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Tolled For Two President's

Tolled For Two President's image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
September
Year
1885
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Wrltten íor the Conui.i;. "I went up into the tower and ¦ the old bell two frieiully taps, lor the last time." In the palmey days of the volunteer flre department, there were tn New York, ten bell towers or lookout?, local il at different polnts throughout the city; but with one exception - the tower :it 1 Mount Morris - they are Uiings of the past. Although valuable adjuncts of tbe "system," ia former times, and i remjnder of the hour of Diñe o'clock evory iirli f. yet the flre-alarm bells served to "cali out" such big crowds at lires, that th firemen was often serlously iuterfered with. Moreover, the ereotion of many tull buildings interceptad the view from the towers, and fogs made the "locating'1 of flres uncertaln. For these rcasoiis, and owlng to the ntloptioh of the iire alarm telegraph system - whieh is far botter every way than the bells - the toners have been almost entirely discan'ed for the last rifteen years. The "old" Spring street bell tower, as it was familiarly tenned- and which has rpcfiitly hppn rpmoveil wiis, pprlmjw, for several reasons, one of the most noted of any in the city. It was uscil in the winter of 1.S82 3, durtng t terrible icestorm, which rendorcd tho Mre-alirm telegraph almost useless for several days. And besides ushering in the Ccnlnini.il New Year, its five-ton lxll wastolled for President Lincoln and Garfield - Imt , asasaiuated. The occasion of Qtrfleid's funeral being the last time this bell was "offlcially" struck. The removal of Ihls tower, BUgJerti some reminisencps TOgvrttidg tho "tfld volunteer fire department, deserving of mention. Althoiigh started as fong go as 1798, it was never fully organtzed, in the sense of the term as npplhd to the present fire department. Many of the "volunteers"' being engaged in varióos occupations during the day, dèpé largely upon the "runners," aa they ternied- young men not okl enougb to be eligible as "regular Breinen. And in justice to the latter, it should be stated that much of the rival ry betweeo the different companies- and whlcb often led to serious encounters - was engendered by the runners; who wcre also, oftcntimes, guilty of purloining propertj-, and for whlcli the reputation of tlie regula! was made to suffer; for, be it further said in their favor, they were generally considered honest men. Fire ".luty" with them was a religión, and their zoal in the.discharge of their duty often led them into extravagant expendtturea of money to decórate and beaulify their "a]paratus," as well as to making personal 8acriflces of their time- and frêquently of their lives- without hope of reward, and with a certainty of receiving more or less censure. Indeed, it is very doubify! whether a full and Impartía! history of the sacrifiees and denials of the memben of the old New York volunteer fire department will ever be written- or even could be writen. The present "paid" fire department was organized in 1805, since which time improvements have constantly been making in its personnel and equipment, uutil now its "service" is without doubt the. best of any fire department in the world; and theretore, justly the ptide of every New Yorker. ENGINE TninTT, of the present Department occupiés tbe house in which "National" hosc No. SU, oí the volunteer fire dcpa'tment, was formerly located; the "quarters" bcing on Spring street, near Varick, and through which entrance to the bell tower referred to, was gained. Engine Company 30, of which Edward A. Scannell Is foreman, had thiee of its nieinbers killed at a fire some years tgo, which destroyed the building extending from 444 to 448 Broadway; the tonner number being that of the building once oceupied bythe world-famed Chiisly's Mlnstrels. Engine Company 30, also liad another member almost iatally wounded at the fire referred to- Thos. J. Contesto, tbe last ringer of tlie bell at the old Spring street tower; as big languag; tlie begining of this article indicates. He was two and a half years in the volunteer department, and has been in the present fire department twenty years- or since its organización. During the visit of Dom Pedro, Hmperor of Brazil, to this country severa! years ago, Engine 30 was the ürst to respond to a "cali"' sent from the box corner of Broadway and Canal street. Dashing up to that point they had a stream of water llying in the air withiu three minutes from the time the alarm was frlvïn. Time so remarkabl}' quick as to both sniprise and picase the Emperor. The Insurance Patrol, ofganlzed in 1P39, is a very valuable adjunct of tlie fire department; protecting, in tlie couree of a year, many milllons of dollars worth of propertyfroni damage by water, which, it ig well known, is almoat ais ruinou fire, to many kinds of goodl.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News