sentences:  He first worked as a newspaper man.He was appointed the 8th New York City Fire Commissioner by Mayor William Jay Gaynor on June 1, 1911, and served in that position until the end of the term of Mayor Ardolph L. Kline in 1913.He was deputy New York City Comptroller and he took a leave of absence in 1918, when the United States entered World War I, to temporarily join the American Red Cross.