Mose the Fireman is an urban folk hero originating in New York City in the mid-nineteenth century as a character in a play. His character was loosely based on a real-life New York firefighter, Mose Humphreys. Mose was the stereotype of the Bowery boy, or “b’hoy.” Bowery b’hoys were hard-working, hard-living, and hard-fighting men who helped make up New York City’s volunteer fire companies. Over time, Mose the Fireman evolved into a larger-than-life tall tale hero, featured in many children’s stories. Central to the stories are Mose’s extraordinary strength and heroism.
The character of Mose made its first appearance in the comedy A Glance at New York in 1848 at Mitchell’s Olympic Theatre in the Bowery (“the Bowery” refers to a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan and a street by the same name). The street was known for its raucous entertainment venues, including theaters, bowling alleys, dance halls, and saloons. It was also a favorite destination for young people (including Bowery “g’hals”) seeking fun after a day’s work. The play became wildly successful because, unlike characters in other plays, Mose looked and spoke like the people who lived and worked in the Bowery (Mose’s girlfriend Lize was also soon added to the cast of characters).
The character of Mose was played by a local actor, Frank Chanfrau, who had himself been a volunteer firefighter. On stage Chanfrau wore the typical garb of a fire company man: a red flannel shirt, dark work pants with turned-up cuffs over heavy boots, and a tall stovepipe hat. His hair was brushed forward and plastered down with soap in a style called “soap locks.”
In the play Mose is portrayed as a rowdy b’hoy spoiling for a fight; however, his character undergoes a complete transformation after caring for an abandoned baby. He then recounts the time that he had rushed to a fire and found a distraught woman whose baby was inside the burning building. Mose rescued the child and was forever affected by the incident. He tells the audience:
“I never forgot dat woman’s countenance wen I handed de baby to her. She fell down on her knees and blessed me. [Wipes his eye with sleeve.] Ever since dat time I’ve had a great partiality for little babies. The fire-boys may be a little rough outside, but they’re all right here. [Touches breast.] It never shall be said dat one of de New York boys deserted a baby in distress.” (Baker 1848, 20)
In real-life the actual Mose Humphreys was a tall, tough, red-headed firefighter with the Lady Washington Engine Company No. 40. The real Humphreys was as colorful as the character he inspired. He attended performances of the play at the Olympic so often that he carved his name into one of the wooden benches and refused to allow anyone else to sit there. But in 1850 the adventurous Humphreys headed off to Hawaii (then called the Sandwich Islands) where he worked in various occupations. He was also a member of a fire company for a few years but quit after finding it dull compared to New York.
The character of Mose become so popular that the play and its sequels, such as Mose in California and Mose in China, were performed across the country for at least a decade. He also became the subject of illustrations and songs. Perhaps because Humphreys disappeared while the plays were still at the height of their popularity, stories about the character and its inspiration sometimes appear intertwined. This may have helped fuel the tall tales of Mose the Fireman such as the one featured in Our Firemen: A History of New York Fire Departments, Volunteer and Paid (1887), in which the king of the Sandwich Islands was so impressed by the fearless Humphreys that he made him the chief of police.
By the early twentieth century, Herbert Asbury, writing about Mose in The Gangs of New York, described him as “at least eight feet tall” with a “great shock of flaming ginger-hair” and hands “as large as the hams of a Virginia hog” (Asbury 1928, 34). He was a ferocious fighter with superhuman strength, able to lift a horse car (a bus pulled by horses) and carry it on his shoulders. In one incident, Mose saved a ship from breaking up on the rocks in the East River by blowing smoke from his giant cigar into the ship’s sails.
By mid-century, Mose had become the subject of children’s books. In 1953, Katherine B. Shippen published Big Mose, a collection of stories about “Big Mose Humphreys” who was taller than a normal human and could pick up a horse car. The book ends with the speculation that Mose had gone to Hawaii, where he was head of both the police and fire departments and engaged to the king of Hawaii’s daughter. Harold W. Felton also wrote a set of tales for children, Fire-Fightin’ Mose, published in 1955. While the book exaggerates Mose’s abilities, it also recounts the history of early New York and the fire companies.
In the wake of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in which hundreds of New York’s firefighters died trying to save lives, the legend of Mose became relevant to a new audience. An illustrated children’s book, New York’s Bravest by Mary Pope Osbourne, was published in 2002 with a dedication to the firefighters of 9/11. Through the story of Mose, the book focuses on themes of bravery, loss, and the ever-present spirit of the firefighter.
Midori V. Green
See also Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong; Febold Feboldson; Paul Bunyan; Tall Tales
Further Reading
Asbury, Herbert. 1928. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Asbury, Herbert. 1930. Ye Olde Fire Laddies. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Baker, Benjamin A. 1848. A Glance at New York. French’s Standard Drama Acting Edition, No. CCCVI. New York: Samuel French. Available online at https://books.google.com/books?id=39VZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Costello, Augustine E. 1887. Our Firemen: A History of New York Fire Departments, Volunteer and Paid. New York: Augustine E. Costello. Available online at http://archive.org/details/ourfiremenhistor00cost.
Dorson, Richard M. 1973. America in Legend. New York: Pantheon Books.
“A Famous Character of New York Life in the Past.” 1871. Hawaiian Gazette. September 6.
Felton, Harold W. 1955. Fire-Fightin’ Mose. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Osbourne, Mary Pope. 2002. New York’s Bravest. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Shippen, Katherine B. 1953. Big Mose. New York: Harper & Brothers.