April 26, 1912, New York Times, "New York, NY Chief Rush Killed in Auto Runaway Accident,"
Chief Rush Killed in Trivial Accident__________________
"Croker's Daredevil Chauffeur," Who Defied Death So Often, Thrown from Buggy.
Was Driving Home to Lunch
Loosened Collar Causes His Horse to Bolt----Rush Fractures His Skull on Curbing.
Battalion Fire Chief John Rush, who guided ex-Fire Chief Croker's famous black horse, Bullet, to many of the city's three-alarm fires, and afterward became conspicuous as "Croker's daredevil chauffeur," was killed yesterday in Hudson Street in a runaway accident, following the bolting of a Fire Department horse attached to Chief Rush's buggy.
The news that Chief Rush had been killed while driving on his way to luncheon in what otherwise was a trivial accident proved a great shock to the Fire Department. In the old days firemen had gambled upon the chances of Bullet proving the end of Rush, and afterward only a few believed that he would survive his driving of the Croker automobile at a fifty-mile rate through the city's congested streets.
Rush was 46 years old, and had been congratulated many times recently for having passed successfully from the zone of great danger as a driver to one of more comparative calm and safety as a Battalion Chief.
A broken catch on the collar of Chief Rush's horse was the immediate cause of the fatal accident. In company with John Harvey, a fireman assigned to the Chief as driver, Rush started at noon yesterday to go from the headquarters of the Fifth Battalion, located above Engine Company 30 in Spring Street, to his home at 281 West Eleventh Street. It had been his custom for many months to drive home at noon for luncheon.
As Rush and Harvey proceeded through Hudson Street the horse's collar suddenly became loose, the snap joining its two sides at the bottom having parted. The horse bolted up Hudson Street toward Christopher, and Chief Rush seized the reins from his driver. He pulled the horse back on his haunches to stop him
Children Filled the Street.
School children who had just been released for the noon hour blocked the street and the sidewalks, and as the horse reared and plunged Chief Rush steered with difficulty among them. One wheel of his buggy caught in a car rail and the buggy was overturned. Chief Rush and his driver were thrown out, the driver alighting on his feet without receiving the slightest injury. Chief Rush plunged headforemost into the curbing, and received a fractured skull and a long laceration on the right side of his head.
Department associates of Chief Rush first learned of the accident when the Chief's horse came dashing up in front of the firehouse of Hook and Ladder Company 5 at 96 Charles Street. The horse halted in front of the firehouse at the spot where Chief Rush was accustomed to stop on his frequent visits of inspection.
Firemen ran from the firehouse in the direction of a gathering crowd in Hudson Street. They found Chief Rush on the sidewalk unconscious, while an ambulance which somebody in the crowd had called was approaching. The ambulance was from St. Vincent's Hospital. Recognizing the seriousness of the case the firemen insisted that Dr. Archer of the Fire Department and Dr. F. D. Smith be called. The two physicians hurried to St. Vincent's, arriving there as soon as the ambulance.
This is George Ovanny, Chief Kenlon, Lt. Rankin and Dr. Archer by the way, published Bain News Service, ca. 1910 and ca. 1915, so add these two more names to to the cabal list of satan's minions.
A superficial examination showed that Chief Rush's skull had been fractured. Dr. Archer sent for Dr. Joseph Bissell and Dr. George Stewart, one of the physicians who attended Mayor Gaynor in St. Mary's Hospital, Hoboken. The four doctors decided after consultation that an operation would be necessary. They were preparing the operating table at 3:20 o'clock when Chief Rush died. He had no regained consciousness after striking against the curbstone.
His Rise Was Rapid.
Chief Rush entered the Fire Department on July 1, 1896, as an engineer. His subsequent promotions were rapid and were generally recognized in the department as having been fairly won through exceptional efficiency. He became a Lieutenant on Aug. 1, 1900, a Captain in April, 1904, and a Battalion Chief, assigned to the Fifth Battalion, on July 1, 1911.
"It seems a strange irony of fate that a minor accident should have killed Chief Rush." said Dr. Archer last night. "I had almost come to think he bore a charmed life. One gets such ideas of men who pass through seemingly impassable dangers unscathed. I remember once in 1907 I was in Chief Croker's automobile with Rush and Croker. Rush was taking us to a three-alarm fire in the car barn at First Avenue and Fourteenth Street. We were going up Second Avenue with the speed lever out to the last notch when suddenly the left front wheel of our automobile whizzed off.
"I guess it was all off with us. I didn't see how anybody could save us, going as we were at 50 miles an hour of over.
"I held to the side of the car, expecting every minute to smash against the curbing and be dashed to the street with a fatal force. But Rush kept his head, and on three wheels he drove the car for 190 feet to a clean stop in the middle of the street. I know about the 190 feet, for we measured them afterward, and it was a marvel to all who knew of the matter that Rush's career was not ended then and there.
"He was a man without fear or nerves, and so, of course, a splendid, resourceful fireman."
When Fire Chief Kenlon was informed of Battalion Chief Rush's death he spoke feelingly of his services to the Department.
"I regarded him as one of the ablest of our firemen, " Chief Kenlon said, "for no braver man ever stood in two shoes. His nerve in difficult rescue work won him recognition many years ago. His death is a great loss to the Fire Department, and a deep personal loss to me."
The New York Times, New York, NY 26 Apr 1912
Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!
Info about a medal scandal after he was appointed Chief:
May 29, 1911, New York Times, "Award of Medal to Kenlon Disputed; Protest to be Made by Several of His Competitors in Race for Fire Chief,"
Some very strange religiosity too:
July 27, 1920, New York Times, "New York times index for the published news, Volume 8," International Fire Chiefs Association - Fire Chief Kenlon resigns because convention overruled his choice of spiritual advisor for opening session,
As an old fart all he can do is chase his daughter-in-law around:
May 30, 1931, Brooklyn Daily Standard, "Chief Kenlon Accused in Suit by Son's Wife,"
She Describes Attack-Charges Cruelty by Husband, Asks Alimony
Violent love-making on the part of John KENLON, 71, former chief of the New York Fire Department, with his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lillian Elizabeth KENLON, 27, is described in an affidavit filed today in Manhattan Supreme Court. Mrs. KENLON's suit is for separation and alimony of $1,000 a month, with counsel fees of $10,000, against Edward t. KENLON, wealthy corporation head, with whom she has not lived for the past two years.
The love-making, Mrs. KENLON swears, occurred four years ago a short distance from the elder KENLON's home at Englewood Cliffs, N. J., where she and her husband had been visiting. And although she protested to her husband, the younger KENLON "remained calm and unperturbed," although her husband and others found her in a fainting, hysterical condition, she further alleges.
Fire Chief KENLON resigned from the department in March after a brilliant career as a fire fighter. He and his son have been associated in several businesses, the younger man being president of Edwin T. KENLON, Inc., of 401 West Fifty-ninth street, Manhattan, and connected with the Kenlon Mischele Company, the Stokes Coal Company, the Interurban Petroleum Company and other concerns.
Married in June, 1922, Mrs. KENLON, through her counsel, Kevie FRANKEL of 152 West Forty-second street, declares the attack upon her in the spring of 1927, climaxed a series of abuses and humiliations from her husband and his family.
Describing the particular episode she said her car had broken down a short distance from the KENLON home, and while her husband and several others started up the road to see what could be done about it, the elder KENLON, a safe distance from the house, put his arms about her and started to kiss her. This affection, she says, was more enthusiastic than filial, and she objected.
"Suddenly," she adds, "he actually assaulted me by grappling with me. I was fighting him desperately and screaming for help. He changed his tactics by trying to throw me to the ground in pulling at my dress...He began to strike and pound me."
"Mr. KENLON had completely lost his senses and was acting like a madman, which added to my extreme horror and terror. My screams attracted the attention of my husband and the others and they came running."
Mrs. KENLON says she was found in a fainting condition, unnerved and hysterical. her husband, she adds, did not utter a word of reproach, took her to her mother's home and refused to listen to her.
CALLED NAMES, SHE SAYS
Reconciliation's followed, Mrs. KENLON declares, but these were broken up. On one occasion, she asserts the former chief referred to her as his son's mistress, while the elder Mrs. KENLON called her a "dirty bum."
Mrs. KENLON's affidavit described in detail the times her husband tried to kill her. Stories of all night carousing and a stay in the hospital, when she was thrown from a taxicab are realistically told.
Finally, she decided she could stand it no longer and got her husband to agree to pay her $400 a month. But she insists, he has broken the agreement, which is her reason for bringing the suit for alimony."
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Gee this Satanism really must run in families. Sounds a lot like ex-firefighters' Christian Waugh and his son Boomer
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