USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume IV > Part 21
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At the next meeting Oct. 31, 1817, it was resolved "that the president be requested to inform Ebenezer Bowman, Esq., treasurer of the corporation to retain in hand the money that he may receive from Oliver Helme,* as the same being pledged towards purchasing a fire engine."
Nothing more was done in relation to this fire engine until Marelı 7th, 1818, when the Council resolved that the check drawn by the County Commis- sioners of Luzerne for two hundred dollars be deposited in the hands of Ebenezer Bowman, Esq., treasurer of the Corporation, on account of a payment for a fire engine.
Also resolved that Messrs. Beaumont and Ulp be appointed a committee "to contract with John Harris or some suitable person to haul the fire engine from Philadelphia."
At meeting of April 18, 1818, it was "Resolved that Messrs. Dennis, Ulp and Beaumont be appointed a committee to cause to be built and prepared a suitable building to receive and preserve the fire engine and appendages belong- ing to the same on the back of the academy lot if the trustees of the academy will admit thereof."
Also "Resolved that an order be drawn in favor of Perkins & Co., for three hundred dollars on account of the fire engine and delivered to the treasurer who has advanced the said sum."t
These records indicate that eleven years had elapsed before Wilkes-Barré was rewarded with an "engine" in the Spring of 1818. Having reached Wilkes- Barré, as may be found by an item of $34.48 "for hauling the engine from Phila- delphia" approved at the May meeting of Council, the Davy Crockett, by which name the first fire fighting apparatus of Wyoming was known, was found to be a pump originally constructed for the purpose of wetting down the canvass of a sailing vessel during periods of calm.
No record of Council indicates where it was housed and no regularly organized fire company appears to have been ready to man it upon arrival. Six months elapsed when an impatient contributor to the Herald of November 6, 1818, must have stirred the community to action. The pointed inquiry is as follows:
"Mr. Butler -Almost every mail brings an account of the destruction of property by fire How soon a similar calamity may happen here is very uncertain, and yet do we not act as if there was no danger ? We have, it is true, a Fire Engine, but what is very strange no Fire Company, as in other towns.
"If a fire should break out would not the engine be nearly useless without a Company to manage it, keep order, form lanes, point out the best means of obtaining a supply of water? As the season is approaching when the danger from fire is the greatest, I hope this business will be no longer neglected,-and for this purpose I request you will call a meeting of the inhabitants of the Borough at 2 o'clock P. M. on Saturday next, the 21st inst., at the Court House.
"A Housekeeper."
Acting upon this suggestion, editor Butler took it upon himself to call "a meeting on Saturday next at 2 P. M., at the Court House."
*OLIVER HELME was lessee of the ferry franchise for one year from the Ist of April, 1817, at $125 per year.
tThere is no record of any additional sum ever having been paid for this engine, though in the petition to the Grand Jury it was represented that it would cost ' with appropriate apparatus about seven or eight hundred dollars."
1926
Reportorial mention of the meeting is lacking in a subsequent issue of the publication, but two weeks later on November 26, 1819, the following ap- peared, as evidencing an outcome:
"A meeting of the Wyoming Fire Co. will be held at the house of A. Parrish, on Saturday the 4th day of Dec. at 3 o'clock P. M. A punctual attendance is requested, as on that day the Co. will be organized, or in failure thereof be dissolved.
"SAML. MAFFET, Captain."
No records of the original Wyoming Fire Company are extant insofar as a search of the present writer discloses. Minutes of the Borough refer from time to time to the organization but make no mention of the names of its members. Two of such members, however, are disclosed by the following communication addressed to Council at its last meeting in 1819:
"To the President and members of the Town Council of the Borough of Wilkes-Barre: The undersigned have been appointed a committee on behalf of the Wyoming Fire Company to confer with the Town Council on the subject of the more effectual organization of said company, and are instructed to make the following representations:
"1st, That to render the engine of service in case of fire it is necessary that an additional quantity of hose be procured, and which the company are of themselves unable to furnish, where- fore, they respectfully solicit the Town Council to procure from forty to sixty feet of good sub- stantial hose, made of harness leather.
"2d, We solicit the Town Council to procure one long ladder, say 40 to 45 feet, and one other ladder sufficient to mount the roof of any common building. These with the ladders to be furnished by the citizens will be sufficient
"3d, We request the Town Council to procure at least twenty-five fire buckets for the use of the engine, to be deposited at the engine house, either by a deposit of that number by the citizens, or in such other way as the council may think proper.
"4th, We request to Town Council to appoint four active and discreet citizens to act as fire wardens, whose duty it shall be in case of fire to act in concert with the fire company in directing a supply of water and in such other measures as may be found necessary.
"5th, We request the Town Council to procure one or more fire hooks, one of which to be thirty or thirty-five feet and the other twenty or twenty-five feet in length.
"SAMUEL MAFFET, "GEORGE CHAHOON, Committee"
After hearing this report Council resolved "to procure the hose, ladders, buckets and fire hooks as prayed for, and Gen. William S. Ross, Col. Isaac Bow- man, Joseph Sinton and Judge David Scott were appointed fire wardens.
Another decade was to elapse before additional fire protection was pro- vided the Borough. In the interim, two wells were dug on the Square, one by the county near its court house building, the other by the borough near the market house, a rambling frame building on the West Market street side.
The interest of the Wyoming Company appears to have lagged in the year 1824, as an announcement was made in the Democrat of April 30th, of the neces- sity of a meeting of citizens for the organization of a new fire company. This was called the Wilkes-Barré Fire Company, its notices of meetings being first signed by S. D. Lewis as Secretary and later by Ziba Bennett, in the same capa- city. Ebenezer Bowman, Col. Henry F. Lamb and Daniel Collins were named a Committee on Membership in the organization. Not until 1830, however, does the matter of organization in connection with fire fighting seem to have been taken seriously. In February of that year the tavern of Aechippus Parrish was destroyed. In his case, as in other similar cases of the time, the neighbors expressed their sympathy for his losses in taking up a collection for his benefit. No insurance companies then made such compensation as called for in their policies, or demanded of the municipality such protection as would soften their rates.
Roused to action, the Council once again appealed to the County for a contribution toward the purchase of a newer and better engine. The sum of $400 was thereupon recommended by a grand inquest and approved by the court
1927
then consisting of David Scott, President, Jesse Fell and William S. Ross, Associ- ates.
After waiting a year, the borough on August 6, 1831, added the sum of $250 to the county appropriation. Following considerable correspondence with . John Jordan of Philadelphia, a bargain was struck to purchase an "engine known as the Reliance for the sum of $500, and 200 additional feet of hose to mateli the engine for $100."
Sometime late in November, 1831, the Reliance, Wyoming's second piece of fire apparatus, seems to have reached Wilkes-Barré as on December 3rd of that year council engaged in a lengthy controversy over the freight bill for trans- porting the "engine." In a description of "Wilkes-Barre in 1841," HI. B. Plumb, an early historian of the community, gives the following word picture of the Reliance:
"The engine had four low wheels about eighteen inches or two feet in diameter with a box or body intended to hold water and a water tower three or four feet square and six or eight inches high standing up in the middle of it to hold the pump and nozzle four feet or so long on the top of the tower. The pump was worked by four brake handles, two at each end, the lower liandles were worked by men standing on the ground and facing the engine. The other two handles were higher up and the men had their backs to the engine. I think some six men could get hold of each handle. The engine was painted red and striped with gold leaf and made a big display, and all the small boys in town wanted to get around where they could see that engine work. Then they had a lot of leather buckets to carry water to pour into the box of the engine. While there was water in the box it would throw out a good stream but there was no suction hose to the engine. This engine was kept locked up in the old market house. The market house must have been sixty feet long with an ordinary house roof on it, and the gable end on the west end was ornamented and painted white."
The arrival of the Reliance brought on the usual councilmanic discussions as to a proper housing place for the machine. Finally, on April 7, 1832, Gilbert Barnes was authorized payment on a claim of $11.9012 "for enclosing a part of the market house for the reception of the engine."
With the exception of frequent discussions as to combining a "set of scales and engine house" no other event of importance to early fire department history seems to have developed until the council meeting of September 26, 1834, when a committee consisting of Hugh Fell, A. C. Laning and W. S. Bowman submitted the following resolution which was immediately adopted:
"Whereas, the Reliance Fire Company have delivered the small engine to the Town Council and a petition has been presented by a number of young gentlemen who are desirous that the Council shall place said small engine in their hands. Therefore, resolved that the small engine "Davy Crocket," be placed under the immediate control of a director selected by said young men from among the members of the Reliance Fire Company, who in case of fire shall be subject to the general control of the directors of the Reliance Fire Company."
It was not until the year 1837 that any further constructive measures were taken by Council in connection with the fire department. On June 2d of that year a committee consisting of H. B. Wright, W. S. Ross and Hugh Fell introduced a resolution to erect a fire house on a vacant lot belonging to George M. Hollenback "on Franklin street near Market, to be 16 feet in width and 24 feet in depth."* Prior to introducing the resolution, the committee had inter- viewed Mr. Hollenback, obtaining his permission for the use of the ground without cost to Council "until such time as he may want to appropriate the land for the purposes of building himself."
Appropriations for the building totaled $121.83. When completed it. housed the Reliance engine and became headquarters for the fire company of that name.
Thus far but two pieces of fire apparatus were in possession of Wilkes-Barré. *This lot was on North Franklin street and afterwards became the property of Ziba Bennett
1928
In reading histories of the fire department, usually carelessly penned, one is often misled into believing that more than that number of "engines" were in possession of the community. What has given rise to confusion is the fact that names of the machines were changed to fit the appellations of newly organ- ized volunteer companies which were to man them.
It can readily be understood that volunteer companies of the early days were loosely organized, that fires were infrequent and, when occurring, brought out practically the entire population of the community eager to lend a hand under direction of someone in authority. The day of the modern small town volunteer department, and of substantial fire houses where rooms to be used for social purposes often provide a sort of community center, was yet to come. The names of many prominent women of the community were linked with the rosters and fortunes of companies of the time.
The following, from Miss Edith Brower's "Little Old Wilkes-Barré as I Knew It," is reminiscent of a day when firemen and firewomen rivaled each other at conflagrations:
"My two aunts, Laura (Miss Laura Brower) and Ellen, (Mrs. Winfield S. Parsons) along with every woman in town who possessed what we now call the civic spirit, belonged to the fire department. The department was wholly voluntary; even the men who pumped the funny little hand engine, named 'The Good Will,' gave their services under combined sentiments of altruism and self-preservation. 'The Good Will' had been bought at second-hand in Philadelphia in 1849. This information comes from the present No. 2 Fire Company. It must have been a good engine, for it lasted us for twenty years. From my earliest days I can remember how my aunts went to bed nightly, with special clothing laid out ready beside them, things easy to get into, that they might at the first alarm of fire rush forth to help. Those horrible fire alarms! Nothing else could ever awaken me. Every bell in town jangled, every human who could roar, bellow, or screech, did his utmost in his special line. Aunt Laura and Mrs. Sarah Day (daughter of Mr. William Hibler of South Wilkes-Barre) were the Lady Generals at fires. It was my aunt's office to gather and organize inside helpers, instructing them not to carry feather beds down stairs and throw crockery out the windows; in a word, while keeping her own head level-a task natural to her- to see to it that the others kept theirs.
"Mrs. Day's part was the outside work of forming lines to pass buckets to and from the nearest pump. The pumpers, in case of a prolonged fire, must be very frequently relieved. Fancy the agonizing slowness of drawing up from great depth a gallon or two of water at a time! Again, fancy even attempting to put out a well-advanced conflagration by such means! The drop of water that Lazarus begged for to cool his tongue would have been quite as effective. Everybody owned fire-buckets of leather, hung in the handiest place. We had two, extra size, always sus- pended from the slanting ceiling above our back stairs.
"Mrs. Day, after finding her well-pump, would impress every willing bystander into service. Two lines there must be, one for full and one for empty buckets. Sometimes these lines reached a long distance. At a fire that is quite vivid in my recollection, which broke out in the middle of the north side of the Square, the nearest available water was brought from North Main street, about where the Posten offices now are. Possibly what helped me to remember this occasion was that Mrs. Day, catching a man in the act of crossing over from the full to the empty side, threw the contents of the next full bucket that came along over this bad citizen, like the 'captain cour- agcous' that she was."
Interest taken in the volunteer companies varied, with the number and destructive tendency of fires. The year 1843 recorded an unusual number of small fires, whereupon the Neptune Fire Company came into existence early the following year. On January 18, 1844, council delegated the "Davy Crockett" to the care of this organization and the name of the machine was thereupon changed to the "Neptune." A new building being proposed on the Bennett lot, the fire house which had been erected there was ordered disposed of to the highest bidder and both the "Reliance" and the newly christened "Neptune" machines were thereupon housed in the market house.
Thus matters continued until Wilkes-Barre's first really serious fires
1929
occurred in succession on the 15th, 16tli and 17thi of July, 1848 .*
This series of fires, all originating in the neighborhood of the jail, were supposed to have been of incendiary origin with a purpose in view of reaching
3
·TERAN FIREMEN
NEPTUNE
LUZERNE, CO.
DAVY CROCKETT, LATER THE NEPTUNE Wilkes-Barré's First Fire Engine
the jail and releasing James Cadden, then held for the murder of Daniel Gilligan, who was waylaid and killed in Hanover Township.
Cadden was afterwards found guilty of murder at the August term of court and sentenced to death by Judge Conyngham. His execution on March 2, 1849, was the first hanging under the laws of Pennsylvania in Luzerne County.
The whole community was in such commotion following these fires, that
*"My first recollection of fire matters of Wilkes-Barre is the spring of 1848. The old Reliance (built by Patrick Lyons of Philadelphia) and the little Neptune (afterwards named Wyoming) stood in a small building on North Frank- lin street now occupied by Mrs. P. L. Bennett's residence. There were a few sections of old leather hose, but no hose carriage. Neither machine was built to raise water and when a fire occurred (which was a rare thing) the men of the town formed a line and passed the buckets of water from some pump near by. The four mostly used were one opposite the Exchange Hotel, one in front of the old jail on East Market street, the old red pump in Slocum alley and one that stood in the middle of Washington street just below Northampton street. The women formed a line also, passing back the empty buckets. Every property holder almost had a pair of leather buckets made for the purpose marked with their names, and when the fire was out the buckets were thrown on a pile until daylight (if at night), when they would be returned to the proper owners.
"The first fire I remember was the summer of '48, the old Black Horse tavern on the corner of East Market and the Square, then kept by Mr. Bacon. Everything was consumed from the old jail to the Slocum llouse (Brown's book store) and a few days afterwards the stables in the rear of the White Swan hotel were destroyed. The spring of '49 the Triton Co was organized by the younger business men. A new suction engine and the old Columbia hose carriage of Philadelphia were purchased with a liberal amount of leather hose. These were housed in a brick store house in the rear of the residence of llon. Ziba Bennett, Main street. I recall some of the active members -- Charles and Gould Parrish, William and T. S. Hillard, J. P. and W. F. Dennis, M. D., Charles Roth, C. E. Butler, W. 1 .. Conyngham, Frank and Samuel Bowman. The little Neptune was manned by boys from 16 to 20 years of age-Bill Freece, Ace and Jim Williams, Tom and Ben Helms, Joe and 'Boney' Anhauser, and I think Col. E. B. Beaumont.
"About Feb. 1, '59, C. C. Blotz, an old fireman from Easton, Pa., suggested that a meeting be called and the result was the formation of the Good Will Engine Co., No. 2, with Blotz, foreman; E. W. Finch and W. H Stephens, assis- tants. The Protector was organized about the same time, who took the Reliance, thus becoming No. 1.
"Neptune No. 3 was organized soon after. About this time nothing was thought or talked of but fire matters, and the companies concluded that we must have a parade. A committee was appointed and the companies of Scranton, Hyde Park and Pittston were invited to participate. The day set was June 4th. Only a day or so before the event a fire broke out in Robert Wilson's store, the site now occupied by Jonas Long's Sons, which burned from the alley (Cahoon's) to Steele's hotel (now Bennett block.) No. 3 was undergoing repairs and was all apart. It was hurriedly put together and did good service. W. G. Sterling was chief engineer, Judge Woodward and Governor Iloyt assistants. From that time until April 9, 1867, we had an occasional fire, but they were trifling until the date mentioned. About 7 a. m. the flames burst out of Burnett's tin shop on West Market street and in about one hour both sides of the street were burned from Frazier's to the Wyoming Bank and from Loomis's to the corner of Franklin, and some four or five buildings on the latter street below the bank. We did all we could with the water supply we had and no steamers. Soon after the town was presented with the No. I steamer by A. C. Laning and about 1870 the present department was organized Many of the volunteers were retained. Am glad to say as the population increased the efficiency of the department increased, until to-day we have a department no citizen need be ashamed of " From an address of Charles B. Metzger, delivered at a firemen's banquet May 16, 1899 Mr. Metzger at that time was the oldest fireman then living in Wilkes-Barre.
1930
Council went on record as offering its first reward for the capture of a law breaker. On July 17, 1848, that body offered the sum of $100.00 for the apprehension "of the incendiary" but as he was never apprehended, the reward was unclaimed.
Apprehension as to further fires from incendiary or other sources prompted representative citizens of the community to seek additional apparatus as a means of more adequate protection. The borough treasury however, was not in condition to meet any heavy demand in that direction, hence, in the summer of 1849, through the media of private subscriptions and the proceeds of a community ball, a fund was in sight of sufficient size to permit negotiations being opened for the purchase in Philadelphia, of the "Triton," with an accompanying hose cart named the "Columbia," and 1,000 feet of leather hose. To this fund, the borough contributed the sum of $100.00 at the council meeting of September 4, 1849. To man the new engine, the Triton Fire Company was organized. Reference to the appended roster will indicate that the most distinguished citizens of the community were members .*
The Triton, which reached Wilkes-Barre early in the fall of 1849, was con- sidered a marvel of efficiency in its time. It was one of the first suction engines ever built. " The other two machines, which were still continued in active ser-
2
THE TRITON, LATER THE GOOD WILL Purchased in Philadelphia in 1849
vice, merely pumped what water was fed by buckets into the water box. The Triton picked up its own supply of water by a pipe lowered into a convenient well. In other words it was a suction machine as well as a "squirter."
*The following was the roster of the Triton Fire Company in 1851-1852. W. H. Beaumont A. Morse Charles Parrish A. D. Shoemaker W. Stookey I. Nasser I. Mowery E. W. Wandall E. B. Collings G. M. Harding G. H. Roset C. Bennet J. P. Dennis W. H. Butler E. B. Harvey F. Hullbower
Arnold C. Lewis F. L. Butler
Charles A. Miner
Charles Bennett
Isiah Lewis, Jr.
D. Mordicai E. B. Harvey Charles F. Ingham
1931
Like the other two earlier engines, the name of the Triton was changed in course of time. When the Good Will Fire Company succeeded the Triton company, April 2, 1859, the name of the engine was changed to the "Good Will," which appellation it bore until its destruction, in 1912, by fire while stored in a wagon shed on the Heights .*
The Reliance retained its original name, likewise, until 1859, when it was transferred to the Protector Fire Company. From that time until it was per- mitted to disintegrate it was known as the Protector. No trace of the old ma- chine is now in existence.\
C. F. Ingham F. L. Bowman I. B. Innes C. Fell I. W. Eicke D. A. Fell
G. Groffe
Thomas H. Leas
R. Wilson I. C. Hull
I. Augustus Leas
W. H. Cook
I. B. Jones
G. Veide
1. S. Hamilton (?) H. V. Frisbie
I. M. Butler
G. Collings
Thos. H. Parker
C. Roth A. Jackson
V. Yotten
Jacob Bertel
W. S. Hillard
W. Warner
James M. Rutter
F. C. Wait
M. Rester
C. L. Roth
I. B. Mills
E. B. Miner
D A. Yarington
C. F. Smith
W. W. Bidlack
John Behee
A. J. Baldwin
Wm. S. Conyngham
A. Jackson
P. H. Myers
E. Bowman Miner
A. D. Gilchrist
S. Bowman
Henry S. Anhauser
W. Bidlack
R. Kilman
Garrick M. Harding
J. M. Pierce
I. P. Fell
Edward G. Mallery
*List of officers and members of Good Will Fire Co., No. 2 of Wilkes-Barre, Instituted April 2d, A D 1859.
OFFICERS
W. G. Sterling, Chief Engineer
Jonathan S. Jones, Assistant Secretary
Stanley Woodward, Assistant Engineer
R. H. Waters, Librarian
B. F. Bennett, Fire Warden
E. W. Finch, Ist Assistant Foreman
C. C. Plotz, Foreman
John C. Kropp, 2d. Assistant Foreman
Isaac M. Mask, President
George W. Hoover, Axe Man
D. C. Miller, Vice-President
Charles Stegmayer. Axe Man
Isaiah B. George, Treasurer R. H. Waters, Secretary
Julius Reufs, Torch Boy
NAMES
AGE OCCUPATION
NAMES AGE
OCCUPATION
C. C. Plotz
28
confectioner
R. H. Hay 20
butcher
C. Buell Metzger 19 plasterer
Ogden Linn 3.3 boat builder
Joseph H. Everett 21
tailor
Enos Royer 26
carpenter
A. H, Dennis
19 carpenter
John Linn 19 boat builder
E. W. Finch
21 plasterer
John Zies
40 cabinet maker
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