The following incredible tale about a retired fire horse that saved a little girl’s life at Coney Island Dreamland is based on the story in my new book, The Bravest Pets of Gotham: Tales of Four-Legged Firefighters of Old New York. The book is available at large bookstores, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please contact me directly for personally signed books; I will be donating a portion of the proceeds to Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
When Coney Island’s Dreamland amusement park on Surf Avenue opened to the public in May 1904, the most popular of the many disaster simulation attractions at the resort was a stunt spectacular called “Fighting the Flames.”
The large attraction, which the press called a “mimic fire,” simulated a major conflagration at a 6-story hotel in which a cast of firefighters in full uniform (many of them retired from the FDNY) used extension ladders to rescue guests trapped on the collapsing roof while other guests jumped into nets to escape the flames shooting out the windows.[i]
The Dreamland attraction was a huge crowd-pleaser among the paying spectators, who each paid a quarter to sit in the large, 1,500-seat amphitheater and watch the complete progress of the fire. In addition to hundreds of paid human actors, the show also featured elephants: one elephant turned in the fire alarm and another elephant dragged up a ladder for an impending rescue act.[ii]
The show began with a marching band leading a parade through a city square. Moments later, a man would come running from the hotel screaming “fire” at the top of his lungs. The sleeping firemen would awake in the two engine houses, tumble into their clothing, and slide down the polls as the harnesses dropped onto the horses.
Within a few seconds, the fake city street filled with fire engines, ambulances, fire horses, and a large crowd that had gathered to watch the firemen in action.
The Brooklyn Standard Union summarized the show as follows: “The fire features are thrilling. High jumping into the life net from each floor and the roof of the hotel is fraught with danger. Tongues of flame lick the front of the hotel, surrounding the jumpers as each one makes the desperate leap to safety.”[ii]
“Fighting the Flames” was so popular in its first year, promoters expanded it in 1905 to include an entire block of fire-ravaged buildings with a crowd of 600 spectators and more than 100 firemen led by Chief Sweeney. Sweeney’s Dreamland fire department was equipped with 4 engines, including Engine 54 (from a former volunteer company organized in 1895), and one ladder truck.[i]
Harry Saves a Life
On June 18, 1905, 7-year-old Anna Ryan of Coney Island was nearly crushed by Engine 54 while playing with other young performers in the fire show. It was Harry, one of the 3 white horses drawing the engine, who came to her rescue.[i]
According to numerous reports of the incident, the driver had given a warning shout as the engine approached the crowd, giving everyone adequate time to move aside for the fast-moving apparatus. Although the adults moved quickly, the noise and turmoil of the show had mesmerized the children, causing a delay in their response.
Anna completely froze directly in the path of the responding engine, petrified with fear. People in the audience stood up and gasped, expecting to see the child crushed to death. The driver didn’t see Anna, but Harry did.
When the engine was about 10 feet from the girl, Harry swerved to the left, nearly throwing the other horses off their feet. The sudden movement turned the front wheels of the engine just enough to avoid a serious accident.
As one newspaper noted, the incident with Engine 54 “was not part of the programme, and the action of the horse was unrehearsed—just simply a bit of intelligence on the part of the well-trained animal.”[i] Anna’s mother told the press this would be the first and last time her daughter performed in the fire show.
Sadly, poor Harry, who became the favorite pet of the fire brigade and children after his heroic deed, died only 2 months later.[i] The grieving firemen buried their beloved Harry with honors. Little Anna served as the chief mourner.
The following year, Dreamland replaced the fire spectacle with “The Destruction of San Francisco,” which simulated the great earthquake that had taken place only a month before on April 18, 1906.[ii]
[i] died only two months later: “Mimic Fire Horse Is Dead,” New York Times, August 4, 1905; “Fire Horse Hero Dead,” Brooklyn Citizen. August 4, 1905.
[ii] which simulated the great earthquake: “The Quake to be a Coney Spectacle,” New York Times, May 21, 1906.
[i] “was not part of the programme”: “Fire Horse Saved Little Girl’s Life,” Buffalo Sunday Morning News, June 25, 1905.
[i] It was Harry: “Real ‘Horse Sense’ at Dreamland,” New-York Tribune, June 19, 1905.
[i] “Fighting the Flames” was so popular: “Great New Dreamland at Coney This Year,” New York Times, April 23, 1905; Gary R. Urbanowicz, Badges of the Bravest: A Pictorial History of Fire Departments in New York City (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 2002), 245.
[i] The attraction was a huge crowd pleaser: “Dreamland by the Ocean,” New York Sun, May 8, 1904.
[ii] “The fire features are thrilling”: “Orphans Were Guests at Dreamland,” Brooklyn Standard Union, August 2, 1904. Note: In 1904, American Mutoscope and Biograph produced a four-minute film of the attraction directed by G.W. Bitzer, which features Harry and two other white fire horses. The film, titled “Fighting the Flames, Dreamland,” is currently available for viewing on YouTube.
[i] a cast of firefighters in full uniform: “Fighting the Flames, Dreamland,” IMDB, accessed May 24, 2023, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0231582/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl.
[ii] the show also featured elephants: “Elephants Help in Fire-Fighting Show,” New York Times, August 9, 1904.
