20 
FIRE DEPARTMENT 
MANCHESTER HAS ONE OF BeEsST 
SMALL- OWN. PLANTS IN STATE. 
N its fire station in School st., Man- 
chester has a possession of which it 
may justly be proud. While its equip- 
ment is not the last word in fire fight- 
ing apparatus and does no embody 
every “new fangled” idea, it is modern 
in every sense “ot the word. In the 
matter of apparatus it has ranked far 
ahead of most towns of its size for 
a number of years. Every bit of 
apparatus is in first class condition 
and there .is a “spick and span” ap- 
pearance to the interior of the station 
that makes an immediate impression 
upon the visitor. Cleanliness is so 
evident that it almost talks. As one 
crosses the threshold he will instinc- 
tively wipe his feet on the mat for fear 
of marring the appearance of the oiled 
floors. and inviting the wrath of a 
guardian angel of “the cleanly institu- 
Hones 
The most imposing piece of appa- 
ratus which greets the eye is the 
Knox Auto Combination truck. This 
piece of fire fighting machinery with 
its big chemical tank and spacious 
compartment for hose and men, glist- 
ens with the polish of brasswork 
showing the painstaking efforts of the 
chauffeur, Charles Chadwick, in keep- 
ing up the equipment. The big com- 
bination truck carries 200 feet of 
chemical hose, 1,300 feet of ordinary 
fire hose, one 40-gallon tank of chemi- 
cals, two 3-gallon extinguishers and 
the other usual equipment. Its motor 
is kept in first class condition all the 
time and is frequently tested. The 
truck has been in service over five 
years and owing to the good care it 
has received it has not yet needed a 
coat of paint, except on some of the 
iron work which showed signs of 
rusting. 
There is a horse-drawn, third size 
Amoskeag steamer, which shows the 
same signs of care, a hose wagon with 
a capacity of 1400 feet, a big hook 
and ladder truck and two hose car- 
riages with a total capacity of 1000 
feet. There is also a hose pung for 
winter use and two fire horses. | 
Most towns of the size of Man- 
chester do not own their own fire 
horses, but depend upon hired horses 
when needed. ‘This method is cheap- 
er, but is not so safe in an emergency. 
When the combination auto truck 
was purchased it was thought that the 
horses would be dispensed with, but 
they are still in service. There are 
42 men in the department according 
to the last report of the engineers of 
the department. There are 21 men 
assigned to the hose company and 14 
- sounding the 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
ladder 
members 
company. 
Hose is stored at the Row schooi 
house, where there are 200 feet; 350 
feet are kept at the hose house on the 
Neck and 400 feet at the barn-on the 
Town Farm. _ The balance, nearly a 
mile long, is located on the various 
pieces of apparatus or stored at the 
fire station. 1000 feet were recently 
purchased, some of which has not 
been used. The town now owns 5900 
feet. “There: were 16 fires last year 
and the total damage was $10,199. 
The larger part of that loss, however, 
was at the fire at the Gravel Pond 
station of the water department 
where the loss was $9,500. For the 
other 15 fires less than $700 was the 
amount of damage done, a remarkable 
showing of the efficiency of the de- 
partment. 
Charles Chadwick is on duty at the 
station and looks after the equipment 
in a creditable manner. In the base- 
ment is a big trough where the hose 
is scrubbed on the return from a fire. 
A tower feaching from the basement 
75 feet to the cupola is where the hose 
is dried. This manner of drying is 
much better than that in use in many 
cities where the drying towers are out 
of the hook and 
doors. In the winter the hose freezes 
and delays the drying process. Man- 
chester escapes that difficulty. Three 
big tanks are located in one part of 
the basement where the air is com- 
pressed for blowing the whistle. A 
little pipe leads from one of the tanks 
to the ground floor and can be used 
for filling the auto tires. 
On the second floor are the quat- 
ters vot “Mr. -Chadwick, =the seca! 
rooms of the two volunteer com- 
panies. Both are filled with pictures 
of fire fighting scenes, fire fighters. 
and trophies. On this floor is the 
engineers’ office and batteries for the 
alarm system. Eleven boxes at im- 
portants points about town can be 
used for sending an alarm. One box 
is located in Mr. Chadwick’s room 
beside a telephone so that he can 
sound the whistle immediately on re- 
ceiving a call. The attachment for 
“no school” whistle is 
located in this room. 
In addition to a splendid equipment 
for fire fighting Manchester is pro- 
vided with an abundant water supply 
and with standpipes so located as to 
give a high pressure even at the high- 
est point in town. ‘The new concrete 
standpipe and auxiliary high pressure 
system was recently installed at a 
cost of $160,000. Manchester is con- 
nected with the Gloucester water sys- 
tem_at Magnolia‘so that either place 
may receive the benefit of the other’s 
water supply in case of an emergency. 
‘fire ee carly, 
‘weeks roll afound,. 
_ March = 191 
This (TNE SERED “appropriated 
$5,800.00 for the maintenance of th 
af ror! is ty 
MANCHESTER Le 
STE 
Edward ‘Tucker ati ‘son 'O 
Mrs. 
School st. are visiting Mr: ‘Tucker's 
parents, *Mr.*and@ Mrs.” Joseph?’ G 
Douglas of East Glotteesteh fon 09 
weeks, 
As the date of the next meeunee ‘of 
the Parent-Teacher association ’ falls 
on Wednesday, April 19, which is the 
anniversary of the battle of Lexing- 
ton, a holiday, different arrangements: 
will have to be made for the meeting 
night. No date has been set as yet, 
but an announcement of the changed 
date and the speaker will be fort 
coming soon. 
Children’s dresses at FE. A. Leth 
bridge’s. adv. 
Parkinsori & Burr of Boston have 
purchased $50,000 of the Town’ of 
Manchester notes issued by vote of 
the Town, at a discount of 2.95 per- 
cent. There still remains $50,000 
worth of ‘notes to be sold. - Town 
Treasurer Edwin P. Stanlev, was 
authorized to borrow the money: to 
tide the town over the period before 
the collection of the taxes for the 
current year. The notes sold run for 
seven months. The rate on them is 
considerably lower than was secured 
by a number of other towns and cities 
on their bonds. The Manchester 
Trust Co. bid on tie notes at 3.8-per- 
cent and another Boston banking firm 
bid 3.24 percent. 
Taxi—phone Manchester 290. adv. 
EMPIRE THEATRE, SALEM. 
“A Wife’s Secret” is the offering 
at the Empire Theatre, Salem, next 
week and bids fair to be a most ine 
teresting piece for both players and 
spectators. The tale is that of @ 
young woman with a past, who weds 
a minister giving him to understand 
she is an orphan, unprotected and un- 
cared for, when in reality she has a 
drunken, criminal father and a sweet- 
heart, whom she had cast off. ‘Later 
unpleasant circumstances arise, “‘be- 
cause of the deception, but in the’ end 
everything is adjusted *happilye:« 
One of the most popular: fedtares 
of the Empire week's the: attraction 
offered to its patrons on Sunday veve- 
ning in the form of a grand concert 
of vaudeville and photoplays. ~ Weeks: 
have now ‘passed and the: manage- 
ment is: putting over a series Ofi: first 
class bills. Somé of the best vaude- 
ville now onthe circuit has alreddy 
been seen at_.this, popular ‘ayhouse 
and.-other ills are coming as the 
