worked
for two hours every Monday of the meeting, and anyone neglecting to
attend and work the engine was penalized nine pence. Moreover William
Herbert, Dennis Ramsay and Isaac Roberdeau were charged with getting the
engine to fires.

About this time (1788) the Virginia Assembly passed an act authorizing
the different towns in the state to elect fire companies.

In May 1789, Dr. William Brown was elected treasurer to succeed William
Hartshorne.

The first mention by the Sun of other fire companies in Alexandria is in
the minutes of February 28, 1791. In July specific reference is made to
the Friendship Fire Company and the Relief Fire Company.

In May 1793, the Sun Company was dissatisfied with the English engine,
and they began correspondence with a Mr. Mason of Philadelphia with the
intention of selling the old engine and acquiring a new one. Mason
manufactured three engines. They contained 190, 170 and 160 gallons of
water, respectively, which they discharged in one minute and a half and
they were worked by twenty-four, twenty-two and eighteen or twenty men,
respectively, and varied in price accordingly. The Sun Fire Company
purchased the smallest engine for L125. It seems to have arrived in
April 1794. Later the old engine "with the suction pipe" was thoroughly
repaired by Mason and returned to the Sun Fire Company.

By 1796 such confusion reigned at fires that the three companies
associated themselves together to make and sustain certain plans and
rules for the management of fires. It was decided to have three
directors or commanders, one chosen from each company, only one of whom
was to act at a time, who were to have control of the engines, fire
hooks, ladders and to be the judges of the expediency of pulling down
adjacent buildings. In order that these gentlemen be more conspicuous
(distinguished was the word) it was decided to "elevate their voices
above the ordinary clamour on such occasions," each of them in action
was ordered to carry in his hand a "_speaking trumpet, painted white,
and not less than three feet long_." Each company was to keep such an
affair in the enginehouse.

There were then chosen three subordinate directors who had immediate
charge of the engine under the commander, then four persons from each
Company, to be called regulators, who were to "_be diligent in searching
for the most convenient source of water_, in forming lanes for the
supply of the engines, and _preventing the use o