The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-08
DENIS SXENE, BOSS FIREMAN.
THRILLING STORY or THE
THINGS HE DARED AND DID.
Began 10 Risk His Life as q Boy IN the
chicago Department and Kept IL Up
TIN lie was an Old Msn--Brave. GruT.
! Relentless and Tender, After All.

laughed et the doctors who told him he was
going to die He could not understand that
the ned body that had been plunged
through rotten floors into seetbing pits Of
flame. stinened in sufocatlon from smoke
and acids and dragged out scorehed from
many a hard fought bnttle with death could
possibly sucCumb TO aRy Indefinite. creeping
ailment coming ut hin across the white covers
OF his bed and through the door OF his peace
full home. Not ill = very few hours beIore
the end came would be believe that II was
near. and then he faced II as he had faced II
thousand times before. -sn
II Swenie ever gloried in his reputation as
q fire fighter or felt a genuine glow OF price
over achievements thin have made his
name familiar throughout the continent and
farther, he kept his feelings to himself. Not
even in his home, with only his closest rela-
lives and friends about him. would he ever
betray by a sign OF any character that he
felt entitled TO praise or applause. lie fought
a nre in a cold. calculating way. measuring
every inch Of his road. emitting nothing.
forgetting nothing. demanding OF his men
only that they would follow where he led
He never overcstirnated his own strength
He never underestimated the possibilities OF
destruction and death that lay in the flames
that he fought with for over half century
He was a Wellington in his battles. not a
Napoleon.
He operated his department with the one
Object Oh getting from IL tNtly UNIV "
efficiency II contained and spared neither
his subordinates nor himself in this effort.
4 man who shirked his work was soon nnd Ter
treatment Of the offender, until reform
had set in. Alta fire, though he had TO superI
wise the work Of hghtng the hames' ne seemed ,e
hundreds Of men about the burning building
was working and he watched every detail
all his reserve and showed how much Of
genuine tenderness there, really was in hts
nature; lap,e caused BY drunkenness ne
of disobedience or disioyalty to the depart
ment or it, officers he never forgave.
volunteer fire department. That was IN
ls4s.. month after he Joined he was made
eoieeT Of %ei nnd xze ares and @
that time on, during fifty-two years he was
connected with the city's fire. department
r'f swen .S s<pssnsi bravery at IRE might
have been called the most abandoned reck-
.rs sSs ana not sHse the
took. he never took one unnecessarily, ana
never asked HIS men to 60 into place OF
danger into which he was not glad ana Wiling
While he,was still a boy volunteer his first
n hS' the Ss s s1al p the dep"rsmeni two;
story frame building, paint store below, and
Lying rooms above, caus FIRE late one night
the narrow passageways and jump ped from
windows. but a servant and two-year-od
up For lost Their absence was discovered
Just as Swenie's company. with their Old
m ndnH ehs Wnns for orders or Needing tie
attempts of fellow fremen to pull hIm back
got into the 'bdrninE store and scrambling
along a passageway leading upstairs. reached
the room where the girl and child were lying
unconscious. -
building WIS a whIrling mass of fire; but
Swenie never lost his head. He picked the
two up ~ his arms snd eroIIed his , way bach SSt
the are in ,hs TeY@; he REACHED ,Sp outside s
men below, aud waited while they, got a lad
der up to aim Then he carried his burden
burnt OH and his, whole back and hands were
badly scorched. but in o week he was running
again with the Red jacket; willing and eager
for another chance to risk his life for the
That was not a bad start for hoy. It
pointed to still Drawer deeds in future wears,
and it Is hardly enough TO say that Swenie
fulfilled the promise OF his youth
'front.' as OF enc Sq Pe and making his caicaaions
was to connne 1t TO the spot where u started
and never i by any chanSe iet 1t spread TO an
wind that would defy any FIRE general hv;
Ss SS %: s%ens did T nS ha aHf 10
surrender very ot,en
seemed that they Ind overwhelmed the men
b y spiendad srr-raiship. Of unparalleled
endurance and pluck preventing great dis
sstsrs Of nrn and ~S amen sa S ron s whss
or the things that come Ia the mind when We
think Of a leader like swenie and devoted
His narrowf-st escape from death was at
the old Empire warehouse fire in Jackson
s ctr. and HTPt hnd r already caSsh @
within the building when the chief drove
up In his buggy and threw himself among
Boys he said. -hsre's something we've
got TO get at from the inside With three
lends Of hose and two companies OF men
he started in at a great iron door and found
the whole interior roaring furnace The
poneIt after they rcsSh ,S the inside to ne
the water supply and leaving them helpless
against the rapidly advancing ham.s TIE
Musham and a hundred nremeI crying and
in despair were battering helplessly al the
; aSoT s snacsedSd IN Sreakins i DOWN ,S.g
would nnd .ihs Shared bodies Of tn" chief
NM the only man who did no, despair Was
swrnie hipreIf Tie deliberately sat on q
eask and With flames Al about him figured
Gaining n a. Tspsetian /. R..d made Of the
place two ysI e ,rssr S1 sns When m
effort b-llsVsd that hr had given way to
sss sh' ,hrsasl II" sa,S.s 49," .s'srsi iSaarsd
c a. a.. ., S.l '@ % sr'i !" had ssss
0nall ms foT, small door oienins ipio ah
iilss And ~ s.,s ;sss ay',y @a. y M
fatal inJurls~ hut iW suenir's intlinats
kno slsdss. ~ tis' oOnstTu,tlon ~ tho doNn.
town buildtns every "i'" OF th.is s"ula nave
MSshS% vas SIN dirsa,ay Ils sness II
h. ,5 nsn .ss .' 'i'. s.s I,i s's. 40
nsnss in.las' stih traIs lunnlns aopI ne
.l,srl, st.ss ,s hsssa ,. 20, h"5'pd ti Ys