The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-31
NUILEY LADIES WATER DUEL
RIVAL FIRE COMPANIES SQUIRT
THE HOSE on EACH OTHER.
Two Members Of the AVondaie. VINO May
Have Been Obeytng Orders, Dismissed
Public sympathy Not All with the
Y~sntaguwgs IN Their Hour Of Triumph.


Folk In Nutley. n. j.. just don't know
what 10 going to become Of their volunteer
fire depar@ lent now that things have got all
riled up ia the Y~antagawg CHEMICAL Com
pany and the Avondale Hose Company,
those two aGgregations Of gallant firemen
to which Nutley and even West Nutley
have had cause TO point with pride FOR many
years. Now that the fire committee of the
town has gone and Aired George Hawkes.
worth and Robert X. (for kendrick) Donald
son. president and secretary Of the Avon
dale Hose Company. no officers in that
body are left but the sergeant-at-arms and
the chaplain and most Of the boys have
raised an awful kick.
Nutley really didn't expect II o. the fire
committee; and what's more. there are
many reputable citizens thereabouts who
don't believ for a minute that George
Hawkesworth and Robert X. Donaldson
deliberately squirted their hose on Frank
De Vausney when he WIS trying to put out
the fire on top Of the Erie trestlc the other
night and hit Frann right on the trestle.
Frank says somebody squirted the hose
on him all right, and Fire Councilman Banta
says that Ha wkcsworth told him that Fire
Chief Henry II. Stager ordered him to squirt
the hose on Frank. George Hawkcsworth
says he never said any such thing. and so
things are all torn mp.
Nobody knows just how all h trouble
between the Y~sntagawgs n the Avon
dales started, though Hon Stillman who
is one of the brightest young men in West
Nutley and who solved the mystery OF who
was turning in the false fire alarms on the
new Gamewell system las. May Hen says
IL is all because the ~Yantagawgs went and
got those new red and gold fire badges
after the Avondale Hose Company boys
beat them in the trial run between NutIey
city hall and Ed Seiboldt's barn. Maybe
Hen is right. Anyway it looked queer at
the time that the Yantagawg boys should
Rave badges made with the gold letters
"Semper Virens" printed on them Just
after the Avondales had got their new
badges from Newark with the silver letters
"Semper Velox,' because the Avondales
we're certainly speedier on trial runs han
the Y~antagawgs.
Well, things ran on for two or three weeks
in this strain Of bad blood and everybody
In Nutley felt the wear and tear on their
nerves. Then that trestle fire came along
last week, and that olinched things.
1t wasn't verv late when the boys heard
the new Gamewell fire alarm system bell
on top of the Dutch Reformed Church tap
on No. 8. The other two numbers are I
and 2; they cover Nutley proper and part
OF West Nutley So when the boys were
just getting up from supper and heard
the three taps they knew thai the fire wasn't
anywhere in those two places.
II just happened that Silas Warner, who
own Alcibiades and J~osephus, the two
ho-una l,aaAA 49,, ,AA Ga. 1a,oA .a.. -. 49,.
in case OF fire. was watering the team down
by ex-Police Chief Henry knabb's barbering
emporium and the Yantagawg boys spotted
Silas In time IL Silns ever gets Alcibiades
and Josephus beided Town for the night
it makes him rather raspy to have the two
horses taken out for fire purposes.
II was the work Of but ten minute TO
get the noble fire team hitchel up to the
Yanta avg chemical, and ali the boys we're
hanging on to the steps when the engine
dashed down Main street and across the
tracks Of the Erie railroad to where a red
glow showed over the top of Ed Selboldt's
new dovecote. The Avondale Hose Com
pany, having to tax the run on foot, ar
rived at the scene Of the coniGgration ten
minutes after the Yantagawgs.
Hello, welcome TO our city" said Phil
Guthrie as the Avondales came up. Phil
had read that that was a popular way to
joke policemen in New York 80 he said il
right of smartly But the Avondales were
pretty sore ABOUT tlat nre DaqRe business
and they didn't think of any repartee. But
they didn't forgive Phil or any Of tho other
boys Of the Y~antagawgs just the same.
The fire was not very serious. Some
tramp had SET a blaze TO the supports of
the trestle. and they being very old had
begun to burn briskly Fire Chief Stazer
sized Up the situation in a minute. With
out sending in a second alarm. which would
Rave brought the West Nutley hose on the
spot, If they could have found their horses,
lhtAf IL IA. aE4nEAA LraAlr IN u
the Y~antagawgs out on the trestle right
over the aging fire, with the chemical
engines line Of hose Then he sent the
Anomalies down under the trestle with their
line OF hose TO attack the fire on the flank,
as IL were
Nothing especially went wrong with the
Y~antagawg engine and il was putting
out a stream almost fifty feet long right into
the heart OF the lame. But the Avondales'
hose seemed TO kink up some and squirmed
around on the ground without doing much.
All the time Frank DE Vausney was stahd-
ing on the bridge, like the hero that he
was. squirting his powerful stream into the
blaze.
Now maybe it was that the A~vondales'
hose suddenly became unkinked when
George Hawkesworth and Robert X. Don
aldson were not expecting il or maybe il
was under orders of Chief Stager; anyway
just as Frank up on the trestle had begun
70 sing My Gallant Fire Laddie' a fearful
u a ~ Vi Wdttt Chtic UP tDTQu2n the Ties
and hit him. Frank said afterward il hit
him right in the chest.
Hey. look out Down there" yelled Frank
when he had picked himself UP and could
get some Of the water out of his mouth.
oh listen to the band" said some one
from below derislvely and the water hit
Frank again in the same place.
We'll. by the jumping Jemima," called
out Frank, using his unique phrase Of ex-
pletive which has become almost a byword
among the younger get in Nutley, "two
can play at this game / reckon"
Whereupon Frank stayed down on his
knees where the stream from the Avon
dales' hose had left him and jammed his
nozzle through the ties and sent a whaling
stream of water right down on George
and Robert X.
As to what happened after that most Of
the boys in the ~Yantagawg and the Avon
dales differ and an impartial recorder can
not take sides. Some say that the boys
forgot all about the fire and kept on drown
ing each other out. Some say il was all a
mistake and when Franks nozzle pointed
down through the ties it was because it had
suuirmed out OF his hands when the ac-
cidental discharge from below hit him in
the chest. Be that as IL nay. the fire was
put out without much loss 10 the Erie Rail
road. which needed a now trestle at that
point anyway and the Yantagawgs and
Avondales went their several ways back TO
their firehouses.
The report about the trouble out az the
trestle got TO the ears of the fire committee
OF the Council in time, however, and then