Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1900-02-16
FIRES IN OLD NEW YORK.
The bucket brigade of n Century
Ago Worked on a Home
Rule Principle.

Fire engines in New York a century
ago were of very inferior quality and
of primitive design. The only water
there was for fire purposes was obtained
from wooden pumps, and by law of
the corporation every owner of a dwell
ing was obliged to supply fire bucket
for every fireplace in the house or back
kitchen; these buckets held three gall
Ions and were made of sole leather;
they were hung in the passage near the
front door. When the bell rang for fire
the watchmen, firemen and boys, while
running to the fire, cried: Throw out
your bulketsl" These were picked up
by men. women and boys running to the
fire. Two lines were formed, from the
| fire TO the nearest pump; when the
| pump gave out the lines were carried
to the nearest river; one line passed
down the empty, the other passed up
the full buckets; If a person tried to
break through the lines he was COM
PEELED to fall in and help, under penal.
| ty of q severe drenching for refusal.
| The buckets were marked with the
name and number of the owner, and
any householder not supplied with q
bucket was liable to fine and in some
cases imprisonment.
Every morning after fire the corpo-
ration carmen went to the streets near
the scene, picked up the buckets and
dumped them in the lobby of the city
hall. People then sent their children or
| servants to bring home the buckets, to
await the next fre.
This method OF fire fighting had
MANY disadvantages, though at that pc
riod most of the inhabited part of New
| York was below the line of Fulton
street, and in consequence the distance
| to either river was not very great.
Moreover, the riparian boundaries OF
| New York were less extended than they
are now, Greenwich street and Front
street being the outside boundaries.
Az the city grew northward and as the
| distances from the central Broadway
| line to the river front were gradually
inrrcas,i II was TO lon%cr practicable
to de eend on buckets passed from hand
to hand, and thereforethere was adopt
ed n copper pump for drawing water
out of the river in case Of fire, and there
by avoiding the disagreeable necessity
of the inhabitants going down to the
slips and handing the water up in
buckets. This WAS ordered by the cor
poration IN 1799. One year afterward
this pump was deposited. by authority
In the rear of the city hall. The wheels
of the engines were AT that time SO
|, WI nj u
: difficult when there was much snow
Accordingly new style of sled was
tried and similar ones were ordered tc
be made for the other engines. But
they were found TO be worse than use
less, for in attempting to turn cor
ner the engines were often upset anc
damaged. In very narrow streets some
times they were left to be burned, be
cause it was impossible to get then
away.
{, About this time each engine hous
was supplied with two poles lonl
enough to carry 70 buckets each. Thes
, poles were borne on the shoulders o
a four men. The general rule was tha
the first fireman to reach the engin
house after an alarm of fire should hav
o right to the pipe and take it with hin
{ to the fire; that the next four firemel
3 to arrive should bear away the buckle
q poles, and that the rest of the compan,
4 should run off with the engine as bes
4 they might, "bawling out and demand
. ing the aid of citizens as they proceed
ed on" The "bawling out" process.
which had the Endorsement of ord
nance as well as custom, was not who'll
o satisfactory to New Workers. as in cas-
l. OF false alarms It often disturbed th
slumbcrs of the burghers and at othe
times emptied taverns and other meet
ing places without any practical resul
IN. Y. Sun.