Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-06-18
THE PASSING Of A THRILL.

THE PASSING Of A THRILL.
[Sioux City Journal
The old fashioned firemen's tourna-
ment was made up of races and other
tests Of skill between volunteer fire
men-dry goods clerks, bookkeepeTs,
plumbers. lawyers, doctors. merchants
and bankers who ran with the ma
! chine" and never got a cent for IT.
Rivalry was keen between Liberty
| hose company No. on the bottoms
| and Neptune hose company No. On
the hill. Every small boy in town
fairly worsniped tine who set
| the pace for his teammates as the
| best sprinter in the vicinity. and there
was no less enthusiasm over the light
| ming coup1ers. a dremen's tourna-
ment was notable event for towns
people as we'll as the red shirted
| brave fire ladies" as the Weekly
| Bazoo always spoke of them.
Then came the paid departments
with their horse drawn carts. Orig
inally they were looked upon with
| much awe, especially in the smaller
towns, which, however, showed no less
! loyalty to their own volunteer compa-
MES. AS the horse drawn carts be-
established feature OF the fire fighting
business In the cities the necessity OF
recognizing them in firemen's tourna-
! ments became evident. so programs
were made to include paid department
events in addition to the old fashioned
| competitions among the volunteers. It
| was in 1902 at Davenport that the
| horse drawn carts began TO take part
| In state tournaments in Iowa. That
| was the year that Carhett and Sullivan
| won the championship for Sioux City.
| From the start these races were big
| feature, and the thrill got more and
| more pronounced as new complications
were added TO the contests. The first
! races were run with the horses har-
| messed at the start Then came the
| bunk hitch which involved the spec
tacular leap from the bed, the slide
| down the pole, the simultaneous dash
OF the horses fran their stalls to the
wagon, the lightning hitch and the
getaway amid the cheers of excited
| thousands. II is doubtful If any other
| kind of horse race can do as thorough
| Job OF stirring the red blood as race
! between the favorite teams of rival
| cities. 1t would take a Lew Wallace
! to begin to do justice TO some OF those
! winch were run OH Oh iowa touIsSS IA
1 the halcyon days. Many have been the
:, sessions In fire houses and elsewhere
4 over the merits Of Paddy and Prince
and Dick and Charlie and Jack and
Mack and Black and Tan, and many
have been the wagers that were laid
on favorite horses
! Now comes the automobile to rob
the. great American public of one OF
i the finest thrills it ever has enjoyed
4 The "notorization" of city fire de-
| partments has driven the Corbetts and
the Sullivans and the Blacks and the
ii Tans back 10 the farm and the DUNK
i hitch" with all its attendant excite
! ment, bids fair soon to be thing OIL
II the past The Iowa state firemen s
tournament this year will be held at
i Maquoketa. Neither Des Moines mol
Sioux City will take part. Probably
other cities will follow their example
Most municipalities are gradually re-
placing their horse drawn trucks with
i automobile engines and carts. Take
away the horses, and you take ava!
the thrill of a race between trucks
Who could imagine community get
I ting as excited over the finest auto
mobile truck ever made as Sioux City
, and vicinity used to enthuse over gooe
, old Corbe1t and Sullivan?
| The fate OF the firemen's tourna-
). ment seems TO be to return to 1t:
original form. The passing of the
horse from fire department service
!, , | leaves the field almost exclusively tt
!, the volunteer companies. 1t is likely
, however. that they can quite NIGEL,
!, maintain interest in the sport-in thei1
own communicates at least-just a!
they maintained it before the COMING
of the one time wonderful horse drawn
:. cart-when such thing as an auto
mobile fire truck had no place even IL
their dreams.
a Expectations With q String to Them
These are glowing, golden days II
the Republic Of Colombia. The con
gress at Bogota has just ratified tn
luscious treaty with the United States
in which our southern neighbor grac
iously accepts the apologies for Lat
lapses in courtesy humbly offered b.
Mr.. Bryan and consents to forget tn
past in consideration of a gratuity o
$25. ZOO, 900. Some Colombian patriots
or promoters have actually gotten ex
cited enough to insert as full -pag
q advertisement in. THE London Times
the text of the treaty-by which Colon
: bia is suddenly to be made happy. ant
prosperous.
: We fear that these reckless advertis
0 ers have overlooked the wise saw ahou
collecting ones income before spending
r it., Who is going to guarantee that tn
g United States senate viii; ra4tfy a treat
0 loaded down by one of the most foolis
9 and Objectionable admissions OF wronk
d doing ever made by an American secre
y tary Of state? This Standardization ha
r gotten little glory out Of the conduct Q
foreign affairs. It Has muddled abou
0 everything thererwas T. muddle, and !