The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-02

Washington. Feb. 1--(speciai A roll
 of manuscript as large as rolling pin
 reached the Speaker of the House yes-
 nation. srstitad. Sautsd t6wards one of its
 wards: a story as interesting as novel
 and one altogether not devoid of hu-
 nor. It is a tale of troubles that be-
 set the Honolulu fire department. ernment of Honolulu saved over s100,000
 for the United States by not charging
 the War Departments transports for pi- lotage and water as all other ships are United States reciprocated this favor by running all the hose the Honolulu ire department had in stock and then for nearly two years refusing to replace the hose. Still another chapter is devoted to narrating a plan by which the hose can he replaced without compromising the government; petition to Congress,
 in fact. for an appropriation for this
 November S. 1900 pile of coal on the wharyes at Honolulu. the property of the United States. caught fre from spontaneous combustion. Some one saw
 the smoke and turned in the fire alarm.
 The fire department responded with its
 usual promptness," perhaps, and turned
 8 stream of water from its hand engine
 into the burning coal pile. The Ire
 It refused to quit. though the Honolulu
 laddies worked necessarily for several days to make 1t quit.
 Then some one. the records fail to atate
 the U & s. Iroduois. then in port. might be of some assistance in putting out the
 fire in the coaipile. The suggestion
 seemed a good one. The Chief of the
 Honolulu fire department adopsed 1t. He
 all the hose SC had. from the hand en-
 zine. They 'obeyed He ordered them
 to hitch the hose to the engines of the,
 Iroauois; They obeyed again. This last | iaddies out of business. for
 Three days later the fire In the coal pile gave up it's ghost of smoke but the Honolulu fire deparsments hose lay | ruined. The powerful pressure of the ves- sells engines had thumped 1t against the ground and wrecked 1t.
 The firemen sadly unhitched the hose | and dragged it to headquarters. where I they coiled 1t up like a huge dead snake. | This was on November 13 exactly one
 week after the fire in the coal pile was | discovered
 Then began the formation of the vol
 ume which reached the Speaker of the ! House yesterday.
 Captain A. slaker of the sth Artillery. on duty in Honolulu. wrote the first chapter It was a letter to J. Hunt. chief
 mending the work of the Chief and his I men. The Chief wrote the next. It was a letter of thanks to the Cautsin fol | his praise, but 1t. wound up with the suggestion that 500 feet of new host i would he appreciated in view of the fact l that all the department had lay ruined | from the fight which the Captain so gen l eroHsly commended.
 | All the subssqnent chapters were writ | ten by various and sundrys officials o l the United States government to whom l tho first two chaoters were referred dur | ing period of nearly two wears follow | ing the indictment of the Chiefs letter | to the artillery captain. Captain Shaker sent the Chiefs letter | together with another of his own. de | scribing the fire and It's fatal result or | the hose. to the Chief ouartermaster of the Department of California. at sai Francisco. But ere he dispatched the epiatle the year 1900 had died and thu date of January l. 1sO1 ha>S. been horn. To the Chief Quartermaster of the de partment of California Captain Shaker confided in his letter the information that the local government .of Honolulu had saved $1o0.O0o for the United States hv refusing to accept money for pilot age and water supplied to transports.