not having enough hose, but they came in handy for the "boys" to use when they had a "wash."
The hand engines were used until the water pipes were laid in the streets in 1883, when it was seen that the pressure from the fire hydrants equalled, if it did not suppress that from the engines, and also with far less exertion on the part of the firemen. After a short time the engines belonging to Eagle and Empire Companies were sold. Neptune Company retained their engine as a relic. They owned it until last year, when they disposed of it to a junkman for $25. In my estimation this was a very foolish thing for them to do, as its age and the memories connected with it would have made it an excellent apparatus for our Exempt Association to have owned, to use it for parade purposes; and it seems strange that so many old timers who ran with this old machine would have stood idly by and seen it disposed of for a few paltry dollars.
Before the town built the old wooden bell tower in the rear of the town hall, the only method of giving an alarm of fire was by ringing the church bells, and the old St. John's and Presbyterian church bells were used for this purpose.
After Empire Engine Company was organzed there were then three engine companies and one Hook & Ladder Co. doing duty in the town, and they constituted the fire department until June 3, 1887, when a new company was organized in the first ward. This part of the town had grown considerably in a few years and the citizens came to the conclusion that a Hook & Ladder Company in that locality was an absolute necessity. Accordingly, on the date above mentioned, the following citizens met in Mr. Siler's hotel, corner Clinton avenue and John street and organized Americus Hook & Ladder Co. 2. and elected the following officers:—Foreman, George Fink; assistant foreman, E. J. Tournade; recording secretary, H. Fisk; financial secretary, P. Fisk; treasurer, W. E. Gill, and G. Bene, H. Schneider, W. P. Sturgis, L. Alces, S. Fisk as charter members. The members of this company have always been hustlers, and from the very beginning would leave no stone unturned to make a success of anything they undertook; and in a short time they raised sufficient funds to purchase a truck and house themselves in a little house on Syms street, near West street. They were the first company in the department to adopt the regulation blue cloth uniform. They immediately entered the social world, and some of their entertainments and receptions equalled, if they did not surpass anything in their line ever attempted in the town.
They have repeatedly given affairs, the proceeds of which have been divided among needed charity organizations, and at
