Evening star., 1902-08-06
VOLUNTEER FIREMEN
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
HELD LAST EVENING.
Delegation to Meet Charlestown Com
pany at Depot the 18th Instant
oldTme Organizations.

4 AsoHSSs ASAi anu SIttlS Jas
H. Richards occupied the chair. with Mr.
John J. Peabody secretary.
| letter was received from the secretary
Of the Independent Steam Fire Company of
Charlestown, W. Va. stating that the COM
pany would arrive in the city by the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad at 1890 O'Clock
| Monday, the 18th instant and would take
| the Norfolk boat at 6:30 o'clock en- route
| to the Virginia State Firemen's Association,
meeting at Portmouth. 1t was stated that
| they would have music, and would take din
| ner at the Columbia Hotel, on Pennsylvania
| avenue near 10Th street. 1t was decided
| that a delegation Of the associa ton should
meet and escort the visitors to their hotel
number of bills were ordered to be paid
| for work done in putting the steeple and
roof OF the old Union engine house in re-
pair and for painting and other work.
Secretary Peabody continued the reading
| of his sketch of the old-time volunteer fire
| companies, as follows:
Calls of meetings were read of the Union
| Fire Company in the room over the West
| market: of the Washington. at the engine
house near the post office; Of the Columbia,
at McCormick's School room, and A. l..
| Whites School; of the Alert at the Lam
casterian School, 14th and G streets north
west, as they appeared in the lnteligencer.
Mr.. Peabody read from the minutes of the
Columbia Fire Company of January 3. 1926,
that most of the officers were reelected and
the president. ]. G. Mcdonald was request
ed to wait on the commissioner of public
buildings and ask his endeavors to procure
200 feet more of hose and such other appa-
| ratus as might be found necessary.
"First-Class" Engine
Mr.. Peabody quoted the act of the coun-
ellis Of August 4, 1925, making an appro-
priation to discharge the claim of W. c.
Zimmerman. This bill amounted to S5I3.S1
for ffrst-class fire engine, and the mayor
was required to ascertain If the engine had
been formally turned over to an officer of ii
fire company in the fifth ward; whether
said engine was furnished the first ward,
and If the engine was not furnished agree
ably to the requisition of those wards, or
the wards did not require engine or
make any use of 1t, or have the engine in
possession, the mayor was authorized to
sell it and place the proceeds to the credit
of the general fund.
This engine, Mr.. Peabody said. was
bought for the first ward in 1919, but, not
giving satisfaction, was left with the
agent, Thomas Bulfinch, who was treas
urer Of the Potomac Fire Company and 1t
was proba bly, used by that company pend
ing negotiations. Some litigation followed.
AT the meeting of the Columbia Fire Com
pany, November Z, 1926, a committee
was appointed to wait the COM
missioner of public buildings and sug-
gest the propriety of erecting a house for
the public engine outside of the Capitol
Square, and also cause to be attached
thereto an alarm bell, and suggest to him
the committees views to a suitable plan
Mr.. Peabody had failed to find, during
the year, notice of any fires in the city,
but early in 1927 the great fire In Alex
andria, then in the District, took place.
and the fire companies were not slow in
responding
The Intelligencer Of January 10, 1927, has
the following account under the head of
Awful Fire in Alexandria,
"A few minutes before o'clock yester-
day morning an alarming fire broke out in
the town Of Alexandria. 1t was soon per-
ceived from this city; and, cold as the
weather was thermometer at 13) our
townsmen turned out with alacrity and al
most literally flew to the assistance of their
neighbors. The engine from Capitol Hill
(Columbia) with its hose was on it's way
In few minutes after the fire was dlscuy-
cred. About three hundred persons from
the navy yard headed by Capt Booth, were
under way almost soon, but having fur
ther to go did not quite as early each the
ground. The engine from the Post Office
Department, Washington Fire Company,
with its fire hose got under way as soon as
the fire was aScertained to be serious and
had just started when an express reached
our mayor from the mayor of Alexandria
soliciting aid, upon which the engine of
the second ward (AlerD and that from the
first ward Cnion) were notified and under
way.
Nor We're our Georgetown neighbors be-
hind hand, and with great spirit they went
down in numbers, in carriages, on horse
back and on foot, carrying their engine. All
the marines on this station We're also car
ried down by Capt Howles under the orders
of Col. Henderson and carried an engine
with them; and though they did not arrive
until the fire was got under control they
afforded important service guards The
whole number of persons who went down
from this side of the river could not be less
than thousand.
If We appear to dwell too much upon
this public-spirited conduct of our citizens
on this occasion let it be recollected that the
distance to Alexandria from most of the
points started from was seven miles. and
that the engines and men arrived there
about the time the fire was most appallinp
II any other cause of exultation is thought
necessary to Justify 1t, let 1t be found in
the fact that the fire was arrested and a
vast amount of property saved from the
jaws OF destruction by the aid thus af-
forded.
THE first succor arrived from this CITY
about IL O'Clock, and was followed by sue
cessive supplies. Our friends at Alexan-
dria. exhausted by fatigue and anxiety.
were not employed in endeavoring to save
their individual property, but were work
ing for the general good; and with the ex-
cellent apparatus and hose which we have
and they have not they welcomed relief
from this quarter as almost proyidential
and they are unbounded in the measure of
their thanks for the assistance without
which the best part of their town with
most of the shipping, would have shared
was already In flames AS 1t was. however
the conflagration was awful, and the de-
struction of property was great, as may be
supposed, from fire raging in the thick of
the town for five long hours, with brisk
northwest wind blowing. 1t is a wonder
indeed, that the fire was gotten under at
all. The hose and forcing machinery hay-
ing the river for the source of supply fur
nishing copious and inexhaustible supplies
of water, effected what no supply of water
by hand could have done; and though the
water thrown in streams descended in the
form of ice and sleet, mantling the firemen
in icy garments. we believe but one of the
engines was so frozen during the day as to
be disabled. SO steadily were they worked
The Loss Was 100000.
''The fire commenced in the cabinetmak-
er's shop on the east side of Royal street
between King and Prince streets and ex-
tended to Fairfax; thence down Prince to
Union street. The number of houses de-
stroyed, besides back buildings, was about
forty, and the value or the houses and
goods destroyed can hardly have fallen
short of $2O0,O00. Some of the property
Was insured hut tn What eytepf bo,a 4