Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1917 — FRIEND OF THE FIRE HORSE [ARTICLE]

FRIEND OF THE FIRE HORSE

tn Detroit Animals Showed Affection for the Man Who Cared for Them For Many Years. For 27 years Martin Cooney has been superintendent of horses for the fire departinent of Detroit, Mich., saya the News of that city. He has bought every horse used by the department In that time; he has tended them through sickness and has been obliged to end the agonies of many of them. So great has been his love for horses that he has never taken a furlough, or even kept his Sundays for himself. Night and day he has watched over the horses.

In winter, when the horses, steaming from their swift run to the fires, have stood and shivered us the blaze was fought, It was Martin Cooney who hurried to the scene, and saw that they were blanketed. Back in their barns, it was Martin Cooney who saw that they were rubbed down and made warm and comfortable. When their feet were sore it was Martin Cooney who dressed them, and when the strenuous life of fire department horses made them unfit for such service, Martin Cooney saw to It that they were sold to farmers and not to city drivers, who might abuse them. But the endless toils of days and nights has taken toll of Mr. Cooney, and recently he retired from active service. And because he Jias been a friend to horses he is glad that automobiles are replacing them for fire service in downtown Detroit.

“Pounding over hard, slippery downtown streets shortened the lives of the horses,” Mr. Cooney explained. “When we used them all over the city, the average life of a horse In the department was four or five years; now that they are confined to the environs their average Is five or six years. Of course some last much longer. There was one that lasted thirteen years, and Is now comfortable on a farm near Detroit. “When I joined the fire department we had about 130 horses. At one time we had 234 horses; that was the highwater mark. Now we have about 150, more than we had twenty-seven years ago, despite the great number of fire trucks. That is because Detroit’s outlying districts are more populous now than the entire city was then. “The horses knew me when I came Into any of the stations. 'They would whinny and crane their necks. I broke them in and they never forgot me. “The thing which makes me happiest Is that all old horses are sent to farms, ■where there are no hard roads to irritate their weakened feet. A horse is foo intelligent and too good a friend to be abused after its full period of usefulness is passed.”