PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Portsmouth firefighters this week honored one of their own, Firefighter Ruliss P. Latham, who was electrocuted fighting a fire 113 years ago while rushing to help a police officer who had just been knocked down by the same live wire.
Latham, a utility man with the city’s East End fire department, died Nov. 13, 1913, while battling a blaze at the Daniel Labold & Co. junk building in the 1200 block of Chillicothe Street, according to Portsmouth Fire Local 9, which shared the anniversary remembrance in a social media post along with a page from the department’s original 1913 company log book.
A high-tension wire carrying 4,300 volts for the Portsmouth Street Railway and Light Co. was severed by the flames and fell across Latham’s body as he carried a hose line toward the rear of the burning building, according to a newspaper account of the incident from the time. The current surged through him for several minutes while bystanders looked on, unable to help.
Latham had been rushing to the aid of Portsmouth police officer V.E. “Shorty” Martin, who had been knocked down by the same wire moments earlier and narrowly escaped Latham’s fate, according to the account. Firefighter Brady Johnson eventually used a rope to strike the live wire free of Latham’s body, and Fire Chief Hancock and William Roberts carried him to a neighboring home, where physicians worked to revive him before he died about an hour after being struck.
Latham was 37. He was survived by his wife, Bertha, and two children, Beatrice, 10, and Burlynn, 4. He had worked for the East End department for two years and lived on Gallia Street, near the firehouse, having moved to Portsmouth eight years earlier from Rome, in Adams County. He was laid to rest in Greenlawn Cemetery near the intersection of Offnere and 17th streets.
Portsmouth has operated a paid fire department since 1871, and the city’s firefighters are represented today by IAFF Local 9, chartered under that designation in 1918. The 1913 log book entry marking Latham’s death, written a handful of lines below the day’s routine call records, reads in part: “R.P. Latham a member of Co. 2 met his death on the 13th day of Nov. 1913.”
Local 9 said Latham was remembered within the department as “a brave and respected fireman by all who knew him.”
The information contained in this story was obtained from Portsmouth Fire Local 9.
