The Ringing of Fire Bells

The following article appeared in The Shippensburg News on June 3, 1910. The incident occurred on this date May 27, 1910.

Quite a commotion was raised on our streets about an hour before noon on Friday last, at which time the bell of the Cumberland Valley Hose Company sounded the usual fire alarm. Businessmen left their storerooms; merchants dropped hammers, planes, saws and brushes, teams dashed wildly through our streets, endangering life and limb. The members of the Vigilant Hose Company, hearing the alarm sounded, rushed for their hose house, thinking some neighbor’s or some citizen’s house was in danger. No one stopped to inquire whose it was; the only question being asked was, where is it? A large crowd of anxious citizen’s had gathered in the vicinity of the hose house, when it was learned there was no fire in anywhere excepting in the stoves where it was doing no damage and strictly necessary at that hour. Cloyd, the 4-year old son of Clarence Rhinehart, of Big Spring, who was in town with his father, had strayed away. Some one suggested the ringing of the fire bell. This we want to say is a great mistake. The fire bell should only be rung at times of fire, when the firemen’s services are actually needed. A few times like this and our faithful firemen will not know when to respond. We are well aware of the anxiety of a parent in cases of this kind, but the alarm should be made in some other manner. In this instance the lost boy was found in an alleyway a short distance from where he was stopping.