Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-16
Wants A dditional hitch.

Among the new problems with.
which the city council will have to
wrangle in the near future, will be the.
ACCESSIBILITY of making some changes
in the fire department. Henry Rich
ards, chief of the department, has been
elbowing a few of the aldermen of late
with.a view of securing an additional.
hitch at the central station. With the!
present equipment and method, the
central station is provided with only
one pair of automatic bitches, and the
wagon and entire force at central is
compelled to go to all South Side fires,
leaving the entire north side unpro-,
Ltected. Mr.. Richards idea of the mat
ter is, that 1t is useless for the entire
department at the central station to
respond to all South Side alarms, in
asmuch as the department on that
side has now beensequipped with two
horses and an additional man. He has
suggested to members of 1.-THE council
that the central station be provided
with single automatic hitch besides
the equipment already there, and i'll
case of fire on the South Side, Mr..
Richards, or the chief in charge, can
take one man and attend the South
Side fires with the one-horse wagon
and chemicals. The department al
ready has the horse and wagon, and
the only expense will be to provide the
automatic hitch. The chief reason adj
vanced by Mr.. Richards in his sugges-
ton of this improvement, is for the
purpose of affording better protection
to the north side and prevent the use
less long runs. When. an alarm is re-
ceived from the South Side, the wagon
and entire force from the central sta
ton Immediately respond, and on the
other hand when an alarm is turned in
from the North Side, the South Side
department Immediately goes to. the
central station. Mr.. Richards idea is
to retain the present system of the
South Side department coming to CEN
trail whenever the department from
the central station is called out, as it
would then be able to receive any alarm
that might be turned in from any part
of the city, while the force from the
central station was out, and would be
ready to respond. With the single
wagon arrangement, the chief and one
man could go to the assistance of the
South Side department, and leave the
remainder of the department at CEN
trail as safeguard to North Side
property. or even property on the
South Side, in case a second fire should
break out on that side of the river,
That License Ordinance.
There is considerable, speculation at
present as to the outcome of the ordi-
nance which was introduced in the
| city council last Monday evening, rela-
tive to certain reductions in the LIQUOR
license and classification of dealers.
The ordinance was not read at the
time, but referred to the council as a
committee of the whole. The commit
tee met last evening, but the ordl-
nance, it is understood, is just where
it was at the beginning of the session.
The primary reason why it did not get
any further is on account of certain
clauses in it upon which members of
the council doubt the legality. One
of them is in regard to where the ordi-
nance essays to increase the limit
which is placed on the amount of Ii
quor a wholesaler can sell. There is
understood to be considerable obiec-
tions to the ordinance in general, and
in all probability it will go over until
the return of Capt. w. II. C. Jacques,
the city solicitor, who is at present
out of the city. Some have advanced
the idea that the ordinance is aimed at
J the druggists, but this is denied.