The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-03
The Old Fireman'S Story.
rFrom the Record-Herald.l

and the crowd of old goSSlps Heu -
died over into a corner of the hotel par
Tor to swan warns They told new ones
about fire cranks in various cues o. a
about some of the famous nre-sOiil5
characters of the eastern cities, ana nc
old man Cameron. who was never easl
of the Mississippi river before, put WLo
can't keen away from fires ana HrelheH'
though he's past so. told this one; .oo
aOid Chief Timmons would been lou
years old now if he'd lived. he new
was a chief, not even cdptalH; ~. ~, "a
had been a good fireman in ms DAY. anu
everybody in Frisco had heard OF MN.
He made his reputation IN the Ola uaS
before hard drinking was crime allu
guess he saved about as many nNes
in his time as any of EN- Well' dA'ei
they fired him off the department IN eN-
cry town in California, and along lne
coast. from Puget Sound to san Dleso'
he came back to Frisco and got Hlhl q
loft in the alley about ten rods from
SKIS engine house. ,,-,
most all day and half the night waiting
for the gong, and somehow Oi ai ,eI-e5
he managed to keep pretty Meli NJ ~
up on red liquor all the uhe- IL
wasn't a bad old fellow to have rouhu.
neither for he knew how to make mana
balls and he had more tricks Oh IlNlhs
UP harness on a pinch than any ilaH
ever saw But he got four or hVe OF
SKIS fellows into trouble on account OF
~ one night he was thrown OF on hlS
head and pretty near killed. 1t LOOK
him a year TO get over that, Dul liS
minute he was able to hoDDle IouHu
with a cane he showed up at the hre'
He didn't care how far away IL was,
Just so it was a big one ne manage
to get there. Then you ought TO see
HIM He hated fire worse than the
devil hates holy wafer, and II was just
the fight in him that sent him to every
of n account Tor nearly ten
years.
'sHe had son who ran pretty good
boi1ershop down near the water 'front.'
and that's where he got his money
Anyway. the older he got the drunken
he kept and after a While ne got 70 De
such a nuisance that the young fellows
in the department would turn MN over
to the police the minute he showed up
at a fire He always insisted on oelhs
right on the edge of the fire. He had no
more fear of falling walls, explosions OF
such dangers than a healthy kid has OF
a ball game Us older fellows mad
tender spot for Chief Timmons, and
when he sneaked through the lines we
always let on like we hadn't seen him.
We all knew how it hurt him to miss
fire and we knew that he wouldn't last
much longer. anyhow.
1.-The night of the Baker-Bayliss dry
goods fire in Market street. the biggest
one for years, Timmons didn't show up
al first and an old piDeman named
Gilhgan and I had Just begun to talk
about him. We were standing with our
backs to the fire about 40 PAGES from
the wall and we had to veil to make
ourselves heard I don't ever remem-
Der hearing such a noisy fire. for the
big built building-it was eight
stories high-was a shrieking, bowling
volcano of rushing fire by this time. A
high wind was blowing in from the
ocean. the by-streets and alleys were
choked with people watching the fire
the steamers were snOrting and whist
ling and the chief-a young, strong fell
low, too-cOuldn't make his voice heard
20 feet away.
out in the middle of the cross streets
next to the burning building perhaps 30
feet from the wall the Skinner truck
was standing with its extension ladder
reared almost perpendicular. and on
the top pinnacles with a nozzle play
ing into the 4th windows was Schwartz
of FOurteen's. The straight wall of
massive granite lowered above him,
but nobody noticed that there was a
crack in the angle of the wall a 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 under the ropes. We
saw him go uD to the chief. touch him
on the arm and with wild, terrlhed
look in his eyes, point upward at the
top cOrnice above Schwartz. l ran over
SO as TO get III line Win lllt east wall
and then 1 knew what old Ttmmons
meant. for I saw the ponderous wall of
solid masonry leaning inch by inch from
its supporting angle. The chief saw II,
too, and, raising his trumpet, howled at
Schwartz to come down.
He might well have kept silence,
for the fireman at the top of the ladder,
staring into the fire, was ObliviOus of all
sounds and sights except the bowling
bedlam Of blaze and wind and the deaf
ening roar that rose from the granite
streets below him We all tried TO at
tract his attention, but nobody had the
nerve to attempt the ladder Gillgan
made motion as If he would go after
him, but the chief dragged him off and
sent him to stop the steamer that was
pumping Schwartzs stream. We knew
that If the water quit the poor devil
would come down, or at least look down
to see what was the matter. But Gil
ngan couldn't get through the crowd
quick enough, I suppose, and the gap in
the leaning wall was widening every
second.
Schwartz couldn't have seen his danger
even If he looked up. because he wasn't II
line with the widening crack but east o.
IND anyhow the fire and smoke tha
came belching through the windows abov,
him shut out his view of the ton Well
sirs, you should have seen poor old Tim
mons. He WOULD scream at the top of hi
voice at Schwartz then run to the trucl
and shake it, and once he made a sudden
desperate rush 10 go UP himself. III
crowd in the adjacent streets was no7
aware of the danger and the rush 20 -
away choked up the streets. blockaded H.
scattered tiremen and added panic o III
disorder 1t must have been then tina
Timmons got away from the poli7ema'
who was Juggling him off for the mex
thing l knew he came running down III
east sidewalk, just under the wall wiz
fireman's AK in his hands. The next min
ute he was striking ficrcelv at the line o
hose. and In another there was "A geyse
of water that drenched and half binde
us all Schwartz looked down then. an
We all waved and gesticulated like luna
tics at him. He straddled the shafts O.
the high ladder and slid down in the mic
Of time. for Just then there was a ire
Ins.-lerS r.lcrf. followed nv III. cash e.
timbers. the grinding Of rocks and show
~ hriaL.s ara ..---.