1919 SPANISH WAR SERVICE MEDAL
Captain
Captain Gasser was born in Newark, March 31, 1873. He was graduated from the primary, grammar and high schools of the city. He began his business life as an office boy in the Sunday Call office, learning the printing trade with that newspaper.
C. Albert Gasser enlisted in the New Jersey Army National Guard as a Private, Company K, 5th Regiment on September 3rd 1891. He was transferred to Company I, 1st Regiment, May 31st 1892. Pvt. Gasser was Promoted to Sergeant on December 29th 1892, 1st Sergeant October 12, 1893, 2nd Lieutenant of Company K, April 5th 1895, and 1st lieutenant January 31st 1896.
In April 1898 1st Lieutenant Gasser, of the 1st Regiment, New Jersey National Guard Volunteer Infantry prepared his Regiment to muster into federal service between May 5 and 12, 1898 at Camp Voorhees, located at Sea Girt, New Jersey. On May 16, the regiment was ordered to Camp Alger located near Washington DC at Dunn Loring, Virginia. The regiment broke camp on May 19 to move to the new location. At Camp Alger, the regiment was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Graham. Later, it was apparently transferred to the Second Brigade, Third Division of the same corps. Life in Camp Alger was, as is typical of camp life, exhausting, boring, and for the men seemingly lacking in the glamor of life at the front.
In August, the regiment was to be transferred to the Fourth Brigade of the Third Army Corps to take part in the invasion of Puerto Rico, but with the signing of the armistice ending the war's fighting on August 12, 1898, this order was not carried out. The regiment remained part of the Second Corps until September, 1898, when it was sent home to New Jersey. Arriving in Newark on September 26, 1898. The regiment was mustered out of service on November 8, 1898 at Newark.
While Lieutenant Gasser was serving in the Spanish American War a private under his command wrote letters home and always praised his Lt. Gasser. The Private’s name was “Gus Freund”, and he insisted that the young Lt. meet his sister when they returned home. An introduction was made and it was love at first sight. Lt. Gasser and his bride to be Miss Lydia E. Freud were married
After this he served with the Newark Journal and the Newark Daily Advertiser, going through all the grades from reporter to managing editor. This position he relinquished in 1903 to become private secretary of Mayor Doremus, with whom he was associated for four years.
In 1904, C. Albert Gasser authored and published “The Men of Newark” in a limited deluxe edition of 799 books, each numbered and signed by the author. The volume was “portrait gallery” of the men who were deemed to have made a significant contribution to the growth, reputation and progress of New Jersey’s thriving metropolis- Newark. This volume did not come cheaply either, it cost ten dollars. Ten dollars, in 1904, was a weeks salary for many.
He was appointed as head of the bureau of combustibles and fire risks of the Newark Fire Department in 1907. In 1916 Capt. Gasser passed an examination for deputy chief of the fire prevention bureau of New York City, finishing first among sixty-eight who took the test. He, however, declined the appointment to the office.
Captain Gasser was very active in fire prevention work and his exhibits of fire hazards in connection with Fire Prevention Week in Newark, were copied all over the country, especially his store-window displays. He wrote many articles on the subject for “Fire and water engineering” previous to 1922. He received his title from the National Guard of the State of New Jersey, having been commissioned captain of Company K of the First Regiment. Captain Gasser resigned from the bureau of combustibles and fire risks, Newark, on May 15, 1922, to become superintendent of the Kearney Home for Disabled Soldiers.
Captain C. Albert Gasser, formerly head of the bureau of combustibles and fire risks of the Newark. N. J., Fire Department, died at the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers, Kearney N. J., of which institution he was the superintendent, on August 15, after a long illness. The funeral services were held at the home on August 16, under the auspices of Franklin Camp, Spanish War Veterans
