New-York tribune., 1908-02-23
TOO BUSY TO
THINK OF PERIL.
RRAVERY OF FIREMEN A
PART OF DAYS WORK.
Danger Confronts Them IN Sman as
UeU as Large Fires.

Nights silence in the hrehouse is broken py
erift metallic ciang: one-one. one one-ore' Inc
soker SMELLS IL SO fast that il is Impossible 10 res
the meaning But the alarm is given, and with .he
,.,s1,;c n-r.r s mingled the clash halter chains
automatically released the forward leap or
hoofs on the concrete hoof- Trap doors pahg opeh'
bodies Of men .lide down polished brass roos lio'ii
third story bedrooms. and their feet MT ruooei
mats with thud
.ao,. th;,,v-one-E,iizabe beth and Csnalr' shouts
the foremost man, reading the second ana slower
signal as he lodges under the quiverins heaos Oh
the horses and snaps their metal collars smut Win
q click The oriver has jumped to his lofty seat
Rareheaded, arm struggling with MS coat ne
serks at the rens with the other. and thus oiscoh
meets the network of lines that supported the mar
ness The six-ton truck, loaded with three hunoIeo
sad fifty feet of ladder and complicated apparatus
To break into buildings and variously save me-
sosbee ont of the house and is swinging around the
street corner before the big gong calls for the thrd
time one-one one. one-one- The big gong might
as well be silent in the up-to-oafe nrehoese h-1'
5oker and the second round are enough
Danger for the fireman begins long before ne
reaches the scene of the confiagration 1t is not
merely that he is clinging a narrow sideboard
while pulling his rubber hip boots Inc ione
truck and sways between the eieNateu
r.Ilars The man on the sideboard may be crushed
against pillar by accident, because the driver
has swiftly chosen TO sacrifice the truck rather
than child fun Of people The right OF
way is always yielded with sufficient prompt
.uSe arrogant automobile bars Inc passage, anu
.he ethics Of fire fighting demand that all the
chances Of wreck and death go 10 the firemen- In
fact large proportion OF casualties among the
red shirt brigade happen while the men are gong
10 fires
Chief Kruger has just lost his life. and a fund
10 erect memorial to him is being raised There
has been series Of unfortunate fatalities in the
department How does the man on the sideboard,
reused from sleep feel when going out on this new
unknown call?
''Feel?' he shouts above the thunder of the
truck This amt time 10 feel I'm on the job
There's something doing"
Great heavens, That narrow shave with
pedlers wagon. The East Side streets are full
best skill Of the driver and the at the steer
Ing men and children death See the frightened
face of that little Yiddsh boy jumping to the
sidewalk The people shouting and running
behind the truck in the distance The buggy Of
the battalion chief comes tearing down a side
street There come the red hats OF the fire patrol,
and from the opposite direction speeds the queer
shaped. nickeI-plated engine belching clouds Of
black smoke that trail away behind.
The fireman knows what the tenement house
district means The alarm may be for one Of the
frequent and trifng parlor curtain hlazes il
may presage a scfre OF deaths a serious fire here
may not involve much more danger the fireman
than one in the drygoods section, but there viii be
hesrtrending work and the taking Of extreme
chances. After all. trained fire fighter. who
IS sometimes called machine. viii a little fur
ther a life than GrygOods.