The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1845-05-15

elapsed, and bis name was passing from the
remembrance of all bat those who had LOST
their husband and father by bis disappear
ance, when a young man, passing with his
torch up the Fleet, at nearly a mile distant
from the place whe re it discharges itself in
TO the Thames, was startled al seeing the
figure of a man amid the darkness sitting
at the junction of a smaller sewer with the
main current of the Fleet. He shouted.
but received no answer. and heard nothing
but the rolling Of the black and field wafer,
and the splash or squeak of the numerous
rats which he had alarmed. Advancing
nearer, he held the light TO The face of The 81
lent figure, and beheld the ghastly counte-
nance of a skeleton. He was not a man of
strong mind. and losing his selt-possession
in his horror, he stumbled against it, and fell.
His light was e%xtinguished. His situation
was now sufficiently awful; but The added
horror of the total darkness recalled his start
led faculties instead of scattering them en-
tirely. He knew his way by the number of
iron gratings at intervals above, and CROPPED
along cautiously, shouting as loudly as he
could, to keep up his own courage, and TO
~startle, the rats from his path, for fear that he
should tread upon one which would turn up
on him and fasten on his flesh. Grating az
Ter grating was thus passed, andshe heard the
carriages rafting above whenever he came
near; and at times the conversation of peo-
pie. Once he stopped under grating, by
the side of which an old woman sat at her
apple stall, and overheard her discourse with
her customers, and was tempted TO give the
| alarm that ha naioI,t ba dra1p, - su,ie
however, would have been a work of time,
and he therefore decided 10 o He pro-
ceeded accordingly, and arrived at the
Thames without accident-and Immediately
informed his companions of the discovery he
had made. 1t was suTmised al once that the
skeleton was that of the man who had been
so long missing. Information was given 10
the police, and constable was despatched
TO see,the ISSUE. lie would not, however,
venture up the sewer, but remained by the
river side TO await the return of the three
"mudlarks, who went upswith torches and
a basket 10 bring out the remains of the
dead man. they found on reaching the
spot, that the disceverer, in bis fright, by fall
ing against The skeleton had overturned it
from its sitting position. A skull, a mass of
OOASS, Will d ASM GuttOuS difu d pOIttOH u
his shoes, alone remained; his flesh and his
attire having been devoured piece meal by
the rats. The remains were collected and
1eensLt-eatwilhnni areiaenlZA cnreas4,s
inquest was held on the following day, and
the identity was established by the buttons
the only means by which it could be PROV
ed. O~fcourse it could never be known TO a
certainty how the life oftl.is unfortunate being
had been lost; but the general supposition
was either that he had been "sufiocated by
foul air, or that he had been seized with a fit
of apoplexy in that darksome sewer" The
simple verdict "found Dead" vas returned
by the jury.
Such is The romance of common things;
and such is one of the many marvels that lie
round us and beneath US, observable only by
those who are disposed 10 study the man
ners, the habits, and the struggles Of the
poor.