Siamese Connection (1879, 1884); Underdog (1884)

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SIAMESE CONNECTION
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I haven't looked all through the Fireman's Journal. It's probably  earlier.
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23 August 1884, The Fireman's Journal, pg. 156 ad:
SIAMESE CONNECTIONS.
 
Large streams are the demand of the day, and in no way can they be made so  
effective as by the use of our Siamese.
 
By use of a bend or elbow we connect the pipe directly to the Siamese,  
dispensing with all intervening hose, and by the aid of this simple device TWO  MEN 
can easily control a 2-inch stream, a point of excellence that all Firemen  
will readily appreciate.
 
We furnish our Siamese with two, three and four inlets, also with and  
without pipes.
 
ANDREW J> MORSE & SON,
Manufacturers Fire Department Supplies
140 CONGRESS ST., BOSTON
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(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
_MEN  WHO FIGHT FIRE.; PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION OF ENGINEERS IN SESSION 
HERE. A  Pleasant Visit to Mount Vernon -- Important Topics Discussed at the 
Business  Session -- The Best: Methods of Conquering the Flames -- Exhibition 
To-day. _ 
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=276401282&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1116492675&clientId=65882) 
The Washington Post (1877. Sep 11, 1879. p. 4 (1  page) 
The committee on topic No. 16, on "The advantages of Siamese hose,"  reported 
in favor of all well-equipped departments having Siamese connections;  
adopted.
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(OED)
Siamese, a. and n.
    c. Siamese coupling, a form of coupling used for  fire-hose. Also Siamese 
connection.  

1891  Scribner's Mag. Jan. 63/2 The  siamese coupling, by which the power of 
two or more engines may be united on one  hose. 1914 J. KENLON Fires & 
Firefighters xxii. 322 A length of three-inch hose is attached to the pipe and 
strapped  to the ladder with a siamese connection on the  ground.
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UNDERDOG, CHEW SMOKE
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For what it's worth.
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13 September 1884,The Fireman's Journal, pg. 215, col. 1:
There are many who think that should a vacancy occur in the chiefship,  
District Engineer John W. Regan is entitled to it from his long years of  
successful fire fighting, and in a firemanlike manner on this subject we shall  have to 
side with the "under dog."
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"He may be a good fellow, and all that," said one, "but the foreman of  
Engine Company No. 3 should be a man who can chew smoke, and, in justice to  those 
who had to earn their way by chewing smoke, it certainly belongs to one of  
them." 
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(OED)
underdog
 
The beaten dog in a fight;  fig. the party overcome or worsted in a contest; 
one who is in a state of  inferiority or subjection. 

1887 Daily Tel. 30 Apr.  3/3 There is an indefinable expression in his face 
and figure of  having been vanquished, of having succumbed, of having been ‘
under-dog’ as the  saying is. 1892 Daily  Chron. 23 June 5/2 The mission of the 
Democratic  party is to fight for the  under-dog.