Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-16

over and which could be used against
you at the Great Trial, and
If YOU fear death
Then take the advice of William l..
Gnbert-known to his intimates as
Dare Devil Bill"-the man who
which Fire Chief Cummings goes to
all theffres. on this one point:
Don't drive an automobile up
crowded Peachtree street at fire
fighting speed.
There is as much difference" says
Dare Devil Bill" between driving a
racing car so miles an hour on
track, and driving a machine UP
Peachtree street at 40 miles an hour.
as there is between riding in cradle
fend voyaging in an aeroplane with
broken propeller and the wind blow
ing gale. The racer is as safe,
conparativclv. as the cradle. Most
people think when they've ridden in
racing automobile, they've been
face to face with death. But they
won't know real danger, and they
won't know what it is to have their
hearts try to climb up out OF their
threats and slap them in the race,
until they've sat behind the wheel OF
an automobile and tried steer it safely
through the traffic on Peachtree
street at 40 miles an hour!"
Gilbert Should Know.
And without doubt Gilbert ought to
know for he does it. Several times
day perhaps, he takes the big RED
deviI out of the fire house on Ala
bama street. and goes snorting, boom
ing and rocking up Peachtree street
so fast you hardly know he's coming
until he's gone. Everybody IN ATTAIN
"a has seen the big car tearing
through the streets. with Chief Cum
mings sliding around in the tonneau,
bouncing up and down and clinging
1esperately to anything he could get
his hands on. The car has the big
gest hell and the most unearthly
shrfelling siren that ever graced a
fire wagon, it seems.
"If we are to believe the figures"
saws Gilbert, we don't go very fast.
orr speedometer rarely shows more
than 40 miles an hour, and most of
the time it's around 35. But, believe
mo 40 miles an hour on Peachtree
street is SPEEDING! Compared to
If the racing automobile driver who
runs 80 to 100 miles an hour leads
life of siddy ease and Joy. I've driven
ra cing cars, and. when it comes to
driving for my own pleasure I'll take
the racer every time.
"On the track you've got plenty OF
room, But on Peachtree street, you
must have a clear eye and steady
hand You've got to remember that
creosote blocks are slippery; and then
there are the cross streets, the hun
dreds of wagons and the thousands of
men women and children, to think of
How Does 1t Feel?
"How does it feel to run an auto
mobile up Peachtree at tirefghting
sneed ?" Billy went on. BLESS me II
know wish | cid I've never been
ahIe 70 figure out just how il does
feel | know that very often | come
in from a run 50 nervous | can hard
" stand. and my hands and arms
ache and my head throbs anl t seems
ae if nv blood was running about
million miles a minute ] know that
there are about a million thrills in
every block, and every moment you
expect the accident nat VIII END
things. But how feel when I'm driv-
ing the chiefs car, don't know !
don't usually have time to aHalyze
my emotions. | suppos" | have emo
front of the car and I've got to climb
The sidewalk to keep from running 1t
down. or when an old woman gets
confused and stands in the street and
I'VE got to stop i'm a few feet, but !
never have time then to analyze my
emotions, and when ! do get time TO
think of them ! can never remember
what they were"
Gilbert's record of having driven
the chiefs car for four years. and
three months without an accident is
the best proof of his usefulness and
fitness for the place. There have been
lots Of narrow escapes, but no one
has been hurt since Gilbert first
rrankcd the big car and climbed into
the drivers seat This he attributes
partly to his luck" but it is due
mostly to the fact that he has taken
his Job seriously and applied gray
matter to IT.
In driving a fire automobile" said