The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-06-06

The Turks will fight the Russians; they
will fight them with all the glory of their
mornings They realize that it is a verita-
BILE struggle for the existence of the en-
spire and their religion, and as they are
devoted to the former, and love the latter
as they love life, the conflict will roll its
bloody surges through every province in
the empire before they will submit to their
cOnquerOrs.
A Narrow Escape In the Croton iAque-
duct. 4org.
Once year, or oftener, usually in No.
yember, an exploration is made OF the in
terror of the aqueduct from end to end,
by Mr.. Benjamin s. Church, the resident
engineer, who for over twenty years has
been in charge of this part of the work.
The water is shut off at the Croton dam,
and the aqueduct is emptied by the waste
wiers" which have described. Many
strange and exciting adventures befell the
men detailed for this service; and though
but one life has ever been lost, large par
ties have sometimes been in imminent
danger. The man-holes having been
opened previously, the laborers under
charge of Mr.. Church, dressed in rough
suits, enter the aqueduet at the dam, and
travel downward either afoot or in an in
genious car propelled by crank like the
handles used on railway. The effect
is weird and awe-inspiring. Some of the
men carry torches, whose smoke and
wavering blaze curl and flash in the dark
ness and throw fantastic shadows and re-
Elections on the moist walls.
The voices reverberate like peals of
thunder, and seem to awake responsive
vibrations in the massive stone and brick
work itself. In some conditions of the
atmosphere, laborers repairing the ma
sonry five mile below can be distinctly
heard by those at the entrance, and at all
times the human voice pitched in an ordi-
nary key can be heard at distance of
two or three miles, in long low rubles.
A broad halo of light frames the men in,
and behind this there is an impenetrable
blackness, so dense that an inexperienced
person takes every step with extreme
caution. There are few greater promo
tiers of terror than the power of the dark
ness and the simple, superstitious IRISH
men descending the ladder at the en-
trance leave sunshine, sky and fields
above in no cheerful mood. The short
clay pipes are allowed to go out and few
words are spoken. It is business to be
done with as soon as possible. Thousands
Of tons Of water are pressing against the
gates. at the entrance, and should bar
give way, or an order be misunderstood,
the flood would rush down upon the un-
fortunates. and engulf them with irresist-
BILE force. Once, in fact, an order was
misunderstood, and twenty men narrowly
escaped with their lives
Mr.. Church, with this number of Ia
borers, entered the aqueduct to make
some repairs, and instructed the keeper
at the dam to let the water flow in again
at II p. m. The party were making some
repairs at a point some distance below
the entrance at II a. m. when Mr.. Church
noticed a gradual rise in the water. Afraid
Of causing panic, he did not say any
thing to his men, but urged them on in
the hope. that the work might be COM
pleted that morning. The water contin-
ued to rise, however, first submerging
their feet, and then creeping up toward
their knees with terrible stealth and GER
tainty. The situation was that of ship
wrecked crew cast upon a rock which is
being slowly covered by an incoming tide.
The engineer now realized the fact that
his order had been misunderstood, and
that the water had been turned on at the
wrong time, and would soon be within
few inches Of the roof on the aqueduct.
BY this time the men were in highly
nervous condition, and Mr.. Church had to
use his authority in preventing them from
making confused retreat for the nearest
exit, which was SOME distance away
Meanwhile the water had made its wav
through the aqueduct with velocity Of
two miles and quarter per hour. It was
no easy work walking against such cur
rent as this, and the progress made to-
ward the man-hole was unavoidably slow.
The torches were successfully put out by
the splash until only one remained, and
that threw dim, yellow, uncertain flicker
on the dark surroundings. There was one
danger which Mr.. Church foresaw and
was particularly anxious to avert. If the
men were not kept under control, each
would make disorderly struggle to reach
the ladder at the man-hole, and delay
would result that might prove fatal. As
the water increased in depth the greater,
of course, became their terror, and when
the gray light of the opening came into
view their bodies were submerged to their
waists, while the current almost lifted
them off their feet. By reasoning with
them and encouraging them, however,
Mr.. Church allayed their fears and they
gained the ladder, and assembled it, one
by one, in safety. 10. 80
IT. has been said that unmilitarv mon