Evening star., 1901-12-04
THE VETERAN FlREMEN
MEETING HELD AT THE ENGINE
HOUSE LAST NIGHT.
Mr.. J. j. Peabody Continues His His
tory of Old-Time Companies
Refreshments Served.

| The regular monthly meeting of the Vet
| eran Firemen's Association was held al
| the old Union engine house. 18th and
| streets, last evening. Mr.. James h. Rich
4 ards serving as president. and Mr.. J. }.
1 Peabody as secretary.
! Mr. Strobel suggested that a list Of the
members be printed for framing and preser-
walton.
| Mr.. Daniel Genau presented sash weight
! as a relic from the old Perseverance engine
| that when the building was torn down he
purchased the windows and the bricks were
bought by butcher.
| Mr.. Peabody read q further installment
4 of his history of the old volunteer fire COM
| paries of Washington: prefacing 1t with the
| remark, that his data was obtained from
the files of the Inteiiigencer, Gazette and
4 other Washington papers, and such Of the
books of the old companies as are In the
custody of the association.
The Intelligencer of January !, 1870, he
| said, contained call for the stated meet
1 ing of the Union fire company of the first
| ward for that evening, at the Western
Academy, for the election of officers. Sub
| sequently, on the 18th, the list of officers
and the assignment of members to divis-
! ions appears as follows: John n. Moulder,
| president; Thomas Sandiford and Richard
| S. Briscoe. vice presidents; James III.
| Handy, secretary, and Joseph Brumley.
| treasurer; engineers, Colonel John David
! son, and fourteen others; hosemen, James
| Williams and six others; laddermen, VIM.
| Mcpherson and thirteen others; Ianemen.
George MacDaniel and nineteen others:
| furnituremen, Somerset r. Waters and
! twelve others; sentinels, Basel Waring and
| thirteen others.
| There were on the rolls, Mr.. Peabody
said, several connected with the corpora
ton samong them Aldermen Moulden and
| and rniYprilp7pp ThomaS
afterward mayor, and William ONeale,
| Joseph Forrest, George MacDaniel VIM.
Worthington, 5r-, r. s. Briscoe, John d.
| Barclay and John Davidson, who had pre-
viously served in the councils; Henry NJ.
| Steiner and Matthew Hines. who served
| afterward in the councils; Thomas Munroe,
! who was one of the United States commits
| sioners of the city and the first city post
master; John B. Timberake. purser United
| States navy, the first husband of Peggy
| ONeaie: Thomas Fillebrown, jr.; John
Potts, Michael Nourse. Rev. Chas. A Da-
| Wis, w. B. Beall. John Bancroft, Charles
/ VinSon, G. w. Dashiel, T. Tschiffe1y.
Samuel Brook, Capt John Woodside and
| many government clerks were in the divi-
! sions.
| The Columbia Fire Company met at Con-
| gress Hotel Januray 4, 1890 and elected
| ex-Mayor Rapine, president; Andrew Hun
| ter, afterward United States marshal, vice
president; VIM. Ingle. secretary: Alex. Nc
| Cormick treasurer There were four direc-
1 tors, James Young. Griffith Coombe, James
] Middleton and Nicholas L. Queen; seven
| engineers, under John p. 1ngle; four axmen,
! headed by John Dunning; twelve ladder
| men, with Henry Timms at the head, and
1 six sentinels. with Henry Ingle leading. The
roll shows that the membership was not
| large, but it included some of the leading
residents of Capitol Hill, many Of them
| employed in the Capitol building, while sew
eral keepers of the hotels and public houses
were in the list. 1t was therefore an easy
| task to secure the care of that one of the
| vN~r,,, T.
the protection Of its property located near
the Capitol.
Receives Its Engine.
| At this meeting the committee appointed
| at the previous meeting for that purpose
| reported that Col. Lane, the commissioner
| of public buildings. was ready to deliver the
| engine TO the company. and the engineers
| were directed to receive and take charge
| OF 1t. There was good representation of
| the company in the municipal government,
| ex-Mayor Brent being in the ranks, with
Aldermen N. L. Queen and Alex. McCor-
| mick and Councilmen Tins and s. Burch,
and James Young. Thomas Dunn, James
Middleton, John Pic. Col Hunter, Griffith h
Coumbe BENJAMIN Sprigg. John D. Emack.
| j. G. Mcdonald either had been or soon
| after were in the councils
The Navy Yard Fire Company, as its
name indicates, was located near the yard
AT Its meeting January 4. 1920 at Moss
| Tavern, the officers elected the previous
year We're continued A committee was
appointed to wait on Commodore Tineey
| the commandant of the navy yard and ask
| for the use Of the engine there, and 1t ap-
pears that the commodore gave the reQuis-
| lite permission.
| The InteIligencer and the Gazette each
| published calls for the first annual meeting
| of the Patriotic Fire Company the evening
1 OF January 5, 1920 In the council chamber
The election Of officers. however. did not
| take place until January II. when most of
the old officers were reelected. as follows:
Andrew Coyle, president; Henry Smith,
George Sweeny and Charles Glover, vice
presidents: VIM. Hewitt, treasurer, and
VIM. Cooper. tr., secretary.
The membership was arranged In seven
Observation-Disclosures, of eight men; hose
men, of ten; lanemen, seven; 1addermen,
and senunels. seven. The roll was made up
Of residents of the central portion of the
city among whom We're: Henry Smith, a
leading contractor; VIM. Hewitt. city reg
ister; Charles Glover. David OFT, Ignatius
Mudd, afterward commissioner of public
! buildings Hanson Gassaway. A Van Coble
and Samuel Bacon. with other weli-known
men of that dav
An advertisement of the same date jan
uary II. fixes the location of the apparatus
at the Center market, a reward of IS being
offered by the Patriotic company for the
arrest and conviction of the rogues who
stole the ropes Of the fire hooks from that
building.
The Anacostfans,
The Anacostia Fire Company. at its an
nual meeting at Moss tavern, January s.
elected the following officers, as appears
in the Intelligencer two days later: Alex
ander McWiliams. president; Robert NJ.
Desha, vice president; VIM. Speiden, sec
retary. and VIM. Prout. treasurer; Thos.
Halliday, Robert Brown, Thomas Wheat,
George Adams, Matthew Wright and E. w
Clark, directors Of engineers, axmen lad
dermen, sentinels. house or furniture men
and laneman, respectively.
The members of the Union Fire Company
were called to meet at their engine house
the afternoon of January s, 1920 to test
the United States engine, purchased for
the protection of government property
The Intelligencer of February II, 1920.
notes the meeting of new company and
the election OF officers. and from the read
ing Of the notice there had been previous
meetings., The name OF this organization
was the Potomac Fire Company, and its
location was Greenleaf Point, in the vicin-.
ity of the arsenal grounds. 1t will be seen