The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-02-02
By TCppY WRIGHT

{ bury burned. but vas not destroy
| ed. But 10 be eHact the great IRE
Of 1902 celebrated its thirtieth an
| Hiversary on sunday night. because
| the fire hhDpsHed on sunday.
shortly amer y, m. f0llOWlHR u
| day NJ wind, rain and snow. The
fire Wbs bhd. but no one knows
what would have happened had not
the rain nnd snow wet down the
roofs Of the buildings. east OF the
center. and thereby saved these
structures from possible deHru
lion from the heavy sparks which
went that wny directly arst the
blaze had been discovered.
one Of Waterways newspapers
has said the Loss WINS three mil.
lion dollars. AZ u matter Of fact
The property loss did not go beyond
u million.
But lot me just icli you. " WHs
u night Of real terror and fright for
The Waterbury lind owner, ana the
other good people OF the city. Cen
irnl property owners cried. ana
IDhny men who thought II meant
The end OF Waterbury, actually
wept NJ they saw some Of The best
buildings VI The city 20 down. And
one Of thsss men. dead now, !
recall, WAS the late M. j. BrzeziD-
ski. Mr. BfzeZinski may have had
his enemies, but just the same he
had o. good heart and was ~ proud
OF old Waterbury hs were any OF
ibe best known and first class fam
HES Of The city. Waterbury had
s0-chlled leading families In thnt
day; they haven't any today.
Everything has changed.
Thirty years ago Waterbury had
Il "Iiumply Duinpty" flrs depart
IGent. That IN 10 say We had
combination Of paid. chIlmsn and
volunteers 10 comprise our force.
Gam Snngg was the department
executive, herald~d ~ one OF the
greatest nre chiefs OF The day,
But he wasn't People only
thought h. WIS.
Fam " dSnh. and have never
yet said an nHtrtthfuI thing about
those who have passed along.
knew him well. aud II 30 Unopened
I was in an excellent position at
oil times 10 Judge him. both as an
executive officer. and M u hre nght-
en- The night Of February 2, 1902.
tnu Snagg hardly recognized the
EJFHIUVEE w WV ~ 'Db
ff6ntsd him.
YOU WIN remember The fire start
ed in the Reid H. Hughes build.
ing, jumping out OF the upper floor
with q tongue OF flame which leap
ed across the street 10 Ia. Gfesn'
berg building. where Frank MIA
lived, catching Frank snort for the
time being, and forcing him TO rush
down the rear FIRE escape painless
10 n place Of shfety, And then the
snIne name rushed through the
Greenbsrg building and right across
South Main street TO the large
structure OF The Boston Furniture
company the fullest building
around ihht district. 10 you see
there were three buildings on fire
Ut precisely ons nd the same lime.
Apparently the flame hrst cleared
the Old KHAN property on the
west side Of South Main street. but
the me later returned hhd destroy
cd H.
There we're no Indications ~ first
that the fIre would leave The HGid
n Hughes building, and 30 north
ward, or west ward t6Wbfd the cosy
old Franklin house which used 10
stand on Grand street. about where
the Waterbury Trust company II
row located The store OF Jones
N Morgan had been opened. and
Eremeb were supplied win plenty
u heavy clothing ana j1litens. tor
the asking. The plaGe looked ehfe.
hnd nothing was dohs toward emp
lytpg the WsiIsfIIle1 establishment,
Aud Yet ~ Wns Destroyed
t.ater in the evening. the lhels 81
. bydfabt line. due 10 the refusal
Of d company 6fi1cer 10 follow the
suggestion Of ~ private. no doubt.
caused the destruction or The no.
t6i and later everything west Of !,
20 Leavsbw6rth street The frank
lin house didn't eaten mrs uhtll
r. me time inter the Original alarm
had been received. I rhhli never
forget tho way it, cOrniGe t0Dplsd
over late NJ night after ths blaze
lad gained enormous headWay.
People have anid that chief
fnDgg called for outside aid. tts
didn't do anything of the Kind,
The suggestion was made by .
commissioner, 11nourfsd in by The
others, and ths telephones ~ the
headquarters OF the local exchange
used exclusively. with The late
Franklin Taylor ana George A,
briggs hs ths prominent figures iB
The undertaking, Both we're man
Ifnefur~rs and both knew how 10
act The train seryles was mr.
ranged by the then superintendent
OF the EaugatuGk division. tbs late
George w, Beach. The first en-
cine o. steamer brought here came
rem T0rrihgt0B. with Harry
Eunes IN charge Of The train M
recall H.. Horses for The out ~
town apparatus were supplied by
ralph N, Bi6kesIse.
The wey known ice Mellon Of
Dogs Nest attempted 20 drive 0ns
CT The teams UD Bank street, until