Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-28
SAME WAY HERE.

When the fire bell strikes a number in the busy part of the. city, says the Hartford Times, an insane desire to get thereto a place where he has no business and will be nuisance -seizes every child and good many men within a moderate distance They make haste on foot, or on bicycles, or sometimes in automobiles If they can reach the spot before the engines ar rive they feel that life is worth living. and promptly block the street and swarm on the sidewalks. Especially if there Is a door to be broken in they pack themselves in front of it. doing nothing and inpassively blocking the attempts of others to do some good.
 All this was illustrated Ut the fire Sunday afternoon in the block on
 Main street, near the corner of Shell don. The block is occupied by large number of families and there are many rear tenements. Hosts of children live in the immediate neiglDborhood, and apparently every one of them dashed around the corner before the depart ment arrived. Also a large floating population of mature age was present with the same pronptness. and good many bicyclists were there and dis mounted before the engines came. Meantime 8 policeman tried to break dn the front door of a plumbers shop which was full of smoke and seemed likely to need attention. It was dlffi- cult to get the spectators back even enough to give any sort of proper ac- cess to the door, which, indeed re- sisted even too well for the existing conditions. When the engines came it was difficult for them to take position without slaughtering few citizens, and as soon as they were in place the spectators, feeling safe once more, got in the way to such an extent that the laying of hose was delayed and the whole work of attack on the fire made more difficult than 1t should have been. Until additional policemen arrived 1t was impossible to keep any place at all clear for the work of /the flremen. And when at last the crowd had been forced back to a very moderate dis tance it was almost possible to keep the space clear. It was invaded at every moment by everyone who wanted to change his position or even to get little nearer.
 It was not the fault Of the police. They showed patience and efficiency under very trying conditions, but the conditions should be made less diff1- cult, and this can only be done by a general policy of keeping a much lar ger clear space, and this in turn de- pends on making outsiders realize that they must remain outside or suffer some inconvenient consequences Chil- drene certainly have no businessg in the space reserved for the proper conduct of the work of firemen, and very few men have. All the others should be kept away and gradually. taught that a fire Is not a free spectacle got up for their entertainment, but a rather ser ious business, which is costing a great deal of money to the property owner and to the city which is trying to con- trol 1t.
 As long as it is found necessary to continue having call men who have to be notified by an alarm that can be heard all over the city 1t is impossible to prevent the; curious and idle from rushing to every fire which. contains the possibility of sensational develop me11ts. But it is possible, and it is all the. more necessary, to develop the methods of handling the crowd after it arrives. There is no hardship in keep ing back those who are merely curious so that those who have to work can work to the best advantage. Sooner or later Hartford will be large enough to compel the abandonment of the call system or its modification so that the men needed can be reached without the emphatic general alarm that is sounded now for every fire. Mean time it can with good advantage use fsons. No one man or boy does any harm by running to a fire. When a large number do the same thing the practice is annoying and actually dan gerous, and if people will not stay