The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-03-27
Life in a City's Sewers.

highway department contractors for
thirty of his sixty years. During
this time he has been engaged al
most exclusively in the repair of
sewers. At least one quarter of his
life has been spent under the cobble-
stones. Through long association
with things oozy and reptilian Jerry
has gained himself a somewhat oozy
and reptilian aspect. His eyes are
bleared. They look closely down
each side of his nose, which is
ong and seems to overlap his re
treating chin. There were traces of
sewer mud on the bottom of his
trousers as he stood in the court
yard of the public buildings. Per-
haps there was an atmosphere of
sewer dampness about him. Per
haps his appearance only suggested
it.
Jerry's life having been spent in
sewers, Jerry's idea is that great
sewer is the noblest of earthly crea-
tions. His life is a dream of sewers.
When the great Partisan sewers
were exploited and illustrated with
pictures of parties boating through
them and later on of Gardes Mobile
watching, with fixed bayonets, the
advent of Prussian spies and jabbing
for fun and fricassee the sewer
rats, Jerry's eyes stuck out with de
light, envy and incredulity. Lately
the desire of his life has been to
visit the great new Boston sewers.
Jerry has met and vanquishod
strange foes in the substrata. He is
shiny St. George with a great many
dragons. The lesser of these, the
small fry of blind lizards and big
rats, that he meets daily in under
ground rambles he cares little for,
save when a troop of the latter grow
bold enough, as they did last fall, to
drive him up a Delaware avenue
manhole. He has had one experience
however, which he told recently for
the thOusandth time, perhaps.
Back in 80, when it happened, the
CallOwhill street sewer was clogged
in a nasty bend near Seventh street.
Residents of the neighborhood told
strange stories of the noises that
came up through the MASTERPIECES
and all romantic minds imagined the
presence of an escaped prisOnerin the
sewer. That there was something
strange in the place was evident to
the workmen who opened the trap
for Jerry to go down. Most of the
noise was a splashing and stopping.
The escaped prisoner idea gained
ground.
Though no one" said Jerry,
"eould tell where he'd escaped from,
unless it was from the morgue at the
foot of Noble street."
Jerry went down with his candle.
He came back without it.
Il threw the dip into the things
jaws and climbed up in hurry" he
said. How to get the alligator, for
such it was, out of the sewer was the
next question. Some one thought
of angling for it with a roast of beef,
but Jerry knew that the monster
must have grown up in the place
and that he would therefore be
blind. Finally the bright idea oc-
CURED that residence In a a sewer
ought not to destroy the sense of
smell if it did that of sight. A very
rank piece of meat was accordingly
let down.
"Whether he smelled that or not
| don't know" said Jerry, 'Ebut after
I'd laid for him for about two hours
with gun, he struggled under the
manhole and | popped him. He was
about half grown. The news
spread all over the town, and pretty
soon along came a scattering man
with fire in his eye. SEE he S'what'd
We kill my alligator for?''
cit turned cut that the sailor chan
lived down near the root of Willow
street and had lot of young alliga.
tors that he'd brought from Florida
in a tub in his backyard. This one
escaped and came up the sewer
hkin' the slime, | s'pose, and lookin
for pickaninnies. | s'pose he liveC
on Lizards. Anyway, this sailor
man was mad, and said that if wee
sent for him he'd a coxed the brut,
Hp the mannole"
larrV rid the OpiUh hoPh0Od a