The Smoke Eaters

Harvey Jerrold O'Higgins (1876 - 1929)

This book vividly brings to life the unimaginable risks of fire-fighting and the bravery and personal interactions of Captain Meaghan and the crew of Hook & Ladder Company No. 0 in New York City.
A 1905 review in the New York Times notes:
“’The Smoke-Eaters’…is one of those rare good treats that fall to the reviewer’s lot…. There is enough humor and pathos of a grim and rugged sort, enough tense life and excitement and thrilling heroism to make a dozen...of the ordinary run of books, and it is all told with a straightforward simplicity that well accords with the single-hearted devotion to duty of the men who...‘eat smoke and spit black buttons’…. Not only are they the best sort of stories about firemen, but some of them would stand as models of all that any short story should be – so compact, so restrained, and yet possessed of a vigor and force that keep expectation keyed to the highest tension.”
A pdf of the FULL REVIEW may be accessed
here:
– Lee Smalley

Genre(s): *Non-fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The 'Red-Ink Squad' Lee Smalley
00:28:41
Play 02 A Charge of Cowardice Lee Smalley
00:28:52
Play 03 On Circumstantial Evidence Lee Smalley
00:28:54
Play 04 Private Morphy's Romance Lee Smalley
00:21:15
Play 05 In the Nature of a Hero Lee Smalley
00:26:15
Play 06 Corrigan's Promotion Lee Smalley
00:22:46
Play 07 Training 'Sally' Waters, Part I Lee Smalley
00:22:14
Play 08 Training 'Sally' Waters, Part II Lee Smalley
00:25:40
Play 09 A Question of Retirement Lee Smalley
00:24:29
Play 10 A Personally Conducted Revolt Lee Smalley
00:30:13
Play 11 Not for Publication Lee Smalley
00:17:20