The Fire Chief They Tried to Blame
After a bad showing at the Whitehouse-Crimmins fire, the mayor and council concede the apparatus is worn out — then look for a scapegoat in a twelve-year veteran of the department.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The mayor and council admit that worn-out fire apparatus was responsible for the poor showing made by the fire department at the Whitehouse-Crimmins fire Sunday morning; then why do they try to make a scapegoat of Chief Robert Wolf, who during twelve years' service in the department has proven himself to be one of the most reliable men ever employed by the city? He is sober, steady, honest and energetic, and nobody ever knew him to do a mean or dishonorable act. Why not give Bob Wolf a fair chance with a good engine and good apparatus before importing a man from abroad?
“Why not give Bob Wolf a fair chance with a good engine and good apparatus before importing a man from abroad?”
A city buys cheap equipment, a fire goes badly, and the man on the hose cart takes the blame — the oldest move in public administration. Walla Walla's fire department was still a shoestring operation in 1903, and the editorial's demand is the same one heard in city halls now: fix the tools before you fire the crew.
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