This impressive monument is in Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus. The imagery on the stone immediately tell you it is the grave of a firefighter — the hydrant with the hose that outlines the stone, a helmet, a ladder, an axe, and a lantern. The inscription reads:
In Memory Of
Capt. Daniel S. Lewis
Born May 15, 1854
Entered the Service
Oct. 18, 1881
Gave his life to the city
April 26, 1903
Lewis, captain of Engine Company No. 11, was killed fighting a fire in the Brunson and Union Company buildings at the corner of Long Street and High Street in downtown Columbus. According to a newspaper account, he was killed when a wall collapsed and fell on him. “His body was cremated in the ruins.”
“The fire was attended by many exciting incidents, the most thrilling being the rescue of Philip Nation, a grocer, from his apartments on the fourth floor of the Brunson Building where he had been hemmed in by flames. The fire started in the Brunson Building and its progress was fanned by a brisk wind from the north. This building was occupied on the ground floor by the Walkover Shoe Company, Tallmadge Hardware Company, and Bott Brothers’ saloon. The upper floors were occupied mainly as living apartments, the exceptions being the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union rest room and the art studios of Maurice Hague and H. P. Hayden.
“Smoke was first seen issuing from the basement under the saloon. The fire smoldered for half an hour and the firemen thought they had it under control, when the flames suddenly burst from an upper story”
Source:
The New York Times, April 27, 1903, p. 1. Available online at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940DE5DD1F30E733A25754C2A9629C946297D6CF
