Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . s. At one of the meet-ings for this purpose, how-ever, the advocates of the belhad educated the village sen-timent up to the requisitedegree of enterprise and lib-erality, and it was resolvecthat a subscription be raisecto purchase a fire-bell; and in the course of three months the surrof ,£49 4-f. had been raised, and a bell was procured by the clerkand placed in possession of the trustees. The bell was brought overto Brooklyn, and after some delay it was raised on top of a stonehouse owned by Jac
Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . s. At one of the meet-ings for this purpose, how-ever, the advocates of the belhad educated the village sen-timent up to the requisitedegree of enterprise and lib-erality, and it was resolvecthat a subscription be raisecto purchase a fire-bell; and in the course of three months the surrof ,£49 4-f. had been raised, and a bell was procured by the clerkand placed in possession of the trustees. The bell was brought overto Brooklyn, and after some delay it was raised on top of a stonehouse owned by Jacob Remsen and situated at the corner of what isnow Fulton and Front streets. After the bell had been placed inposition, Mr. Remsen agreed to ring it whenever occasion this liberality on the part of Mr. Remsen, he was elected amember of the Fire Department without being required to do anyother service. When the old stone house was torn down in 1818,the bell was removed to Middagh, near Henry Street, and afterwardto the building called the Eastern Market, in Sands Street, between. An Act of Incendiarism. 61 Bridge and Gold. In 1847 this building was converted into a church,under the pastorate of the Rev. Evan M. Johnson, and the bell thatformerly signaled the firemen to duty afterward summoned the faith-ful to prayer. All this while, by virtue of the statute passed by the Legislaturein 1788, a Brooklyn fireman received no pay. Yet not only was hisposition considered a most honorable one, but he was exempted fromserving on the highways, mending and repairing the roads, andfrom jury and inquest duties, and also from militia duty, except incase of invasion or other imminent danger. In 1793 there were about seventy-five buildings within the firedistrict ot Brooklyn. The majority of them were so near the OldFerry that water was obtained entirely from this source. The LongIsland Intelligencer, which was the only paper published in Brook-lyn at the time, says the greatest
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidldpd63166850, bookyear1885
