The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 6, 1903, Page 41

Pages41to44 The - — 1 .| EU o FERE e SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1903. Eall, Pages41t044 | TITLED WOMEN STUDY THE ART OF FIRE-FIGHTING DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH TRAINS SERVANTS IN DRILL Prince of Wales Is Competent, Through His Naval Experience, to Become Superin- tendent of Brigade. Sept. 5.—You never could guess who s the best fire-woman fireman, or fire-lady, or t she should be n all Englar W. K. Vanderbiit's daughter e busband is the Duke of though she stands at the top of ere are &t least a dozen other peeresses who really ts on the management of of the fancy officers with ses of London adorn thelr Plenty of the great la- D society know by experi- ence just how to handle a hose, wield a fire-ax, manage a bhand-pump and work life lines. There is & good reason for such & queer Giversion for Duchesses and Countesses. Most of the British peers and peeresses own magnificent country seats, far away from the oitl trom any fire depart- ment except & can provide for themselves. The sh countryeide is @otted over with hundreds of great man- slons where hist. ngs have been rapidity and precision under her orders, and other servants were drilled in the use of tarpaulin sheets to save the treasures of art and antiquity with which Blen- helm's halls and ealons are crowded. Test salarms were sounded again and again until the Duchess had her brigade £0 well drilled that ip ~ase of fire at Blen- ubtful if there would ment from Oxford, some six or eight miles vay, would find anything left for it to by the time it arrived on the soene. t was because of her proved proficiency as & fire captain that she was selected to recently to firemen who ed themselves by saving present medal had distingy ves. “SHOOTS THE CHUTES.” The Baroness von Eckhardstein, who is the daughter of Bir Thomas Blundell Maple, M. P., Is another famous fire- woman. Her establishment is fitted with canvas chutes, which can be let down from the windows at the alarm of fire. It takes considerable pluck to descend from a top story by this means, but the Baroness practiced the trick herself un- she became an adept and then set * P e e *- nolsseurs for generati ollected priceless vith such joyous ¢ rom fire that they & b L given to the " THE DUCHESS' OWN BRIGADE. e Duke it to a certain area; ect of the water sup- how to unmroll and h 3 direct the Then ghe started in servants. The instructions the alarm was given the out the hose and n st of its shed. The 2 trained to form into line and pass buckets from one to another with T t the were that whey footn were to b m rur aids were to drill her servants in the art of ting the chute.” I am informed by 1 that the Baroness some- ad to slide down the canvas times in person before ervous housemald to o the energy and foresight of intess of Warwick, Dunmow Castle t fire by perhaps the most fire brigade in England. ate cent destruction of part of Duke of Portland's ill has be- house parties and it is a ce for the alarm of fire 7 in the midst of fes- s and servants alike e posts in readi- enemy. n's daughters, their 8 are among those who pts at fire brigade work, _ord Rosebery’s staff of domestics at ans, near Epsom, have been under the personal supervision of the ex-Premier. ROYAL FIREMEN. ly enough, , the Curiot however, male mem- bers of the British aristocracy—witness the Duke of Marlborough—seldom trouble themselves about the art of fire extin- guishing. They content themselves with paying for up-to-date appliances at their mansions and leave the instruction of their servants to their wives and daugh- ters. The Earl of Derby has recently had his place at Knowsley fitted up in this manner, but so far as I can discover he takes no personal interest in seeing o | | | that any one on the premises knows how to use the apparatus. There is, however, a distinguished ex- ception to this rule. It is not generally known that King Edward VII has con- siderable knowledge of the routine of fire brigade work, and that on the occasion of an outbreak at Marlborough House when he was Prince of Wales it was through his exertions and the promptness with which he ordered a hole to be cut through a floor and a hose inserted that the fire was extinguished before the ar- rival of the regular firemen. The Prince of Wales would be quite competent, it s said, to take the position of superintendent of a fire brigade should a revolution deprive him of his exalted station. The Prince learned the work of fire extinguishing when he was in the navy, and it so fascinated him that he took up the study of fire-fighting on land, and at one time he made it his hobby, As a result, perhaps, of this fad in the mother country the colonles have begun to take it up, and even in distant New BSouth Wales there is now a woman’s fire brigade which is sald to have earned dis. tinction in several notable fights with the flames. They hold forth In the town of Armidale, practicing with the town bri- gade appliances and paying especial at- tention to rescue work -3 +* ] VIEWS OF .FIRE DRILL SQUADS AT ENGLISH COUN- TRY HOMES. b b 4 AMERICAN WOMAN AIDS COUNTRYMEN IN BULGARIA Daughter of General Beale of Cali- fornia Is Wife of the Rus- sian Envoy. SOFIA, Bulgaria, Sept. 5.—The Ameri- can wife of the Russian envoy here, Mrs. LADY YARMOUTH CONQUERING THE ARISTOCRACY OF BRITAIN Pittsburg Girl Easily Adopts the Graces of the English Grand Dame and Her First Dinner Is a Success. ONDON, Sept. 5.—Lord and Lady Yarmouth, whose wedding ex- cited Pittsburg some months ago, are coming on surprisingly In English soclety. Lady Yarmouth gave one of the smartest dinners of the season last week at Prince’s, and for a first big attempt at entertalning the English aristocracy the event was voted a great success. Lady Yarmouth has al- ready adopted the graces of the English grande dame. Some one sald of her at the dinner, “She's just llke every other American peeress—much more peeressy than one born to the title.” The most important of Lady Yar- mouth’s conquests thus far is the favor she has won with her husband’'s own people. The Marquis of Hertford, head of the ancient family, has taken his heir and the heir's bride home to live with him at the town house in Eaton square, and they will shortly accompany him on a country and continental trip. Lord Yarmouth, according to English opinion, has been much maligned with regard to his marriage. His intimate friends de- clare that, far from marrying for money, ance. What alarms him are the sky- scrapers proposed to be erected. “If a fire broke out on such premises, he remarked, “their height would endan- ger the abbey through the spread of the flames and the wafting of burning debris. “This question of the safety of our pub- lie bulldings is not a new one. If I re- member aright, the national gallery was seriously imperiled about eight years ago by a fire that broke out in a jewelry shop near. In that case a bill was specially introduced into Par nt for the pur- chase of the jeweler's premises, in order to secure the safety of the national gal- lery.” Channing has questioned the First Com- missioner of W he subject, but that gentleman declares that he has no power to re, te the height of the build- ings In question. RIS R VS Chicago Girl a Countess. COPENHAGEN, Sept. 5 — Countess Kluthenborg has established her resi- dence in the castle of that name, stand- ing at the head of a 10,000-acee feudal farm, by far the largest and richest in -+ Bakhmeteff, is rendering vallant service to American travelers in Bulgaria this summer. Mrs. Bakhmeteff was a Miss Mary Beale, the daughter of General Beale of California. She and her father spent much time in Washington and she met her husband there when he was attache ot the Russian legation. He served after- ward In London and Paris, then was transferred to Athens and five years ago was given his present post here. The marriage was the result of a des- perate love match and it is an open secret that Mrs. Bakhmeteff has won many & diplomatic victory for her husband with her charms and good sense. —_————————— Passengers Are Nervous. “PARIS, Sept. 5—The scare caused by the underground railway horror is becom- ing ridiculous in some respects. The com- pany’s receipts are said to have fallen off $6000 a day and the people who venture to take its trains are extremely nervous. —_—————————— Usher for Forty Years. PARIS, Sept, 5.—The Paris Society for the Encouragement of Well Doing has awarded a gold médal to Mme. Metelller, who has been a box opener at the Come- die Francalse for forty years. = Zeed S7. - THANS VD THES LAND THE SoLIE = IS DS OX THE DA TEES e/,.::'f_-r-la;v oS TI2Z his Lordship was and is in a state of “all- for-love-and-the-world-well-lost,” so far as the present Lady Yarmouth is con- cerned. Lord Yarmouth is not thought of as a business man in any sense of the word, and stories stating that he de- manded more money with his bride are laughed at over here. Two ardent converts to motoring are the Misses Nell and Anita Evans, daugh- ters of the United States Consul General, H. Clay Evans. Miss Nell has gone on a long motoring trip on the Continent with Mr. and Mrs. Millard Hunsiker, formerly. of Pittsburg. The Hunsikers own several motors, and Miss Evans fre- quently accompanies them in tours around England. The present continental trip will last about a month. Miss Anita and her mother hope for a trip later on, when Miss Nell returns to town to keep her father company during his enforced stay in London. Miss Anita has been motoring a great deal recently in the vicinity of London. —_—— FEARS FOR THE SAFETY OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY Member of Parliament Says Proposed Tall Buildings Will Increase Danger of Fire. LONDON, Sept! 5.—Is Westminster Ab- bey in danger? This alarming question has just been raised, not by a sensa- tional journal but by a serious member of,Parliament, Mr. Channing. The eccle- siastical commissioners, it seems, have determined to clear away the residential area to the south of the abbey and erect on the sites a number of tall business structures. Channing does not object to the clear- —_— ey little Denmark. The new aristocrat was Bylvia Plo of Chicago, and she made her husband’s acquaintance while acting as governess for a rich English family iz Florida. Countess Sylvia will shortly make her debut at court and hopes that the King may grant permission to ber old tather, Louis Plo, a Chicago Socialist, to return to Denmark. He was banished from his home for strong socialistic views in 1872. The Danish aristocracy is much taken with the beautiful American girl, whose social triumphs are the talk of the kingdom. —_——— May Soon Be Peeress. LONDON, Sept. 5.—It seems likely that a new name will be added very soon to the list of American peeresses in Eng- land. Lord Leigh is a very old man and has been 1ll for some time. His son and heir, Dudley Leigh, married Frances Hel- ene Forbes, daughter of N. M. Beckwith of New York. She was a beauty when last there was a court in Paris, but does not look more than 30 now, with her fair brown hair and clear complexion and charming; gentle manner. She and her husband are seldom seen apart and she has most beautiful jewels, most of which are his xifts. Praises the Aquarium. PARIS, Sept. 5.—Jules Huret, continu- ing his articles to the Figaro, on his im- pressions of the United States, writes that he has studied the ornamentation of American cities and finds it rare to see anything built in America for beauty’'s sake alone, nearly everything having its utilitarian side. There is one thing—the aquarium in New York—which he says has no end except its beauty. —_———————— After Sunken Treasure. MOSCOW, Sept. 5.—A wealthy Cossack named Zimniakoff has fitted out a large expedition to recover a lost treasure val- ued at $15,000,000.