The Omaha
PART IIL
unday
No Filthy Seneetlone
THE OMAHA DEC
Best X. West
iialf-tq:ie section
PACKS 1 TO 4
VOL. XXXVEL-tfO. 23.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 5, 1903.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
B
a
HARLES A. SALTER VETERAN HEAD OF OMAHA FIREMEN
I
Something About the Man Who Has Served for Thirty-Ono Years in the Omaha J"iw Department and lias Risen from Bottom to Top, Serving Faithfully "in Every Grade
F TOU go- to a certain office on the second floor or. the city nau
you will find wated at a desk a man of ordinary alio with
dark hair and a black moustache which covera his lips and
I ' .... - . . i - i
' : .. r', .
fthr aide In craceful lines. You will note a
Arm Jaw, a strong, aggressive nose and dark eyea which show
singleness of purpose, determination, fearlessness. Underneath
these predominant characteristics Is discernible also the light ot
geniality and of consideration for fellow men.
If you want to see this man at the desk it makes little difference
when you go to the office, for he Is there most ot the time. Ono
almost finds himself wondering when the man sleeps and eats and
vaguely fancies that maybe he exists without these needful diver
sion of ordinary mortala. For when one realizes who ha is and what
he does he sterns to be something more than th ordinary citizen or
offl; ial.
The man Is Charles A. Salter, chief of the Omaha Fire depart-
nitnt. Did you ever consider the responsibilities which weigh .upon
the chief of a Are department in a city like Omaha, a man upon
whose shoulders is placed the weight of protecting millions of prop
erty and thousands of lives from the ravages of fire? Did you ever
coin pare the weight of his burden with your own. with that of a
business.man or the professional man? Does a general at the head
( f an arfiiy have a greater responsibility? The average man in busi
rcus or profession carries his burden through the day of perhaps
eight or ten hours. It is probably his boast that he can leave his
office affairs in the office; that when he locks his desk he locks busi
ness cares in with papers and account books and that he goes home
to his family care-free and happy and thinks no more of business
un;ii the next morning when he opens his desk.
Eterral Vigilance the Price
But there Is no such boast ror the chief of the Omaha Fire de
IL. u-cii.. iic nuvor iays nia burdeu down. Nliht and day, every
mluule of every hour and every second of every minute there hovers
over hint the possibility ot fire, as tantaliziugly torturing as the
sword ol Damocles hanging by a thread and threatening to break at
any moment. Eternal vigilance is the price of escape from the de
vouring element and this price Is paid by 'Chief Salter. He Is In his
office all day long and frequently spends the evening there working
until late hours. Jie lives close by, so as not to lose much time in
going to and from home and in order to be in a position even when
eating his meals and sleeping to rush forth at a second's notice to
direct his brave army against the only foe that army has the
Humes.
Fire has helped man in advancement, but it has also been the
great enemy of civilization. Savage man found it only an advantage,
By it he cooked his food and warmed his body. He had no posses
sions which the fire could attack. But when man advanced in civil
ization and began to build himself houses of wood and other com
bustible material fire immediately became an object ot great danger.
Ai old legend relates that the fire fiend became violently Jealous of
the houses in which civilized man protected himself from the cold.
An.l it attacked and consumed them, it also retaliated upon the .
trie3 from which the houses were built by consuming great forests.
When man began building towns and cities fire continued its rav
ages. History of even modern times, when fire fighting apparatus
had been brought to a high state of perfection and organization of
men was almost perfect, is full of great conflagrations. The big Are
of Chicago in 1871 consumed $200,006,000 worth of property. The
great fire In Boston in 1872 burned property worth more than $75,- .
000,000. The recent fires in Baltimore and San Francisco are fresh
examples of the revenge which the fire fiend la taking at every oppor
tunity upon civilized man.
Poet's Vision of the Flames
Here Is a poefs vision of the horrors of the flames, taken from boost up the ladder of promotion his calm, even temperament under there; up closer, closer!" Is a common command often heard since
"The Fire Fiend," by C. D. Gardette: the mo8t trying, dangerous and death-defying circumstances and his he has been at the head of the department. And in response the
Th n ub in death's seeming shadow, in the Icy pall of fear unswerving attention to duty and the end to be accomplished had brave fellows rush in, taking the Are fiend as it were by storm,
1 ,uy stricken, can.6 came u hoarse and hidteous murmur In my ear won for him a respect alike in the eyes of his superiors and subor- charging his battleworks, pouring in such a volley of water bullets
Came a murmur like the murmur of assassins In their sleep, dlnates which has endured and fmmd Tt,roinn n j .......... .... . . . ,
MutterniK. -amber! higher! higher! 1 am demon of the Are! to h,8 t 1,h! expression In his advancement as to put him to flight or drive the last sign of life out of his hideous
1 am arcn-tieud of the tire ana each blazing roof's my pyre, n Fosuion. body. No one can accuse the chief of a dilatory policy in attacking
And my sweetest incense is the blood and tears my victims weep. ay and nl8bt, summer and winter, always Chief Salter is within the Ares which threaten the city. And It is this which Is largely
hearing of the alarm bell, and he is invariably among the first to responsible for the freedom of Omaha from devastating fires and
How I revel on the prairie! How I roar anion l the .pines! answer every alarm that sounds from within a radius which includes the prompt checking of threatening flames in some of the most dan-
mX 6 S1 T bu,ldln'8 of th0 clty- When he reaches the scene of Berou8 flre d,8tricts of tbe c,ty-
And 1 hear the shrieks of terror with a life in every breath! 8 8 h'8 mInd ,s a11 centered upon the work before him. Scores Often in his career of danger Chief Salter has trodden in danger
How i scream with lambient laughter as I hurl each crackling rafter or tlmea h nas planned maneuvers in his office to meet all manner ous places where death stalked abroad, where walls fell without
Down the fell abyss of Are until hlgherl higher! higher! . of conditions. As a prudent and skillful general anticipates the warning, where floors treacherously gave way to the foot, where
7 "7, " , ' , - " " " , " "uu "nB " oa. outmaneuver and defeat the opposing smoke conspired to veil the roaring pit of Aame beneath. He has
Hiis is a vivid personlAcatlon of the flre fiend hovering like army, so Chief Salter Diana to Ar-tt .nn .i-i. - : . . - . ,
, .. .. ..... iW . T .. , U,C1 Dttller pians to aereat and drive out the flre flend ventured Into suffocating cellars, up ladders coated with ice, upon
hunt.! y woif on the outskirts of every city seeking the least chance when it seeks to invade the citv k..i ,. ..,. ,
CHARLES '. SALTER.
when it may Invade the habitations of men and convert beautiful
homes and maguiflcent buildings Into black and hideous masses of
ruin and spread them with the charred bodies ot human victims.
As lloratlus stood at the bridge and protected Rome against the
threatening hordes of the terrible Lars Porsena, eo Chief Salter
btands and protects Omaha against the threatening legions of the
fire flend. So he has stood as chief for six years, before that as as- ,.
sU.tunt chief for fifteen years and tor ten years before that in dif
ferent minor capacities. He has been In the Are department of the
city continuously for thirty-one years and Is the oldest man in point
of service In the department.
Charles A. Salter wu born in Readlngton. N. J. His father was
a physician, Dr. Henry Frederick Salter. The parents moved from
Nt .v Jersey to the woBt soon after the birth of Charles and settled
In Mollne, 111. There he grew up, attending the schools, and In his
young manhood he went farther west in search of work. He lived
In several towns In Iowa, the last of which was Wilton Junction.
From that place be canio to Omaha in 1871. Upon arriving here
he secured a position in the old Herald office, then located at Thir
teenth and Douglas streets. His work waa the running of an old
engine used to operate the printing press.
Early on the Department
Young Salter took an Interest in the city volunteer Are depart
ment almost at once. It seemed to be almost an Instinct in him to
pui out Ares. ' It used to be said that he hurried as Instinctively to
put out a blaze as a beaver does to dam up a stream. He soon be
taine one of tbe leading spirits In the ranks of the early fire fighters
of the city. In l7li he formally became a member of the depart
ment and enjoyed the distinction of wearing the blue shirt aad run
ning to Area with the rest of the boys. Within three months the
position of stoker on No. S engine In the paid flre department became
vacant aad Salter took it, resigning his place with the Herald in
order to do so. Three years later tbe engineer of this company re
signed and Salter waa appointed to aucceed him and was also made
superintendent of the entire flre alarm telegraph system of the city.
The steamers were taken out of commission when the water
works were established in 1880, there being sufficient pressure to
throw a Stream of waer to the top ot any building In Omaha at that
time. Salter's position as engineer was, therefore, no longer in
existence. , He was too good a man to lose, however, and he was
made captain of hose company No. S, retaining his place as superin
tendent of lire alarm telegraph. Shortly thereafter he was made
actlug second assistant chief of the entire department, a position
which he held until J. J. Oalllgan was made chief in 1886. He was
tbeu appointed first assistant chief and continued in that position
until 1V01, when he was appointed chief.
Career One of Advancement
Chief Salter's career baa been one ot continuous advancement.
He served a valuable apprenticeship under that famous old fire
tighter, "Jack" Oalllgan, and hU long continuance in the position
ot Daslstant chief under him la Indicative of the eminent qualities
he has tor flre flghtlag. He was a very valuable assistant always
"Uere" when he waa needed, and by the time he secured his next
invade the city.
Chief Salter believes la getting close to a flre.
the flimsy, high roofs of burning buildings. He knows the dangers
Cet up to It, of the terrible fight and he knows that the flre flend, his arch enemy,
gives no quarter fights to the death and laughs in glee when he
has brought an enemy low. This may be the reason why Chief Salter
never swears at hla men when directing them In fighting flames.
Some chiefs forget in the excitement of the hour that the brave
fellows may be walking to their death. But Chief Salter feels with
his men, not having forgotten the time when he was one of them.
He was one of tho fighters at the several fires In Omaha where
firemen lost thlr Uvea. .During the time he was a member of the
department fifteen men have met death while performing their peril
ous duties. But it has not come nigh him. Aside from a tew burns
and minor Injuries he has been unscathed. Some of the big Area
which he helped to fight in his various capaclltites during his long
career on the department are the following:
t September 24. 1878, Grand Central hotel, Fourteenth and Farnam
Streets; loss. $125,000.
January 18, 1880, Boyd Packing house: loss, $127,000.
November 6. 18S6, Barker block. Fifteenth and Farnam etree-ta.
March 27. 1892, Omaha Hardware company, Ninth and Jones
treets: loss. $110,000.
December 27, 1892, Orchard Carpet company and Continental
Clothliifj company, Fifteenth and Douglas streets; loss, $152,000.
February 3, 1894, Boston store. Sixteenth and Douglas streets:
loss. $175,000.
December 4, 1894, Exposition building, Fifteenth Street theater
and First Baptist church; loss. $125,000.
January 28, 1906, Mercer block, Eleventh and Howard streets:
loss, $447,270.
June 3, 1906, Hayden Bros., Sixteenth and Dodge streets; loss.
$105,000.
August 10,1906, DIetz Lumber company; loss, $130,000.
"On the Square" with All
Among the brave men who compose the subofflcers and the rank
and file which the city maintains for flphtlng the flre fiend Chief
Salter is a prime favorite. He has the reputation of treating the
men "square." There is no false pride about him. He has risen
'rom the ranks, but he esteems himself no better than tho men
under hhn.
"I aim to treat the men like men, that's all," he says. "Each
must respect the orders of the officers over him and give strict
obedience, but outside of that one Is as good as another and any
of them are as good as I." '
The love of the men for their chief was illustrated during a brief
illness which he suffered several months ago. His room was Ailed
with Aowers and most of "the boys" took occasion to visit him
whenever the opportunity offered. The chief In turn is proud ot
"the boys" and of their accomplishments.
Until two years ago Chief Salter was a bachelor. On March 23,
1906, he married Miss Adelaide Parrish. They had been sweet
hearts when boy and girl. Then she had married. When she be
came a widow the old love returned and culminated happily in mar
riage. They have a cozy home at 1914 Douglas street, Just two
blocks from the chief's office. There he is conveniently located,
when not at his office, to rush out at any hour of the day or night
whether he be eating, drinking or sleeping when the Are fiend in
vades and threatens the city. The chief's mother, Mtb. Carol ne
Salter, 87 years of age, is still living and resides in her own home,
2452 South Seventeenth street.
In His Home Life
The chief likes pets, and there are two dogs and two cats mem
bers of the household. He Is a great reader of books and periodi
cals bearing upon fire Aghtlng. Often he will read a part which
pleases him especially to his wife or visitors. When he does not
spend the evening In his office he often takes work home and does
It, and sometimes Mrs. Salter takes a hand and helps out on these
occasions.
The flre department has been built up and strengthened during
Chief Salter's Incumbency, not through purchase of new apparatus
so much as by strict discipline among the men. strict attention to
the condition of the buildings of the city, strict enforcement of the
regulations with regard to combustible material. The result has
been that the National Board of Fire Underwriters has given Omaha
a Heading place In the list of good risks In spite of the fact that
its flre equipment Is by no means equal to that of many other cities
of the same size.
Will the fire fiend creep Into Omaha some time? "How great
a matter a little Are kindleth." A cow kicked over a lantern and
the Chicago flre was the result ith $200,000,000 loss. Anyone of
a hundred thousand Individuals inadvertently leaving a bit of Are
In some out-of-the-way place may give the Aro Aend the opportunity
he Is waiting for. All that man can do Chief Salter does Eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty and of victory over the hungry
flames. And Chief Salter is conscientiously paying this price
Easy Marks Are Readily Spotted by Confidence Men
TTl!m!l . "About dusk we reached a little village in the Tom made second count. It tallied with the made the feat more nofw-rth. ....... ...
Tl a BEEN my experience," said the brakeman,
cramming his pipe with cut plug, "that, no
I matter what you put on your hook, the
farmer man will always rise to the bait."
"Or to the occasion," sagely added the
Cincinnati drummer. "I've zigzagged around this
country for twenty years, mostly trying to beguile
the one-gallused Rube Into a child-like faith in the
word pictures I painted concerning the feveriBh
eagerness of the rural millions te buy my particu
lar line-up. and I've found that, while the hay
seed'l believe every funny story you tell him, he's
mighty skeptical as to statements that tend to di
vest him of his coin. Also, I've put it down in my
rules of the road that buuko is Just as liable to
lurk under a dirty shirt In the quiet hamlets where
the true manhood of the nation is nurtured as un
der the dress suit in the vicious throngs of the
great city.
"There was one experience with the Rube that
crowded Itself upon me in which I played the part
of interested audience Instead of the role of lead
ing sucker simply because my section was farthest
from the door of the sleeper.
"It happened a snort time ago that, as I
boarded the westbound train, I found in the sec
tion Just ahead an old friend of my boyhood, Tom
Goad, who had achieved success as a mining engi
neer, and was employed by great mining syndi
cates to protect their Interests aaginst fraud and
thievery In South Africa and Booloomooloo and
other such foreign places where gold grows. He
was Just returning from a successful trip to Aus
tralia, where he bad been sent to locate some big
leaks in a mining company operating in that land
of kangaroos and convicts. Two days after he lit
there, he said, he had put his Anger on the sore
spot. Locating leaks framed up by subtlo-minded
men of an oblique moral trend was Tom's strong
point. He spun me a ball of many yarns about
the sharps he had circumvented and exposed.
He'd yet one to And w ho could beat him out, so he
confided to me. He wasn't conceited about it, he
admitted, but he'd like to see the crook smooth
enough to dish up anything he couldn't see
through like a plate glass mirror. I sat all day
listening to his exploits and watching the muddy
little crowds come down to the muddy little sta
tion to tee the train go by.
we
Just
our
soli.
In
notes
heart of the ckinwhisker belt, a regular Rlalto for
ruoes. The scenery from the car window was a
background of shanties wfth a wilderness of cor
rugated bootlegs in the middle distance. As
hitched on the dining car there we were
reaching for our hats to go out and stretch
let's a spell, when an elongated son of the
clad in dingy garments, shambled into the car
one band be held a bundle of greasy bank
and in the other was an envelope. He stood a
moment wide-eyed and mouth agape as though
overcome by the glistening marvels of the sleeper,
ai d then, pulling off a dirty slouch, began to un
bosom himself.
" ' 'Scuse me, gents,' he stammered, timid
a school boy in his first try at Casablanca,
I'm in a heap o' trouble an' maybe some o
kin be'p me out. My ole 'oman went up
Hanksville this mawln' '1th the money fer ter pay
the Intrust on the morgldge on our place what's
due today an' the man said ef 'twarn't paid right
off he'd sell us out. She telegrapht me that she'd
done lost the money and fer me ter git mo
send it on this train. I sol' the cow and b
'null mo' ter make up the $40, but ther postofflce
was closed, and I'm skeered ter sen' all these here
$1 bills in Jest er plain letter. It'd git stole. Ef
any o' you all gents kin ginme two $20 bills fer
these little ones I'll sholy be much 'bleeged f yer,
fer I've got ter git the money tbar on this here
train.'
"Touched by the poor fellow's predicament, I
was Just pulling out my pocketbook. when Tom
Goad, who was nearer the rube than I, opened his
wallet and lifted out a couple of twenties.
" 'Here they are,' he said, handing them over
to the hayseed as the latter passed over the bulky
bunch of dirty bills.
" 'Thanky, mister,' said Rube, with extrava
gant thankfulness, 'I wish ye'd count "em bo'b to
make sho. I've been so upsot that maybe I made
a mistake.'
"Tom proceeded to count the bills. "Thirty
six, thirty-seven.' he said. laying them carefully
over the back of the seat; 'thirty-eight, thirty-nine
I make only thirty-nine dollars, my friend,' ho
said amiably, 'I'll count again.'
. "An anxious look wrUxlet the Enbe'i face as
as
"but
you
ter
an
rried
Arst; there were only thirty-nine bills.
" 'I sho thought I had fohty dollars,' exclaimed
the ceuutryman in distress. 'Lemme count 'em,
please, mister.'
"He told over the bills with painful clumsiness.
There were only thirty-nine. He stood the picture
of misery with the dirty slouch in one hand and
the crumpled bills in the other.
" 'I don't know how it comes about,' he sighed.
'I borried $2 fum Cy Allen and two fum Tlo
Huskin, an' er dollar fum Doc gosh, I clean fer
got 'twas a silver dollar what 1 got fum ole Doc
Shores! ' he cried in joy. and ramiiiins his hand
in his trousers pocket, groped there a moment and
then triumphantly brought forth a silver dollar,
tightly clutched in his fist with the roll of bills.
" 'Thar's yer other dollar, mister,' ho laughed
in hysterical Joy. as he crammed the bunch of pa
per and silver into Tom's hand. 'I've got to hurry
now fer ter git this in the mail car; thanky again,
mister,' and with that he shambled hurriedly out
of the sleeper.
"It was too late for our stroll, so after a cou
ple of preliminary drams from Tom's bottle of
rum we went back for dinner.
"The drinks warmed Tom's heart. He began
to talk about the deep satisfaction a real man feels
in helping the unfortunate until he began to be
lieve he'd given that Jay money instead of merely
making change. When we'd finished our meal
luin Buggeptea mat we d shake for the bill,
we marked up a couple of sugar lumps for
and rolled theru out of a tumbler. Tom
stuck. That brought on a reaction from
former placid frame of mind and he grew
tateu. He grumbled as he called the waiter,
grumbled as he looked over the bill, grumbled
some more as he pulled out the Rube's bunch of
money and. grumbled still louder as he started to
count off the prlce.
"Then suddenly he stopped grumbling, sat in
stiff, frozen silence for five long Beconds, and then,
with eyes glued on the Rube's roll, commenced to
swear. For versatile and vitriolic cuss words he
uuoosomea nimseir of a varied assortment
niuoiiira me ngms ana established a new
In profanity. There were ladles two tables
o Tom had to operate under his breath.
So
dice
was
his
irri-
that
record
down,
which
maae tne feat more noteworthy, -t last h
down, and without a word handea me over the roll
of the distressed hayseed. As I looked at it I felt
a thrill of admiration for that untutored country
man. There, neatly wrapped In a one-dollar bill,
was a bunch of old revenue stamps, evidently
soaked off a beer keg and cunningly mixed through
It a number of confederate notes printed In 1862,
the whole mass worthless for anything but to wad'
a gun.
" 'Let's get out of here,' said Tom, thickly, aa
he fixed a dull eye on me. 'I want air.'
"In silence we sought the rear platform, and
beneath the stars watched the rails reel and rocket
away from beneath the. fiylng wheels and disap
pear Into the night. But we weren't thinking of
stars and reeling rails. At length Tom spoke:
" 'How 'n h 1 'd do It?'
" 'Address that to the puxzle editor,' I replied.
'It's plain that that simple denizen of the back
districts has beeu reading something besides the
Farmer's Own Paper and the Bible.'
"Just then we pulled up at a switch and a
brakeman climbed aboard. Thinking he might be
wise as to tho manners and customs of the Inhabi
tants, Tom Inquired as to the Integrity of the hay
seeds one met at tho various villages. The brake
man laughed a harsh, unsympathetic laugh that
grated on our nerves.
"Been up against Stinging Billy, have you?'
he inquired, without deigning to notice the ques
tion. 'I gurss you ain't never traveled through
this country much before, or you'd have knowed
of Mm. He's got a plzen eye for suckers, even If
he is a hayseed.'
"Tom winced under the remark, but asked the
brakeman what sort of a fellow was this Stingin
Billy. .
" 'He's a long, slab-sided rube. He didn't
come Into the car and say he wanted to get some
big bills for a lot of little ones for to send his old
n. other, or such person, did he?'
"Tom admitted that he had.
" 'And when the money was eounted it wasn't
a dollar shy. was it? And he didn't remember
that he had a sllvor dollar In his pocket and dive
down after It, did he?' continued the brakeman
(Continued on Page Four.),