Camden People - James H. Long

Camden Courier-Post * January 18, 1922

POLICE TO PROBE $200,000 KAIGHN AVE. FIRE
FIRE CAPTAIN MAY DIE, FOUR OTHERS INJURED; DAMAGE IS $200,000
Economy Store and Other Buildings Near Broadway Swept by Flames Early This Morning-
Falling Debris Carries Men Through Roof And Into Cellar- Sleeping Inmates of Apartments Roused and Invalid Carried to Safety- Mayor Sees Rescues

Mayor Ellis has ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the $2000,000 fire which swept the properties at 427 and 429 Kaighn Avenue and caused injury to five firemen, one of whom may be fatally hurt.

The fire centered about the property occupied by the Economy Store, formerly Handle’s, and quickly spread to four adjoining buildings.

The fireman whose recovery is despaired of is Captain Martin B. Carrigan, of Engine Company No. 2, Fifth and Arch Streets. Carrigan, who lives at 618 West Street, is suffering from a fractured skull and severe burns and cuts of the face, legs, and body. He is unconscious at Cooper Hospital.

The firemen were injured when a wall, weakened by the intense heat, crumbled and crashed through a roof upon which they were standing, dragging them through the floor below, and into a cellar. Sensational rescues followed as police, firemen, and citizens with bare hands tore at the hot debris. The men were quickly extricated and carried to the street.

“We certainly shall investigate this fire,” the Mayor declared today. “Just what was the cause and who is to blame has not been determined but there will be a thorough investigation.”

“There have been too many of these fires during the past few weeks” continued the mayor. “Surely all of them did not just happen and I am sure there has been someone responsible in one or two of the fires.”

The conflagration was one of the most spectacular of a series of large fires that have visited the city in the past six weeks. The block in which it occurred- Kaighn Avenue between Broadway and Fourth Street is one of the most prominent business squares in Camden.

Flames shot 200 feet in the air, giving the sky a fiery hue and attracted attention for miles before the firemen brought it under control. The flame-lit sky was clearly seen in Philadelphia, Merchantville, East Camden, Gloucester and other communities.

More than a score of families living in the vicinity were forced to flee from their homes in scant attire when the fire threatened them. They were cared for by neighbors.

Fireman George Boone, 46 years old, of Engine Company No. 2, also is in a serious condition. He is suffering from burns of the right hand, right thigh and foot and probable internal injuries. Boone lives at 607 Mount Vernon Street.

The other injured foremen are:

John Voll, 22 years old, 509 Royden Street: both hands badly burned.

C.J. Andrus, aged 31 years, 570 Mount Vernon Street: burns of hands and legs.

Harold Lorang, 29 years old, 19 Hudson Street: burns of right hand and legs and sprained ankle.

Firemen Prove Heroes

Carrigan and Boone are in the hospital. The other firemen were discharged after their wounds were dressed. After being released from the hospital they returned to the scene of the fire and insisted upon continuing their duties. Chief Peter B. Carter, however, ordered them home.

Most of the loss was suffered by the Economy Store. A few charred walls remain of the large building. The interior was completely gutted. It was estimated today that the damage to that property will total $60,000 At least $50,000 damage, it was said, was done to the stock.

Morris Handle, local theatrical man, who owns the building, declared today that the property was insured for $30,000. “My loss will be quite heavy,” said Mr. Handle. “The insurance will not pay one-half the property damage.”

The adjoining building at 431 Kaighn Avenue is occupied by Dr. S.I. Yubas, optometrist, and L.R. Yubas, his father, a jeweler.

Invalid is Rescued

The rear and upper floors of the Yubas property were gutted and the stock sustained a heavy loss, due to water and smoke. The damage will total $40,000, Mr. Yubas estimated today.

Five persons who were asleep on the upper floors of the Yubas dwelling had narrow escapes. They were awakened by Samuel Goldstein, haberdasher, 417 Kaighn Avenue, who discovered the fire in the Economy Store and turned in the alarm. Mrs. L.R. Yubas, an invalid, was rescued with difficulty.

The property occupied by Mrs. Sadie Bodner, a widow, at 433 Kaighn Avenue, as a house furnishings store, was scorched and also damaged by water and smoke.

Adjoining the Economy Store on the west at 425 Kaighn Avenue is a vacant one-story structure, formerly occupy by the United Beef Company. Firemen were on the roof of that building when the west wall of the Economy Store collapsed. The wall tumbled down on the small roof and hurled the firemen through a hole in the roof, through the floor and then into the cellar.

Several Stores Damaged

Three policemen, Joseph Sparks, Thomas Cheeseman, and George Hill- and several spectators braved the fire and smoke to rescue the trapped firemen.

The property at 423 Kaighn Avenue, occupied by the Charles Jamison Department Store, was damaged in the rear and the stock ruined by water and smoke. The Kresge Five-and-Ten-Cent Store, at 519-531 Kaighn Avenue, was also damaged by water.

Louis Richelson, who owns the properties from 519 to 525 Kaighn Avenue, was unable to estimate his loss today.

Collapse of Wall

Hundreds of spectators, who were watching the fire from the opposite side of the street, shuddered as they saw a brick wall, weakened by the intense heat, totter and sway. Before the firemen on the smaller roof below could scurry to safety, it collapsed.

A groan escaped the crowd as they heard the cries of the entrapped firemen and the deafening thud of the brocks as they landed on the roof where the firemen were at work.

As the full weight of the brocks struck the roof, it caved in forming a gaping hole. The firemen were literally swept into the opening.

The bricks tumbled down, causing another hole in the floor between the firs story and the cellar and dragging the imperiled firemen into the cellar with them.

Mayor Charles H. Ellis was among the spectators who witnessed the collapse of the wall. Other officials were Chief James H. Long, of the Water Department; Fire Chief Carter, Assistant Police Chief Edward S. Hyde, Captain Lewis Stehr of the Second Police District, and Street Commissioner Alfred L. Sayers.

Firemen Under Debris

Observing the peril of the trapped firemen, Policemen Sparks, Cheeseman and Hill, together with a dozen other spectators, rushed across the street to the vacant store. They rushed through the smoke and fire, leaped into the cellar and 5reached the struggling firemen.

Sparks, the first to leap into the cellar, reached Voll, who had been pinned beneath a pile of debris and was pleading to be rescued. The policeman feverishly extricated Voll from his precarious position and carried him out into the street to safety.

Policeman Cheeseman had accidentally fallen into the cellar and, though himself injured, groped about in the dark until he found Boone, whom he dragged outside.

Policeman Hill carried Carrigan out of the cellar in his arms.

The five firemen were carried to a waiting police ambulance and rushed to Cooper Hospital. Carrigan was unconscious. He haws a slim fighting chance to recover.

Carrigan was promoted to a captaincy the first of the year. He is popular among his comrades and has the reputation of being a fearless fireman.

Mayor Praises Firemen

Mayor Ellis praised the work of the firemen and the bravery of the policemen who had risked their lives to effect the rescue.

“Never did I see such remarkable work” said the Mayor. “When I arrived at the scene, it looked as if the whole block was doomed. The flames were shooting upward and the whole sky seemed lit up. The firemen tackled their job with dispatch and courage. I was proud of them. They knew their business and showed it by confining it to a comparatively small area. The work of the police also was commendable.

Mr. Goldstein discovered the fire shortly before midnight.

“I had just left my home at 417 Kaighn Avenue,” explained Mr. Goldstein, “intending to get a soda. As I passed the Economy Store I noticed strong odor of smoke. I peered into the glass doorway of the store. I immediately saw the place was afire.”

Rescues Sleeping Family

“Then I ran back to my store” continued Mr. Goldstein, “and I telephoned police headquarters. I went out again and returned to the scene. I remembered that the Yubas family were asleep on the second and third floors and rapped on the doors. Mr. Yubas came down in a bathrobe. He was not aware of the fire.”

The six persons asleep in the Yubas home were Dr. Yubas, Mr. And Mrs. L.R. Yubas, Bernard Helfand, Miss Bertha Cuden and Anna Recowitz, a domestic.

Mrs. Yubas, who is recovering from an illness, was too weak to make her way outside through the smoke. Assisted by her husband, Policemen Becker and Cheeseman and Constable John Cunningham, Mrs. Yubas was half carried downstairs, and out through the rear of the building to safety.

Blaze Had Big Start

“The fire had gained such rapid headway,” said Sergeant Thomas Cunningham, “that when the firemen arrived, smoke was actually issuing from cracks in the sidewalks and between the cobbles near the trolley tracks.”

The second and third floors of 419 to 423 Kaighn Avenue are occupied by private families as apartments. In the rear were number of frame dwellings. More than a score of families were obliged to leave their homes in scant attire when the firemen began playing hose upon their properties as a precaution against the fire spreading.

Mrs. Catherine Fox, 410 Sycamore Street, and Mrs. E. Chambers, 412 Sycamore Street, whose homes are in the rear of the Economy Store property, had removed part of the furniture to the street. Even after firemen assured them the danger of their homes catching on fire was over, the women and children could hardly be persuaded to return.

Crumbling walls and cracking of glass hampered the foremen in their work and made their task hazardous. The firemen were further handicapped by the big start the fire had gained. Despite this, they stuck dangerously close to the flames.

To play hose upon the fire to advantage, several firemen scaled the outside walls of adjoining properties and reached cornices, from which they directed streams of water.

High Wind Fanned Flames

A high wind gave them great difficulty. A number of times, when the firemen seemed to have the fire under control, the flames burst out afresh and compelled them to retreat. Then the reflection would light up the sky overhead.

Water Chief Long gave the firemen great service in maintaining the water at a high pressure to ensure facility in getting the streams to play upon the flames.

Kaighn Avenue, between Broadway and Fourth Street, was literally alive with residents and passers-by attracted by the flames. Included among the spectators were scores of persons who came from Philadelphia and distant points, in the belief the blaze was much more serious.

According to the estimate of the loss made today, the insurance on the property and stock damaged by the fore will not pay for one-half the loss sustained.

Chief Carter was determined to take no chances with the fire because of the high wind and the fire was attacked on all sides. While firemen were fighting the flames from Kaighn Avenue several companies of firemen had worked their way into the yard in the rear, from whence they played streams of hose.

An effort is being made today to determine the origin of the blaze.

Thomas Shannon, Engine Company 6, was a spectator when the wall crashed in. Hearing the cries of the buried men, he immediately dashed into the dirt. Six men, including Harry Seeley, formed a human chain and pulled four of the men from the heap of rubbish.

Someone had the presence of min to turn off the nozzle of a hose, which was playing directly o the mound. When found, the water was trickling through to the pinned men.

Camden Courier-Post - June 2, 1933

CAMDEN ELKS HOPE TO GET CONVENTION
Advisory Committee Will Present Formal Invitation for State Meet

The twenty-first annual reunion and the convention of the New Jersey State Elks Association will be held in Camden next June if efforts of the advisory board of' Camden Lodge of Elks are successful at the state meeting in Newark on June 15, 16 and 17.

Members of the advisory board for the local lodge, who are past exalted rulers of the Camden lodge, will present the invitation to hold the 1934 meeting in Camden, at the twentieth reunion and convention in Newark.

Members of the lodge have adopted a resolution confirming the action of the advisory board and plans were made to set the necessary machinery in motion to bring the 1934 convention to Camden. It was pointed out that Camden Elks have the largest home in the state.

Samuel Kilpatrick, the oldest past exalted ruler of the lodge, is head of the advisory board, and Harry G. Robinson, youngest past exalted ruler, is delegate to the state association, which is composed of past exalted rulers of all Elks lodges in New Jersey.

Although the state association was formed in Camden, there has never been a reunion or convention of the association held here, it was pointed out.

The outstanding feature of each annual convention is the mammoth sessions, with thousands of Elks in line. It is estimated the parade would draw more than 50,000 persons to Camden, if the local lodge's invitation is accepted.

The Camden lodge is sending the band and patrol to Newark for the parade, which will start at 7 p. m. on June 17. Arrangements are being made to have the largest delegation in the parade represent Camden.

Past exalted rulers who comprise the advisory board, and the year they took office, follow: Samuel Kirkpatrick, 1900; Dr. A. Haines Lippincott, 1901; Alex J. Milliette, 1906; J. Harry Switzer, 1908; James H. Long, 1911; Marion Moriarty, 11113; Allen Jarvis, 1914; Albert Austermuhl, 1915; William L. Sauerhoff, 1917; Theodore T. Kausel, 1918; Garfield Pancoast, 1919; William G. Ferat, 1920; Harry Ellis, 1921; Samuel A. Dobbins, 1923; D. Trueman Stackhouse, 1924; Frank S. Van Hart, 1925; Edward J. Kelly, 1926; Rud Preisendanz, Jr., 1927; Roy R. Stewart, 1928; William H. lszard, 1929; William Lehman, 1930; J. Harry Todd, 1931, and Harry G. Robinson, 1932.

Deceased past exalted. rulers and the year they took office are: John H. Foster, 1895; W. E. B. Miller, 1896; Philip Burch, 1897; D. Harry Condit, 1898; H. L. Hartshorn, 1891; George D. Borton, 1902; Maurice Rogers, 1904; Francis Warren, 1907; E. Wilmer Collins, 1909; Lewis H. Leigh, 1910; Monia Odell, 1912, and W. Wallace Balcom, 1922.

Camden Courier-Post - September 2, 1940

JAMES H. LONG DIES, RETIRED AS CHIEF OF CITY WATER BUREAU
Veteran City Aide Worked to Assure Camden of Adequate Supply

James H. Long, "Chief" to thousands of Camdenites, and veteran of the Camden water bureau, died yesterday in West Jersey Hospital where he was taken last Tuesday.

Mr. Long, who was 75, lived alone at 702 North Fourth Street.

After seeing the water department system built from a ninewell plant capable of pumping only 14,000,000 gallons of water a day to a 27-well system pumping 45,000,000 gallons, Mr. Long was retired last February 1, with more than 27 years of active service to his record.

Learned Trade Here

Mr. Long joined the city department in 1912. He was born at Norfolk, Virginia, and learned the machinist trade in Camden. He became superintendent of the Dodge Coal Conveyor Company at Port Richmond, Philadelphia; and worked for 19 years as a gauger in the U. S. Department of Internal Revenue before coming to Camden.

In Camden, Mr. Long and the municipal water plant were synonymous. When he took charge on January 1, 1912. the supply was insufficient to meet even normal conditions, let alone peak loads. He fought for and put over the idea of developing the Delair plant and had new type air wells installed. His activities were credited with helping attract industry to Camden and encouraging expansion of existing plants, including Campbell Soup Company.

One of Mr. Long's successful fights was to have the city's water system constructed to such a point there would be no interruption in service in the event the main feeder main from the principal artesian wells of the city at Morris and Delair stations was broken. He had a sub-feeder main installed and the foresight of this was, illustrated about two years ago when the feeder main at Twelfth and Federal streets broke beneath the bridge of the Amboy division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

3 Days of Repairs

If it had not been for the subfeeder Mr. Long had installed, the city water supply would have been materially reduced and the northern part of the city would have been without water for the three days it took to fix the break. Mr. Long worked night and day, to repair the damage.

Mr. Long was active in civic and social affairs. He was a member many years of the Camden Lodge 293, B. P. O. E and a past ,exalted ruler of that organization. He was a 33rd Degree member of Ionic Lodge, F. and A. M., and a member of North Baptist Church.

The only surviving relative of Mr. Long is a cousin, Mrs. Clara Hann, of 307 Twenty-third Street, Wildwood.

	Camden Courier-Post April 4, 1928
Roy R. Stewart - James H. Long - William B. Knight - William Hopkins Iszard William F. Lehman - Albert Austermuhl - Homer F. Lotier - Samuel A. Kilpatrick George Fisher - Rud Preisandanz Jr. - William L. Sauerhoff