The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-04-12
His Experience as Fireman.

his experience as Fireman.
In speaking of his experiences as
a fireman, Mr.. Hanna told Free
Press reporter several exciting in
stances where mere pluck, luck and
courage saved the boys. 1.-THE mem
bers of Hose company No. l were
all good business men, sturdy and
fearless" he said, "and we had
many thrilling experiences in the
palmy days of long ago. -remem.
Der when an old shack burned in
the rear of the present Richards
building, person by the name of
Jim Thackery was said to be locked
up in his room upstairs. Jim Barry,
who was driver, and / went upstairs
and through the smoke looking for
!! Thackery. We finally discovered the
door, but saw that it was hooked
| from the outside, and we knew that
(, Thackery was not there. .s.,."
AT the Minneopa house fire sew
eral years ago, Henry Vosbeck was
upstairs in the DOM above the
kitchen calling for help, as he was
being overcome by smoke. At the
4: head of the stairs lay Jim Barry,
already overcome by smoke, and
about fifteen men were at the bottom
of the stairs, but none seemed to en-.
terrain the idea of going to help
their friends. | was called on and
went up where found Barry uncon.
scious from smoke. carried him
down while the stairs were burning.
He was as limp as "A rag. VOsbeck
reached window and got some
| fresh air. He was later carried down.
when the glass block burned
down, person by the name of
Garbinger, who was an oil wagon
driver, told the firemen that there
was large oil tank in the rear
| of the building, and that if . this
was touched off by the flames, there
would be something doing. None
volunteered to carry the thirty gal
lon can of gasoline away, but an.
other fireman and / took hold and
dragged the dangerous explosive to
safety, although it made our hair
stand on edge when we were being
lscOrched and with the real soup in
our hands.
One Narrow Escape.
Zone OF my narrowest escapes,
however" said Mr.. Hanna, twas one
of pure luck, ! suppose. There was
an old building on the south side
of the Theodore Williams hall which
burned and l was on the roof and
was about to descend on ladder,
when | missed my step and fell
backward to the ground. I hurled
over three times and then struck
on my head That laid me up for
nearly all winter and / had several
stitches taken. sssS
Zone of the Godsend escapes
came to me when the old Odd Eel
lows building. burned We were in
side and going, into "a room when
stopped to pick up a stick which
had fallen beneath the gas meter.
Just as l stopped, the meter explod-
ed and shot over my head. Had
not stopped in time it would have
caught me full in the breast, but as
it was the flames and material shot
Fdirectly over my back and head
The experiences that i have related,
however, have been very nearly com
mon to all the firemen, for none but
those who have fought the flames
know of some of the escapes and
dangers encountered"
Mr.. Hanna was very modest about
telling of his experiences but he
was coaxed by the reporter and in
duced to divulge some of them.
At the last meeting fthe hose
company, he handed in his resigna-
ton and called another meeting to
have the firement decide upon his
successor as captain. MIR. Hanna is
living fairly comfortable, conducting
restaurant on South Front street,
which is the meeting place of many
of his old comrades OF the Civil
war, and he also receives "a pension
of SIS month, having reached the
age of seventy. = @'.a