The sun., 1904-05-22
Volunteers |
Compare Things
Then and Now.

"When the fire alarm boxes wero put. up
at the street corners about 7s., the bell
ringers were cut out of n job and not one
Of us but was sorry. After that went
shop for several years. and now am en-.
ployed in a furniture store" :.
Slow in getting to fire? Not bit OF
IT,, returned Capt Sullivan of Engine %.
Department captain perhaps in active SER
vice In this city. ip reply to an insinuation
that in the old days there must have been
a long delay between the time Of the warm
ing clang Of the bell ringer and the arrival
Of the firemen at the scene OF a fire.
Capt Sullivan spoke not only with
warmth but also convincingy. 1t should
be mentioned that the captain, who is still
as enthusiastic about running to fires as
a youngster, himself started out as volun-
teer fireman.
in those days. he went on, men coull
run faster think than they con now And
young men liked to run. =, ..
Horses couldn't beat them. II the
walk. Anything so they got there. Only
active men joined volunteer fire COM
pany, for man that got run out going TO y
fire was laughing stock ever afterward
for the others.
"Some OF the finest men in New York In
those days were volunteer firemen. Mayor
Temann, Mayor Wickham and Mayor
Gunther joined our association. and the
members included many OF the principal
merchants Of the city. Ii was considered
candidate was accepted. A mans name
had to be proposed to an executive COM
mittee, who looked up his past and then
if nothing was found out against him his
name was submitted to the Fire Commis-
sioners. who passed on IL. He was always
kept in suspense at least thirty days.
Young men had fewer amlKsements
then than they have now and running to
fires was something Of hobby with hum
dreds OF them. And employers never
ping work and rushing to a fire il they
belonged TO the association. One day
saw sixteen men who worked for plasterer
drop their trowels and run when the fire
bell rang, and their boss never said word.
"A first class company was allowed
class fifty, a hook and ladder forty, a hose
thirty. =.
"Did the volunteers take as many risks
as paid frenien do? They took good
worked far more enthusiastically than paid
fremen ever think OF doing. man who
volunteers to do anything. ] don't cara
what. as rule, always shows more en-
thusiasm and is willing to take more risks
than one who is hired to do it,
when it comes to courage at fires, vol
unteer companies sometimes 60 ahead
of the regulars even now. I saw an in-
star ce OF that not 10 very long ago.
There was a pretty big fire up in The
Bronx ard although answered the alarm
with all the speed we could make. the top
| floor of the building was almost in cinders
| when we get there. Two volunteer fire
| companies, one OF them from City Island.
were on the ground almost as soon as We
| were and / really held my breath TO see
the way those men too hold. ~
@They were agile as monkeys and seeu,sd
| to be an over the outside OF that burning
| structure in five minutes. / pointed them
! out to my boys and yelled: -.
| just look at them! Can you beat
Il knew they oouldn teven il they wanted
| too Et
aIn the riots Of '6s the volunteer firenen
did far more effective work than the police,
think, for not only did they labor hard
to put out every fire that was started but
afterward they turned to and licked the
mobs--or tried to. -
"The volunteer fire company was just
like big family In those days, and, instead
OF shrking, every member tried to outdo
the others in pluck. And how some Of US
enjoyed the funl' ~
Here the captain indulged in reninis-
cent smile.
Men don't have so much time now to
run to fires as they used to. he concluded
in hurried tone as a gong sounded and
three horses appeared from nowhere and
took their places in front of the fire engine,
$50 l guess it's Just as we'll that there is 4
paid fire department and horses to pull the
apparatus.