Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-09

pdTlIlenl Immediately RESPONDED, ana
steam fire engine No l. chief, the late
Leonard Barnes, with assistants, H. !.
Joslin, e. S. Bradford, j. H Marshall
and the members of the steamer com
pany, Thomas K. Bates, captain and
picked men from the other branches Of
the department started for the scene of
the conflagration. The train ran the dis
lance in 10 minutes, The men were
obliged to use all their strength to keep
the machine on the car and on their
arrival. not far from o'clock, were met
at the street crossing near the Central
mills by hundreds Of people, who greet
ed the Webster f1remen with prolonged
cheers
Southbridge at that time had only two
small hand fire engines, and the fire
was rapidly getting out of control. One
large brick block of three stories had
been destroyed and another similar one
seemed doomed while the business por-
ton of that beautiful inland town had
been given up to the onward march of
the flames, as the Webster steamer and
her men were landed on the street
The fire was eXtinguished by o'clock
and the people of Southbridge quickly
took the hint, and bought two Amos
keag steamers of the first class, and are
now better protected against fire than
most towns of its size in the state. The
o'clock in the evening, feeling that they
had done a noble duty.
One of the fire veterans, who first be-
gan duty in 1852 as a member of the old
hand machine, General Taylor, No. 2,
and for years held the position of nozzle
man, is Geo. G. Alden, who by his dar-
ing and sense of duty. earned reputa-
ton that remains as part of the history
of the fire service in Webster. Mr.. Alden
now raSidac In providanap T1a
never knew fear. An instance of his
charmed life was ON June II, 1856, at the
burning of the Fenner factory. A circus
was in town, and during the afternoon
performance the fire bells rang, and
soon the tent emptied itself. Young AL
den with his machine was soon rafting
over the old river highway to the burn
ing mill.
The main part of the factory was
doomed, and the agent, a Mr.. Green,
was anxious to save the annex north
and west of the main part. The stream
of General Taylor was changed to save
that part, and Alden mounted the roof
Of the L. north of the mill amidst flames,
flying cinders and dense volumes of
smoke, and directed tons of water In
that direction The L upon which he
stood was one mass of flames; he was
fairly begged by the astonished crowd
to get off, and at times he was enveloped
in the raging smoke, but not until the
burning timberS commenced to give way
did he even think of leaving his post,
and sprang to the ground just as the l.
fell with a crash into the chasm of
flames and the brave but tried hose
man was safe. The rails of the Norwich
track were twisted like reeds by the
heat and tenement houses some 40 rods
distant were destroyed, but by hard
work the old factory boarding-house
near by was saved from the flames.
The attempt of incendiaries to burn
the National Bank block, July 4th, 1893,
was at the outset the only fire that
called for the cool judgment of the Off
GERS and men of the department-that
no mistake was made. so the fire could
be kept in the stores of B. r. Larned
ana Leonard Barnes & Son. This was
the most dangerous fire to fight in years.
But by cool judgment and hard work,
the firemen won the battle, and praise
was given them by the community.
The call for the steamer company on
December 4th, 1891. to save the wreck
of three trains that had colided on the
main line of the New York and New
England Railroad at East Thompson,
Conn, was a thrilling episode in the
lives of the Webster firemen. They
placed the steamer on fiat car and
made distance of seven miles in ex
actly seven minutes and twenty seconds,
played through 1900 feet of hose with the
steamer stationed in a meadow, and did
excellent service.
The greatest loss at any given fire was
at the burning of the H. n Skaters
Green MILL Feb. II, 1878, which was
$50, 1000
The appended dates of the big fires in
Webster during the past 43 years are as
follows: Fenner's factory, June IL, 1856;
McNeils block, Jan. g. 1857; high school
building, Dec. 10 1862 Webster Hall,
Aug A. 1873; Masonic Hall, July 6, 1874;
H. H. Bixby property, April 8, 1875;
Webster box shop, April 10, 1875; Me-
chanics' block, Sept 30, 1885, Green mill,
Feb. II, 1878; power shop, foundry and
grist MILL June "a, 1879; Kingsbury
slaughter house. causing the death of
Mr.. ]. D. Kingsbury, Feb. 4, 1884; Mer-
chants block March 3, 1886; grist mill
owned by Joel Goddard & Co., Aug. 2,
1887; Joslin House barn, March A. 1883;
wood works Of Joel Goddard & Co., Feb.
20, 1892; carriage repository, Lyman R.
Eddy, owner, March is, 1892; Slater
Wooden Company. drying room, March
/, $685. causing loss Of 1,200; the Ger
man .. L. K, Hall, March 81, 1895; St
Jean Baptiste Hall, Dec. 8, 1896, and the
recent Tiffany block fire Dec. g. 1897.
From the records of Mr.. Clemans
since he has been clerk of the depart
ment, May 1st, 1854 period of 10
years-we find the following statistics
of interest to the taxpayers of Webster
as we'll as the insurance men in gem
eral
Since Jan. /, 1888, there have been 1870
still alarms. The loss was $12S,256.75,
which was adjusted for $73,90727. The
total loss above insurance paid, was
$54,949.4S
The table for each year shows the
alarms, loss and insurance paid as fol-