DEATH OF CHIEF MEMINGER.
Following in rapid succession his lamented predecessor, the late Chief James Foley, of the Milwaukee, Wis., fire department, Chief Herman Meminger, like him, has died as the result of injuries received some two months ago at a fire. It was hoped that the effects of the hurts would pass away, and that the chief would once more be able to resume his duties. The hope, however, was in vain; the shock to his system was too great, and at the last he succumbed to heart failure. Chief Meminger joined the fire department as pipeman on September 2, 1874, becoming first pipeman on February 1, 1877, and foreman in 1878. In 1883 he was appointed by Chief Foley second assistant chief, which position he held for nineteen years. On the death of First Assistant Chief Edward Reimer, he succeeded him in his office, and in 1903, on the death of Chief Foley, was made chief of the department. In that capacity he proved himself a worthy successor of his predecessor, in whose footsteps he may be said to have walked even to the death. Chief Meminger was a model chief; brave as a lion himself and never flinching from whatever fight he had to face, his men partook of his spirit. They had implicit confidence in him both as a leader and a ruler, and knew him not only as a rigid disciplinarian, whose word was law, but, also, as a man of the strictest impartiality in the administration of the department, one.whom no partisan or racial motive could swerve from the path of duty. He was the friend of his men and an official held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens. As a fire chief, he was in every way up to date, and his opinions were always listened to with respect by his brethren in the fire service. He was an honored member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and, had he been spared, would doubtless have risen to a high place in its counsels. His death, which will be sincerely mourned by the members of the department, the municipal authorities, and the citizens of Milwaukee, leaves First Assistant Thomas Clancy (who, by the wav, is himself at present on the sick list) in command of the firefighting force of the city. The next in order is Second Assistant Chief Harden.
