New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1929-01-05
BEATTY father Of
FIRE Department
Drove Out Riscluy Politicians
and Checked Pirebug

To some Of the people OF New
Britain who take its efficient hre
department al a matter OF course
there never seemed to be 4 time in
the history Of the city when the de-
partment was not efficient. Many
of the older residents can recall
when conditions were 10 bad that =
committee of citizens banded to-
gether and asked Ambrose Beatty
TO become fire chief and again put
the department on an efficient basis.
That was in 1873.
There were incendiary fires prac-
tically every night in the week and
citizens were frozen with terror. ac-'
cording to the papers of the time.
Finally 1t came to the point where
F. T. Stanley. Professor ID. N. Camp,
and 8. w. Hart. who was then
mayor. organized a. citizen COM
mittee and waited on Mr.. Beatty
who was shipper for the old Aetna
Mfg. Co. They asked him to re-
organize. the department SO that
activities of the fire bugs might be
eurbed.
Department "ROttcn to Core"
According to the papers of the
day the department was "rotten to
the core and was under the control
Of designing men,. Mr.. Beatty.
who was formerly chief Of the de-
partment, was considering the
proposition offered him when Wards
block on. Main street, burned with
loss of life. He then took charge Of
the department and carried on de-
termined fight against the so-called
ring which controlled 1t.
His first step was to weed out un-
desirable persons who were in con-
troll. He changed the entire system
and the one which has been in
vogue in the department for years
was one which former Chief Beatty
planned.
Introduced Discipline
Some of his rules were contained
In the following letter to George
Hadley who was then In charge OF
Company No. I.
ITO make the fire department
efficient, it is necessary that you
should have considerable practice.
You shall therefore take out the
company of which you are in charge
at least once each week during July
and August and once every two
weeks in September.
IF any of your company shall
fail to attend such meeting without
giving satisfactory reason report
him to me.
And further If any person Of
your company wishes to leave town
they must notify you and furnish
some person to substitute for them
during their absence.
Respectfully
"AMBROs BEATTY.
"Chief Engineer"
He was termed the father OF
the New Britain fire department"
and after he had it organized he re-
signed. Later he became post
master. Alexander A. Beatty. 4
member of the department at pres
emit. is his son.
NttN1uttT -. W. ttAtt sDOsut4ut
The first piece of apparatus pur-
chased under the administration Of
Mr.. Beatty was the steamer IS. w.
Hart. drawn by horses.
The company which handled the
steamer was located in what was
then the city building on CONNER
cial street. They were NJ. F. Coffey.
ny ~tnknr.
John c. Bingham. foreman: Henry
scheuy. assistant: W. Croker. F. g.
Sykes Perry Strong, Gottleit stinsel.
Thomas Roberts. and Frank Hum
phrey. The assistants were William
Larvo and w. r. Barnes.
Company No. 3
The old company which had used
No. FIRE house as It's headquarters
gave way to a modern company In
1873. known as the fastest In re-
spending to alarms by the people
who lived In the Dublin Hill"
section.
Peter Clerkin was foreman and T.
Black was his assistant J. McAvay
was clerk and the hosemen were r.
Clerkin, J. Clark. T. Clark. J. Black.
r. Barron. J. Tomiskey and NJ. G.
Claughessy.
Aetna Hook and Ladder Co.
The Aetna Hook and Ladder Co.
was located on Commercial street
and in its early years was made up
Of w. J. Rawlings, foreman; George
Young, assistant: John Young. clerk:
George Parker. William Biermins-
ham. Wilbur Stoddard. Lester South
wick. Charles Thomas. Charles Net
Teton Charles Bailey. George Dyson.
and Cha1ies Porter.
Steamer Co. No. Z
In 1888 Steamer Co. No. . was
located on Elm street in what was
the most modern house in the city.
In 1885 the house was equipped
with q steamer and a hose truck,
drawn by horses on the premises.
On the second floor Of the build
ing were the sleeping rooms OF the
men and the electrical apparatus Of
the city's system. 1t was then that
George Cooley who had formerly
been hoseman and assistant fore
man. was promoted to the double
duty Of fireman Of the steamer and
superintendent OF the flre alarm
system.
The company consisted Of: Fire
man, G. Cooley: drivers Thornton
Richardson and Thomas Cross; fore
man. Albert II. Been: assistant fore
man. H. p Gangloff: hosemen, H.
A. Latham c. A. Bruemmer. E. N.
Whitney, Arthur Saunders and w.
J. Watts.