FIRE COMPANIES ORGANIZE. 
Engine Co. No.1 Celebrate with Banquet at 
Manchester House. 
The Manchester Fire companies or- 
ganized for the year last Monday even- 
ing in their various rooms at the Engine 
House, the organization being the same 
in each company as last year. 
Following the custom of previous 
years Engine Co. No. 1 celebrated the 
occasion with a banquet, which was held 
in the dining room of the Manchester 
House, to which were invited the fire 
engineers, the board of selectmen, the 
superintendent of streets, Lawyer Will- 
monton, who was the speaker of the 
evening, and the Breeze editor, repre- 
senting the press. 
In many respects the banquet was the 
most successful given by the company, 
made so, largely, through the cordiality 
of Proprietor Callahan of the Manches- 
ter House, who served a most inviting 
repast. 
It was a few minutes before nine 
when the door of the dining room was 
opened and the members and _ their 
guests fled in. A long table had been 
arranged at which were seated twenty- 
six, while the rest occupied a little table 
on the side. ‘The menu follows: 
Mock Turtle Soup, a la Parisienne 
Celery Tomato Lettuce 
Broiled Live Lobster, Delmonico style 
French Fried Potatoes 
Vegetable Salad, French Dressing 
Sherbet 
Broiled Spring Chicken on Toast, 
aux Maitre’d’ Hotel 
Asparagus on Toast Petit Pois 
College Ice, Assorted Cake 
Toasted Crackers 
Camembert, Swiss and Roquefort Cheese 
Cafe Noir Cigars 
More Sherbet 
The dinner was nicely served by a 
competent corps of waitresses, and to 
Louis N. Boudreau, the chef, formerly 
of the Empire, Back Bay, Boston, the 
success of this feature of the banquet is 
due, largely. 
At the head of the tabie on one end 
sat Chief of the department James 
Hoare, while on the other side of him 
sat Assistant Chief George S. Sinnicks, 
and the Clerk Clarence W. Morgan, 
also J. A. Lodge. On the other end 
sat Lawyer G. E. Willmonton, with 
Selectmen Fred K. Swett and Walter R. 
Bell. Others seated at the table were 
Charles W. Sawyer, E. F. Preston, 
George Matheson, Chester Cook, Joseph 
‘Thomas, Benj. Crombie, Curtis Stanley, 
James Reed, Ralph Stanley, E. H. Rogers, 
E. P. Flynn, S. Albert Sinnicks, George 
Hildreth, E. Wallace Stanley, Perley B. 
Parsons, Robert Hoare, C. O. Howe, 
W. W. Hoare, Curtis B. Stanley, and 
Alfred E. Hersey of the company, and 
the two substitutes, Edward Walsh and 
F. J. Dougherty. 
‘The affair was in charge of the enter- 
tainment committee, composed of Curtis 
+ 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE. 
B. Stanley, chairman; W. W. Hoare, 
Alfred E. Hersey, Cc. O. Howe and E. 
F. Preston. 
After the banquet remarks were in 
order, those called upon being Chief 
Hoare and Engineers Sinnicks and Mor- 
gan, Selectmen Swett and Bell, Captain 
Sawyer, Lieut. Perley B. farcone and 
Clerk Hildreth of the company, and 
George E. Willmonton, who gave a 
bright speech on old time fire depart- 
ments. 
Mr. Willmonton (who is in the in- 
surance business), preceded his talk 
by a few well pointed stories, a bounte- 
ous supply of which | jhe Finteraberked 
through his address. ‘‘ While I am not 
a member of the fire department,’’ said 
Mr. Willmonton, ‘‘ my business is very 
closely allied with it and our aims are 
very similar:—yours to prevent loss, 
-mine to pay for it when your heroic 
efforts are not crowned with success. 
You can readily see why I get out when 
the fire does not. Of course this never 
happens i in Manchester. 
‘The invention and practice of in- 
surance’ said Mr. Willmonton, contin- 
uing, “‘is attributed to the merchants of 
Italy in the middle ages, and from the 
practice of insuring commercial ventures, 
spread to other maritime states of Europe. 
Marine disaster was the only kind of 
peril insured against in those days. The 
Lombard merchants, who came to Lon- 
don in the early part of the 13th century, 
brought with them the custom of insur- 
ance. All questions of insurance were 
determined by the custom of the mer- 
chants courts and it was not until the mid- 
dle of the 18th century that the Common 
Law Courts took jurisdiction in insur- 
ance causes. 
“Insurance against loss by fire is of 
comparitively recent origin, the first re- 
gular office being opened in London in 
1681. This assumed little importance 
until the beginning of the 19th century. 
During the century just closed the growth 
of thefire insurance busiuess has been 
very rapid and laws regulating it have 
grown with it. It is eroneous to regard 
the contract of insurance as a contract of 
chance. In a wagering contract the 
parties contemplate gain by reason of 
chance, while in an insurance contract 
the parties seek to avoid loss by reason 
of chance. 
““Until the early part of the 19th 
century municipal fire departments were 
unknown. All of the fire fighting was 
done by the insurance companies who 
owned their own fire. departments. 
These fire departments were operated on 
a much different plan than the protec- 
tive departments in use in our large cities, 
which are operated by the fire insurance 
companies jointly. By the old-time 
English method each company supported 
a fire department of its own to protect 
its own interest and its own interest only. 
When a company placed a policy on a 
building and fastened a great copper or 
brass plate over the door, the plate bore 
their name and they were very conspic- 
uous and ornamental and often cost very 
much money, more than the policy 
would today. ‘The object of these plates 
or figure heads was to inform the _parti- 
cular company that this was their risk. 
If a department arrived and found it was 
not their: risk that was endangered they 
would ‘let her burn’ and give the other 
fellow the laugh. 
‘These fire departments consisted 
of a bucket brigade which dipped its 
water from tanks. This method was in 
time succeeded by the hand tub, which 
pumped water through a leather hose 
from a tank on wheels, which tank had 
to be filled by buckets. An engine of 
this type was once owned by the town of 
Manchester and was built by Mr. Eben 
Tappan, and I have an idea that some 
part of it is still doing business in a near- 
by town today. 
“Then came the hand tub. This 
had a suction hose as well as a_ leading 
hose, which did service for many years 
before the advent of the steam engine. 
‘ Speaking of buckets, doubtless many 
of you can remember ‘the old leather 
buckets that were hung in the hallways 
of many of our old houses. They were 
beautifully decorated and often had a coat 
of arms or a Latin motto painted in gold. 
They were hung in pairs and it was the 
duty of the house holder to grab them 
and run to the fire when the bells rung. 
““These old time departments were 
often pressed into service to do other 
things besides fighting fires. They 
turned out to hunt for children lost in the 
woods, for fishermen lost in the fog, 
etc.”’ 
Mr. Willmonton’s address was great- 
ly enjoyed, especially the many well 
pointed stories run in to more forcibly 
bring out the point in hand. 
‘The officers of the company are: 
Engine Co. No. 1.—Charles W. Saw- 
yer, captain; Perley B. Parson, lieuten= 
ant; George E. Hildreth, clerk. 
The organization of the Hook and 
Ladder Co.: Granville Crombie, cap- 
tain; Thomas Baker, lieutenant; 
Charles Fritz, clerk. 
Chemical Co.: Frank G. Cheever, 
captain; Raymond C. Allen, lieutenant; 
Lyman W.. Floyd, clerk. 
Ward’s Tip-Top bread at Valentine’s 
Market. = 
Sheeting and Pillow Slips at E.. oe 
Lethbridge’ s. 
Letters remaining unclaimed at Manchester, 
Mass., P. O. for week ending May 1; Miss 
C Adams, Miss Julia Andrews, Mrs D B 
Curtis, G Leveque, Mrs Abbie § Merrill, Mrs 
G E Wiles, Mrs Chas F Stevens. 
SAMUEL L. WHEATON, Postmaster. 
