The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-18
THE OLD FIREmAN's STORY.

over into a corner OF tne hotel parl0r 10
swap yarns They told new ones about
! ere cranks in various cities and about
some OF the famous fre-gOing characters
o. the eastern cities. and the OLD man
| Cameron. who was never east or the MIS-
rissippi river before. but who cant keep
away from fires ana fremen. though he's
| pest CO. told this one:
"Cld Chief Timmons would a been 10)
( years old now Il he q a lived. he never
! was a CHIEF, not even captain. but he
! had been good fireman in his day, and
/ everybody in Frisco had heard OF him.
/ He made his reputation in the Old days
/ before hard drinking was a crime, and 1
/ guess he saved about as many lives in
| his time Is any Of EN-. Wen. after they
! fired him of the department il every
: town in California and along the coast.
/ from Puget sound TO san Diego, he came
! hack TO Frisco and got him a loft in the
alley about ten reds from SKIS engine
! house.
He used TO loaf around the house most
! all day and half the night, waiting for
! the gong. and somehow or another he
mana ged to keep pretty well keyed up on
/ red liquor all The time. he wasn't bad
: Old fellow to have round. neither for he
/ knew how 10 make hand balls. and he
had more tricks of fixing up harness on d
/ pinch than any man l ever saw. But he
! got four or Eve Of SKIS fellows into
/ Trouble on account Of letting him ride on
! the truck. and finally one night he was
! thrown of on his head and pretty near
/ killed 1t took him Q year TO get over
! that, but the minute he was able 10 hob
] bic round with = cane he showed up at
! the FIRE. He didn't care how far away It
was. Just so Z was big one he'd man
age to get there. Then you ought to
see him He hated fire worse than the
! devil hates holy water. and it was just
the fight in him that sent him TO every
blaze Of any account for nearly ten
years.
He had a son who ran a pretty good
boiler shop down near the water front,
and that's where he got his money. Any
way, the older he got the drunken he kept
and after a while he got 10 he such 4
nuisance that the Young fellows in the de-
rartment would turn him over to the pO-
lice the minute he showed up at fire
He always insisted on being right on the
edge OF the Ere. He had no more fear
OF falling walls explosions or such dan
gers than a healthy kid has OF a bah
game. rs older fellows had a tender spot
for Chief Tinmons. and when he sneak
cd through the lines we always let on
| ike we hadn't seen him. We all knew
how it hurt him to miss q fire and We
knew that he wouldn't last much longer
anyhow
The night of The Baker Bayliss dry
goods fire in Market street. the biggest
one for years. Timmons didn't show up at
! first. and an old pipeman named Gilligan
md T had just begun to talk about him.
We were standing with our backs to the
fro about forty PAGES from the wall. and
we had TO yell 10 make ourselves heard.
J don't ever remember hearing such
noisy fire. for the big nlill-built building
it was eight stories high-was a Shrek
this time. A high wind was blowing in
from the ocean, lie by-streets and al
leys were clicked with people watching
the fire, the steamers were snorting and
whistiing and the chief-a young. strong
fellow. tOO-couldn't make his voice heard
twenty feet away.
out in the 1SSzAue of the cross street
rexI to the burning building perhaps
thirty feet from the wall the Skinner
truck was standing with its extension lad
der reared almost perpendicular. and on
the top pinnacles with a nozzle playing
into the fourth windows was Schwartz
CT Fourteen's. The straight wall of mas
sive granite lowered above him, but no.
body noticed that there was q crack IL
tho angle Of the wall at the top. and that
the heavy east wall was slowly detaching
itself from the south wall. Then poor old
Timmons, his clothes torn and dirty. very
drunk and excited, came crawling I'M
der the ropes. We saw him go up TO the
chief, touch him on the arm and with Il
Wild. terrified look in his eyes. point up
ward at the top cornice above Schwartz.
I ran over 50 as TO get in line with the
east wall and then knew what old Tim
mons meant. for l saw the ponderOus
wall Of solid masonry leaning inch by
inch from its supporting angle. The chief
saw it. too and, raising his trumpet,
hcwled at Schwartz TO come down.
TIE might as well have kept silent. for
the frernen at the top of the ladder star
! ing into the fire, was obliviOus of al
sounds and sights except the bowling bed
lam Of blaze and wind and the deafening
roar that rose from the granite streets
below him. We all tried to attract his
attention but nobody had the nerve to
attempt the ladder Gilligan made mo-
ten as If he would go after him. but the
chief dragged him off and sent him 10
stop the steamer that was pumping
Schwartz stream. We knew that If the
water quit the poor devil would Gene
down. or at least look down 10 see what
was the matter. But Gilligan couldn't
get through the crown quick enough. ]
suppose. and the gap in the leaning wall
was widening every second.
Schwartz couldn't have seen his dan
ger even If be looked up. because he
wasn't in lire with the widening crack.
smoke that came belchlng through the.
windows above him shut out his view OF
the top. Well siTs. you should have seen
Toer old Timmons. he would scream at
the top OF his voice at Schwartz. then
run TO the truck and shEke it. and
Opce he made q sudden. desperate rush 10
gc up himself The crowd in the adia-
cent street was now aware Of the danger
and the rush 10 get away choked UP the
streets bIncksfeG the scattered fremen
md added panic TO the disorder. 1t must
have been then that Timm0ns got away
from the policeman who was Juggling him
or FOR the next thing I knew he came
running down the east sidewalk Just un-
der the wall. with a fremans Ak in he
hands The next minute he was striking
fiercelv at the line Of hose and I'm an0Jher
there was 4 geyser Of water that dUench-
% and half blinded US all. Schwartz
i ozes down then. and we all waved
and Fes;icuiates Ike lunatics q him ne
shredded the shafts of thu high ladder
and slid down IN the nick of tiue. for
Just then there was a tremendous report
followed hv the crash Of timbers. the
grinding Of rocks end showers ~ bricks
and stones The earth actually shook
from the wefcht e the fallen mass. and
when the dust end ashes and smoke blew
away We ran back The gra1irs blocks n
the street had been driven down more
than e foot ~ the heavier masonry that
lad fallen
Put Tim1ons-poor oh Tinmons.
Whether he STAYED uurposelT. OF whether
he graz too drunk 10 know Just which way
q, r-a. I don't knew. bat there wasn't a
sign u iife IN ~ his wasted BODY
Schwartz sat down on a rock ana crict
chief better when he said- He knew
p In II