badge of office a staff five feet long, painted red, and headed with a bright brass spire six inches in length. One of the first towns to take advantage of this law was Salem. At the same time a fire club was formed that purchased a fire engine in England in 1749 and another in 1751.
Baltimore first took precautions against fire in 1747, when the housekeepers were ordered to have ladders in readiness. The Annals of Providence tell us that measures in this direction were not taken until 1754, when a law was passed compelling each housekeeper to have two buckets. An engine was also purchased, although the records fail to state where it was manufactured. Another engine was bought in Boston in 1700, undoubtedly a second-hand English machine, as at that time there were no makers in Boston.
It will be noticed that, although engines had been made in this country, foreign machines were preferred, probably on account of
Fig. 4.—Early "Hand Tub." (From a Sketch and Reminiscences of the Providence Fire Department.)
their superior workmanship. The foreign makers, however, were soon to lose their precedence. Mr. A. W. Brayley, in his History of the Boston Fire Department, states that in 1765 David Wheeler, an ex-fireman of Boston Engine Company 8, manufactured the first complete fire engine ever made in that town. Wheeler was a blacksmith established on Washington Street, then called Newbury. He gave notice to the press that he would encourage home industry by making a fire engine. This he did, and on August 21st the same year he had a chance to try his production, which worked to the satisfaction of all present. In 1767 Wheeler asked permission to make another. This was granted, and the same year the importation of engines
