A meeting of the fire commissioners was held this forennon, President Massey in the chair, Commissioners McLaughlin, Campbell and Brown all present and Secretary Caspian A. Sparkes recording.
Bell-ringers Slavin, Murphy and Ryan of the Fourteenth Ward bell tower, were fined three days' pay each, for neglect in duty in permitting the breakage of the telegraph equipment in the tower.
The men all denied having broken the instruments themselves and disclaimed all knowledge of the matter. The instruments had, however, been tampered with, and broken to such an extent that Telegraph Superintendent George Flanly, who was called upon to testify, estimated that it would cost about twenty-five dollars to put them in working order, which was a few cents in excess of the penalty imposed...(The story went on to address the unauthorized custom of bell-ringers employing boys to work in the towers as substitutes, if you were wondering about the significance of the headline.--ed.)
Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle, March 7, 1871.
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