Mr Bolink's Private Fire.

Bruce Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 714, 2 July 1875, Page 3

Mr Bolink's Private Fire.

,-; s . .. i-...,., (From the 'Detroit Free Press.') 'I Mr Bolink owns;., and ; runs a cooper; shop near the House of .Correction, and as he keeps a dozen ."men at work he is bound to have his r lahop' run on: " system." The other da^he ? wWreaflin£W newspaper article in regard ■ ■. to the prevention of conflagrations. ; The. article advised all employers to lay outAregular programme of what should be OTne when a fire was discovered in .the shop, and drill his hands until they 'understood it. "He^oughfcfifty feet of hose; for thfe purpose, detailed ,a man to use it in caee s of -fis»,. and- tlien j instructed each man and boy just what they should do when an alarm was given. One was to roll out barrels, another to save tools, another to throw staves through a window, and each one knew exactly what to jump for. This was all right, and Mr Bolink had .a, ; good mind, to cancel his insurance policies, and depend on his local fire Drigade. t Before taking this step, however, it occurred to him to give his programme a trial-. 'Heiiad a little curiosity to, see if his employees would, spring to their posts according to.their instructions, and he studied out a pl»n. Yesterday morning he passed upstairs, kicked a pile of _ shavings together on an old piece' of zinc, touched a match to them, and next minute ran downstairs crying out — " The shop is on fire ! Fire ! fire ! fire !" The man who was to use the hose grabbed it up, threw it out of the window, and jumped after it, shouting *' Fire !" until he was heard three blocks off. The man who was to save the tools threw an adze and hit Mr Bolink in the back, and then hit him again with a drawbhave. As Mr Bolink was pawing around on the floor the man who was to save the ready-made work rolled five pork barrels over him, kicked in the heads of three more, and then dug out through the back door. One man saved a piece of board six feet long, another took up a stave and broke two windows before he fled, while a third threw a hammer at the clock, uttered a wild shriek, and kicked open the Bide door. In two minutes the shop was clear of every one but Mr Bolink, and he was crawling out from among the barrels when Bteamer No. 6 came galloping down. The smoke was rolling up through the j roof, the boys yelling " Fire !" and the firemen were determined to save that cooper Bhop or perish in the attempt. Mr Bolink heard them calling to " git them hose around hyer," and to " play her up to 85," and he got to the door and shouted — " Hold on, gentlemen, there is no fire here!" " Git out'n the way !" cried the pipemen. " It's only a joke, gentlemen ; there is no — " Mr Bolink was shouting, when the stream of water lifted him over the barrels out of the back door, where he sat down on a broken shave-horse until his uuoper Bhop had been filled with water, and the shavings had burned urn. Duiiug the afternoon yesterday, his whole force were engaged in emptying barrels, wringing out draw-staves, hanging broad-axes up to dry, and otherwise getting the shop on a working basis.