The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-12-12
Terms $500 per anmuns, in adrance.


ed. The water deepens-so does the excite
ment. Splash! splashw and school of
black bodies loom up in the dim waters.-
Nearer we come. They are rats and sure
enough, are as large as small terrier dogs
They sit up on their launches, show their
teeth, and squeal hdeously. We feel squeam-
sh-thats fact; but stiflen our knees, and
"One! two! fire! crash. bangp We are al
most suhocated with the smoke and stunned
~ tne conclusion. The gas in the basin be-
yoaa a !, nashes up with answering explosion,
ssn..., oiu tne long cavern roars with the echo
SucA! quick! to the bank! get fresh air, or
we are iost! One staggers; we grasp and
drag hlm 10 the opening. The fresh air and
medicine" does the doctors business. We
are right side up once more. We won't
dare use pistols in the fire damp again; that
was a risky lesson. One of us wishes TO 90
home and see his mother, but soon rallies and
we "go marching en-" Rats in hordes and
foul smells occasionally threaten, but we get
used to them, hold our breath, seek fresh air
at the basin openings and push on. TIE graf
ing of car-whees upon the rails above leads
us to believe we have reached Sixth-avenue
We turn down, carefully chalk-marking the
bricks. The sound of voices is almost stifed;
we can hardly hear each other speak. Per-
haps the slight depth of the water is owing to
the fact that the upper world is all asleep, and
with the few exceptions OF saloons, &c, no
kitchen, store, or house-sinks are in USE
"Stop!' one cries. We pause. 1t must be
near Fourth street. A policeman's club clicks
over the curb above. We shout: "Hellow
The officer above says: "Who the devil is
saying hello?" Again We shout, louder
"Hello up therew Above the voice replies:
"Who are yes anyhow?" We repeat the per-
formance until the poor fellow believes the
place bewitched with sewer goblns, and
leaves the spot. Again we proceed; now
there is a turn, and we enter the Car
mine-street sewer. This is six feet high,
by eight feet broad, and we can walk up
right, which greatly relieves the sto0p and
mer progress. Again we 60 on a bender and
enter Clarkson' street sewer. Here the grade
descends, the water grows deeper, and the re-
fuse more considerable. We notice many
branch sewers, and drain pipes, myriads OF
rats, and G,-what has before been omitted in
this story,Cthick clusters of cobweb-ike fun
gus, depending upon the arch overhead. Talk
about stenches! Why there is no talk that
will tell the memory Of our probocses. All
the cologne that ever was made can never an
tidote the aagrant odors that assailed our
eyes, noses, ears and lungs. Just smell the
clothing that we wore aud you will "know
how it is yourself" The gases thteaten us Sc
riously and we hold council of hesitation.-
To retrace onr steps is long, disappointing
journey; to push on to the great Canal street
sewer is our best way, and it is not far off; if
we shout to the police patrol at basin cul-
VERT and are taken out, they will cast us in
cell for refugee thieves. So again we advance.
The air stiles us, and nearly "dowses the
glum" rays of our lamps. Rats scamper be-
tween our feet and raise horrible chorus of
screeches, as we lay on our cudgels right and
left. At every opening basin we pause TO
breathe. The perspiration trickles down our
bodies, and we are tired enough to lay down
and sleep with the rat swarms. Again and
again we squeeze vigor out of the medicine"
TASKS. Thus smilingly we progress. Again
we stoop as the Bleecker-street sewer-fve leet
circular-is entered. On again. The water
deepens and the air becomes more oppressive.
We pause at basin and breathe. The Ian
tern light falls upon white object in the
black mud below. We turn it over and shud-
der as the dim, obscure outlines Of what
seems an infantile corpse, far advancing in a
state of decomposition, meets our horrible yis-
ion. If that is human form, how many
more may be dissolving, hidden away in the
black slime of the basins under the street cor
ners? Who knows but the Almighty Judge
and the guilty child-slayers
There were other suspicious fragments that
we saw, but none so distinctly marked as
that. We reach Broadway, where the the
passage is but four feet high and three broad.
vi, Will SlOOp Vi uuIuDle luclluatlOD, we
go. This is the very worst part of the jour-
ney. The black mud is deep, and the fungus
weeds hang thickly. But at each street cor
ner opening there Is good air. Through
Howard and Mercer street sewers we crawl,
and are nearly through, when one of our
company cries out, u am dyingp and falls.
We clutch his garments aud drag him along
until the great main in canal street is reach
ed. We chafe and chastise him into life
\ pqarlU naH
Our limbs are as though lamed by bruises in
in a prize-fght. Our feet are as though
pounded under trip-hammers. Our eyes are
full OF grit, and our noses rank and rotten
with vile odors. One after another yields to
nature and vomts fearfully. The taste to our
mouths cannot be described. Go try the ex-
pertinent if you would know all these sensa-
tions. The medicine" is exhausted-as we
are also-and down toward the river we wend
our weary way, a company of the most Woe
begone creatures that ever shufi1ed through
such an avenue. BeSmeared and bedraggled
| from head to feet, and altogether demoralized,
| we are spectacle at once ludicrous and pitt
| able to behold. The Canal street sewer is the
largest in the city. It nine feet in hoight
| and ten feet in width, oval shaped, well built
and quite clean. Mr.. Bonner or Commodore
Vanderbilt could drive double team through
to Broadway with the greatest ease, and a
company of militia could perform simple eyo-
lutions. The air is good and the passage
quite pleasant. At high tide the water fills
Onethird of its interior, as it does some other
sewers, and cleans them well. There is an
other sewer nearly as large in Fihy.n ninth
street. 1t was broad daylight when we reach
ed the river. A boat landed US on a dock,
where, after divesting ourselves of some of our
clothing. we were wrapped in blankets and
rode home. We are all rested now. But oh!
that smell still fingers.