The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-10
J. Il. 5. RECALLS DAYS OF FIRST
 FIRE ENGINE
"GiYs Bremen a Show," is Moral He Draws from Days When D. u.
 Sterling Was Mayir.
Special to The Farmer.)

| side standpoint the position taAen oS
 Bridgeport over ireman's pay appears
 to be small potatoes. After the man
 ner the city has given away the
 streets to the traction company with
 out one cents return, giving away the
 water front, made a twenty years lease for water and committed no end
 of foolish things in regard to perm
 anent pavement" then to turn around and refuse to give the firemen fair
 wage. It certainly looks as IT those who control and conduct such matters are ''cheap Johns." and not worthy to
 represent the city, protect and upho.d IBridgeport's good name for fair deal | ing. and cause the lip to curl of those
 takes like those above mentioned
 would not be tolerated for one mo
 ment. Sometimes while riding In the
 cars which pass through Bridgeport ' wit tnout. stop one overhears casual re-
 marks from passengers not at all com
 plimentary to Bridgeport calling 1t
 '- a second rate town" and that's the
 reason the train does not stop.
 Passengers ridicule that ha bor which
 Congressman Hill has promised before election for twenty-five years to im-
 prove: phew. look at 1t today. sink
 and people say pointing to 1t that's a tive such comment Is unpleasant to listen to. One feels like resenting It. But what is there to do-There's the
 harbor and there's the smell-Then
 people pass comment on other things
 not pleasant to listen to and much less . unwise to repeat, but sometimes the
 people are right Now comes this question about firemen's pay. Let me . tell a little story about the fire de-
 partment and let those wise men who
 hold the reins at present compare
 then to now"
 It was before the war way back In
 1860 when the city had fire depart ment run by hand It wss In the 6 and Fount ain 8. When Philander
 Pitts rang the North church bell the
 volunteer frernen ran from their homes
 to the various engine and hose houses and dra gged the city apparatus to-
 wards the blaze. Usually the blaze
 was well going by the time the fire men arrived, but they ri~ked the'r lives and worked hard to save the sur rounding buildings. In those days meat was cents per ID. eggs cents per dos-. flour 1850 per barrel and all food stuffs correspondinR'y cheap. ln- surance was way up. Then came the war. Daniel H. Sterling was Mayor. A man who was not afraid He called the first meeting in the U. s. for raising money and troops In response to Lincolns call He made the first contribution of $500. Standing upon the platform in@old Franklin Hall and so aroused the good old citizens pres ent that before the meeting closed twenty-six thousand dollars was pledg- ed That was when living was cheap and yet In one evening s26.0O0 was raised. Just keep that figure in mind. The war went along as history tel's and 1t was only few months after Fort Sumter was fired upon that Mayor Sterling upon his own respon- sihil'ty ordered the first fire engine for the city.
 It was an Ameskeag machine of the first class. MT. c. B. Waller bought a splendid bay pair of steamer horses. Tineer Mir. Jacob KIefer. Wm- ID. Bishop and other prominent men were identified in the movement of replac- ing the old hand system by introduc- ing steam It brought down the jeers. yells. hoots and derision of the old firemen. Every conceivable plan. both political and underhanded was resorted to. to drive the steamer out of town. The Common Council. how ever. was composed of those level , headed old fashioned city fathers that understood just how to conduct city affairs. They were wise for their day and generation and not one of them ever heard of the word graft. These Common Council men in face of the old fremen who declared they would vote against them at the next city election accepted the steamer. or | dered 1t paid for and moved 1t to ID. |
 
 called 1t "The Squirt. Then came | tremendous fire in Wood Brothers car riage factory which stood just where | Hincks and Johnson are erecting a | Broad streets. No. 1 responded. turn i ed on four streams and literally ! drowned the burning building. The | hand engines could do nothing That I accepted that first steamer as the | most wonderful invention ever beheld. | The Common Council was congratu- | lated. Then the Council ordered a ! house built for No. and bell tower erected on John street. where 1t stands today. Jessie Dimcant was se- i lected eneineer and Dave Jacks trade | driver. They were the first paid fire ! men. afterwards came the hoseren.
 This steamer put the old h7nd en- zines so in the shade thatJ Excelsior 5 next secured steamer and the com | pany drew 1t by hand No on the | East Side did the same thing The | citizens laughed at the firemen drag | cinT steamer whereas No. was drawn by horse power. So in the end No 5 and No. 2 secured horses like wise and then the city's paid depart ment was assuring good shave. Lit | tie by little insurance which had been | hioh began to come down. Property ' owners realized that they saved more | in insurance to more than o~set what :! It cost in taxes to run the fire depart |
 
 D. H. Sterling would say today | if he could on-y oe hzre .o sten 10 | this miserable cry against fremen's | pay He when young man was fire men of No. hose and fought | many a blaze He knew the value | of good men He loved his native city | and went down into his pockets as far if not further than many of his town fellows for Sri i5geport's welfare. | Were he here today he would he | enc of the very first to advocate. urge | and demand as a large taxpayer to advance the firemen's pay. He raised | s2s 900 in one evening. surely the great l City of Bridgeport can do as much as that in a whole year. When fire i men fought fires and risked their lives SO years ago. provisions were cheap. Today look where the trusts have boosted the necessities of life.
 Is not the servant worthy of his hire. These firemen are the servants of the city. to be called upon an in- stants notice. to jump from sleep into winter blasts. to fight fires in a city |