The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-30
FIFTY YEARS A FIRE MAN
UNUSUAL ANNIVERSARY 4 ron RECEL
 EBRATED BY CHIEF EATON.

EBRATED BY CHIEF EATON.
 Joined the Hartford Fire Department
 April 5, ls4I-Chtef Engineer Sine,
 1868.
 Fifty years a fireman! This will be
 the record of Chief Engineer Henry J.
 Eaton on April 5 The testimonial pre-
 pared by the fire commissioners to go \ upon the records was printed in "The 8 Courant' Saturday. This was the first
 thing done in an appreciative way to
 call attention to the record made by the great fire fighter. It will not be the last
 and there will probably be some public < expressions showing the esteem inwhich
 the chief is held The reception given
 the chief when he returned from Lon Z don, where he went as delegate to the international tournament of fire chiefs in 1896, was big one and the process sion at night in which the department and citizens generally took part, will long be remembered
 An account of Chief Eaton's connec- ton with the fire department would be Y largely a record of the department. In Z many respects the chief is peculiar and ! he is never commonplace. Like many other truly great men he is man of few words. He is emphatic rather than verbose. He admits that he Is quick tempered and says that if he wrongs a man unintentionally he is glad to apologize, but only once, for man who apologies more than once is sucker !, He is a tireless worker and there are number of big and rugged men in the department who will be made to puff like porpoise after walking a short dis tance with him. Athletic feats were discussed at headquarters one night few years ago and the chiefs stunt was to balance himself on his hands, walk around the room on the ground floor land then walk up the stairway on his hands
 Chief Eaton attributes his success in the department to the fact that he has < not had quarrels with his assistants and \ they have always worked we'll together. He says he never tells a man after fire that, he should have done such and such thing. He gives his orders be- forehand and expects to have them carried out. When he tells fireman < to do thing he expects to have him do E 1t and not to give the order to third party. Once he told a fireman to do a certain thing and the fireman asked a boy to do it for him. The fireman quickly secured other employment 9 Chief Eaton was born in Hartford, October 1o 1881. His family was an old and prominent one in Holland. Sena- tor w.. W. Eaton was cousin of the < chiefs He had common school edu- cation and on December G. 184S, was ap- prenticed to the gold beating trade with Ashmead & Hurlburt on Gold street. In 1851 he beat out the gold leaf exhibited by the firm at the Crystal Palace exhibition in London. On April 5, 1851, he began service in the Hartford fire department and so the fiftieth an niversaEy of his connection with the de- partment is near at hand.
 . Since he has been chief engineer he has had an opportunity to see the work fHgs of the fire departments of the principal cities in this country and abroad. He has attended many ses- sions of fire chiefs and his trip abroad In 1896 gave him chance to see Euro- apean methods. He has studied various features of fire work in all of the large cities here and he says that Hartford's department compares favoraby with any in the world. Many features in fire work were first used in this city. The electrical apparatus that opens the doors for the horses to come out when an alarm is sounded was first used in Hartford. Patent lawyers from all parts of the country have been here in regard to suits about alleged infringe inents of patents and have been sur prised to learn that various wrinkles | had been used here months before the 1 supposed inventors had even dreamed l Of the improvements for which they | claimed originality 'There is nothing 1 you haven't got here,' said one patent | lawyer after he had been shown some of | the practical time-savers in the differ | eat houses.
 Chief Eaton is a privileged person l and is the only man who has been ex- | cused from attendance in court when an ! alarm of fire sounded. The judges req lize that the chief would not pay much | attention to case if he knew there was d conflagration and he was not on the l spot He did hot learn much from the l firemen in foreign cities and he does not think much of their methods. In England there is so much red tape that a fire gets a better start than the fire men The chief says that some of the streams used at fires by the London de- spartment will not break through glass window and standing under them is like walking under an umbrella on rainy day.
 \ Protection Company No. 1 was the first company that Henry J. Eaton | joined, and this was on April 5, 1851. The house was on Main street. below Charter Oak street. He was elected as- eistant steward at first. In 1853 he l. Joined Damper Engine Company Mo- 4, which was located in the gangway next to the Center church. In April, 1S54 he went to No. Is house to get paid for shirt that belonged to him and No. Is men prevailed upon him to return to the company and heN was elected assist ant foreman. John H Taylor was fore man. Tn June, 1854, he was elected fore man.
 Tn June, 1856, he was elected fifth as- sistant engineer of the department, but