New York’s bravest

In the 1840s, there was a real volunteer firefighter named Mose Humphreys whose bravery was reknown throughout New York city. Plays about him began being performed on Broadway in 1848 and over the years his strength and heroics took on larger-than-life proportions.

Mary Pope Osborne has honed down the legends about him to a brief, dramatic, sometimes comical, but ultimately moving text of picture book length. The stunning paintings capture this 8 foot tall superhero rushing into burning buildings, saving babies and bankers, and wolfing down the feasts bestowed upon him by the grateful citizens of old New York – until the one big hotel fire after which he was never seen again.