Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-04
FIREMAN HEROES
MODEST UNTO END
Just a Line in Company Re-
ports Tells Fate of "Brav-
est Of Brave"
RECORD OF TRUCK
Noted Confagrations Show Stuff
Out of Which Flame Fight
ers Are Made

TsIes of herolsm and fo.titude related
no the historians Of the European war find
a. oouaI in the records Of the Bureau OF
,,,ro only there has risen up no annalist
=, ,,destal the blue-cad fireman at height
suiiclently removed from the iconoclastic
,,orspective of ncarness to place him in
proper focus for public appreciation.
The daily reports Of single company
,,,,bin the "Rre belt" contain material suill-
c,spt TO supply plot for the most prolific
author of adventure. y recital, bare and
hrisr TO account fer the non-roturn OF
come comrade who spraug aboard the appa-
rat,,s AZ It crossed the doorsill on its errand
~ s,Ivare and who never came back!
r,o dsiv records of Track No. furnish
q, iIustratlon Captain John DUNCAN. its
commander Is veteran of some three
deradeq of valiant service, most OF whlch
Z has been passed in the fire belt
Truck No . occupies station on tlorlst
s,reet directly in the rear OF the Third ana
paca streets police station II Is, ana mas
been since it's installation, one OF the BUS
lost pieces Of apparatus In the Bureau ot
rira Tts nat6r.driven truck Is undergoing
,epairs incident to = colliHiou few weeks
aro when while racing nt top speed 70
n Are II battered It's way through the wall
went 10 the hospital that day. But they
sre ali bac', again, whie their ten-ton
truck is still laid up"
CASE IN POINT
Tho company Is responding to alarms in
a borse-drnwn vehicle. a survivor of the
podine street tragedy. "Only two men
we're left that day to bring our truck pack
IN the house" remarked Captain panBan
,oanctlyelv THE rest OF us were in hos
,uh
lose a man In that fire. There have been
times when we were not so fortunate
The gray.haIred captain pointed TO two
crayon portraits hanging on the walls OF
the sitting room.
~rhosc pictures," continued Captain Dun
gan "show two of our men who lost their
lives at frcs-John Johnson and Eddie
Knouf johnson was killed when the
Temple Theatre burned at Seventh and
Chestnut streets exactly thirty years ago
Knouff was crushed during n fire at Fry
maler's china store Market street above
Ninth In April 1897 His back and leg
were broken and his spine was crushed by
- falling stone. He fingered in the German
HosIptal for moro than three years before
lie succumbed,
Here's the record In Johnson's case" he
added. pointlng to "A red ink entry on the
company daybook under date Of December
.S 1886 It read: Went to Temple Thea
tire and got remains Of Ladderman Johnson.
In service eleven hours" That was all. Just
a line The preceding days record showed
i'm almost equally brief fashion that at
ll:O3 a. m. the truck had responded to an
alarm of Ere from Box 223 at Seventh and
Chestnut streets.
The fire destroyed the Temple Theatre,
Egyptian Musee. with other adjacent prop
critics on the north side Of Chestnut street
west of seventh 1t threatened to wipe out
the entire block
HOW CONtRADE DIED
Iaddarman Johnson, together with Hose
1, went down to death with a falling wall.
Abraham DUNCAN. brother of the captain,
and also Il member of his crew today, was
injured by the descending mass Of wood and
plaster that killed his COmrade.
johnson and | We're handling the same
line" said Ladderman DUNCAN. I'VE were
working on the second floor, over by the
east wall of the building. When we felt
the floor giving way under us we ran for
the front windows to reach our ladder We
were almost there when the wall came
down. johnson must have been behind me,
for the force of the collapse threw me out
OF the window while he was knocked back
ward and carried into the cellar.
81 fell on top of Hugh Cogan, now a
battalion chief, who was standing on the
ladder. | nearly knocked him to the ground,
hut he stopped my fall and saved my life.
We got JOhnson's body out the next day
lie and Gibson We're carried down to-
gether and were found right in front of a
wax group of The CruCihxion' that
strangely enough. had been unharmed by
the flames that destroyed every other eX-
nf hn gTtrf in