the failure
of some Of the boxes. With regard to
the alarm % rang in yesterday,
he says that alarm boxes "a
and "a were pulled simultaneously
by Officers Carey and Schram.
The former box is of the old pattern,
and the latter of the non-interference
make. The latter box cannot be pulled
when another is open in the same cir
cult. AS it was the alarm was mixed
up and no one was to blame. The Au-
rora avenue fire was also rung in stimuli
taneOusly by boxes 473 and AT. Again
the characters were jumbled and the
delay could not have been avoided.
With regard to the disastrous Jackson
street fire Supt. Jenkins states that
Officer Smiths report is either mis-
recorded or incorrect. He holds that
box 62 was pulled first, and that as box
rs was nOn-interference one the lever
could not have been pulled down while
the line was in possession of box 62.
In this connection it may be possible
that Officer Smith did not recognize
that the lever failed to descend.
Mr.. Jenkins also offers an explanation
of the alarm on Eagle and Washington
streets which is satisfactory so far as
removing the responsibility from him is
concerned. The entire statement of the.
superintendent, however, only goes to
show that if the existence of fire boxes
of
The Old Pattern
is prejudicial to good service, it is poor
time to cut the running expenses of the
fire alarm department down to 81, 200 a
year and reduce the working force of
linemen by two. The present force is
kept working on trouble all the time in
various parts of the city. and the result
is that there is no time to make the
necessary fortnightly examination of
the boxes. This is none too often for
boxes to be examined. In fact,