Houston History Voices

Even before Houston became a city, in name at least, by obtaining a charter, steps were taken to organize a fire company.

Houston's Station 3 Fire Company, cira 1889

In 1836, Protection Fire Company No. 1 was organized. That was perhaps the first organization of the kind in Texas. They had no engine or anything with which to fight fire, except buckets, and their method was a primitive one of forming a line and passing the buckets from hand to hand. As crude as this method was, much good was accomplished, because executed by an organized force rather than an excited mob.

Protection Company No. 1 preserved its organization and identity, until the old volunteer department was absorbed by the city and became the present day department. In the early fifties this company bought its first engine. It was an old-fashioned hand engine, but at that day was looked upon as a grand affair. It was a vast improvement on buckets, at any rate, and did a great deal of good work.

Houston was growing rapidly at that time and the demand for better fire protection was becoming more apparent each day. The whole city being constructed of wood, and the houses, in the business part of the town, being jumbled close together, the fire risk became very great. The imperative need of better protection was accentuated in 1858-59 by the occurrence of two great fires, one sweeping away the block bounded by Main, Franklin, Travis and Congress Streets and the other, the block bounded by Main, Congress, Travis and Preston Streets. In addition to these there was another big fire that destroyed a number of buildings on both sides of Main Street between Texas Avenue and Capitol Avenue.

In 1860, the warehouse of T. W. Whitmarsh, containing 2,100 bales of cotton, was burned. When the first of these great fires occurred, a number of young men met and formed Houston Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. This company was organized April 17, 1858. Its first officers were: Foreman, Frank Fabj; 1st assistant, E. L. Bremond; 2nd assistant, O. J. Conklin; president, Henry Sampson; vice-president, Fred A. Rice; secretary, Wm. M. Thompson; treasurer, S. H. Skiff. The charter members were: J. C. Baldwin, C. A. Darling, Frank H. Bailey, I. C. Stafford, Ed. Riodan, R. W. Bowling, Pete Schwander, Paul Schwander, George A. Peck, W. S. Owens, Charles Nordhausen, John S. Hirshfield, J. L. Talman, R. B. Wilson, J. D. McNulty and John W. Clark. The company entered at once into active service and accomplished great good through their well-directed and intelligent efforts.

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Houston Police Department

In early days, when a man’s reputation for personal courage, honesty of purpose and a bulldog determination to do his duty was established, he was recognized as fit material out of which to make a peace officer. It was the man’s personality, rather than his ability as a businessman, or his ability as an executive officer that counted. The only executive ability demanded of him was that he be “quick on the draw” and expert in the use of his pistol. The early peace officer had no regular deputies nor had he a “force.” He was the whole thing himself, and on occasions when he needed assistance, he could, and did call on any citizen or citizens to help him. In a newly settled place like Houston in the early days, there were a number of rough and desperate characters. Against such men as these, a weakling or a man who did not have a reputation for coolness and for a bravery vastly superior to their own, would have been worse than useless and would have really added to the criminal record by offering himself up as a sacrifice to the outlaws.

In the very early days police affairs were in the hands of the sheriff, and this condition prevailed for sometime after Houston had become a chartered city. In 1840 or 1841, Captain Newt. Smith, one of the heroes of San Jacinto, was elected city marshal and served as such until 1844, when Captain Billy Williams was elected to succeed him. In the late forties Captain R. C. Boyce was elected city marshal and held office for a number of years. The city marshal’s office was no sinecure. From 1840 to 1860, Houston was at times, particularly about election times and on days of public gatherings, what one might call in the vernacular a little “wild and woolly.” On such occasions both the sheriff and marshal had their hands full. There were numerous desperate characters here, whiskey was cheap and plentiful and the wonder is that there were so few tragedies. It is a remarkable fact that none of the three men who served as marshal during that troublesome period ever had to kill a man. It was not because they were not perfectly prepared and willing to do so should occasion arise, and it was possibly a knowledge of that fact, on the part of the desperadoes, that caused them not to offer resistance when the officers went after them. At the close of the war, Mr. I. C. Lord was city marshal and his administration was far more strenuous than any that preceded it. This was due to the generally disrupted condition of society; to the fact that the town was full of returned Confederate soldiers, Federal soldiers, newly freed Negroes and worthless white men, known as “scalawags” and “carpet-baggers,” who did all in their power to stir up strife between the white people and the Negroes. Killings were of frequent occurrence, and the police figured in the large majority of them.

As bits of police history are always interesting the following are given here as characteristic. They are taken from an old book at police headquarters, called the “Time Book,” dated 1882. A record on the first page reveals the fact that the police force in 1882, consisted of a chief, a deputy chief and six patrolmen, the latter divided into a night and a day relief. Charles Wichman was chief, or city marshal, and W. W. Glass was deputy chief. W. H. Smith and F. W. McCutchin were the day force, while B. F. Archer, Jack White, James Daily and Nat Davis were the night force. All of these old officers are dead.

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