The morning call., 1892-01-04
BELOW THE BRIDGE.
An Iron. Worker Horribly Burned
at the POtrerO.
Work Practically Suspended on the Monterey.
Sunday Ducking on Islais Creek-Many
impossible Thoroughfares.

John Wilson, an employe of the Union
Iron Works, was removed yesterday in the
police patrol wagon to the City and County
Hospital, suffering from burns of so borri-
bic character that it is almost miracle
that he is alive. On Christmas eve Wilson
went to the house of Captain Schultz on
Illinois street and while helping arc und the
house attempted to light fire with can Of
benziDe. AS usual the can exploded, the
flames burning the poor fellow almost to a
crisp from the waist to the knees. He sur
vived the shock, but is SO terribly injured
and disfgured that it will require extensive
grating to enable him even to leave his
bed. Burns in the abdomen are always
serious, however small or superficial, and
DIR. j. A. Simpson, who attended Wilson, Is
astonished that his patient did not immedi-
ately suCcumb.
WORK ON THE MONTEREY.
The force at work on the cruiser Monte
Tey S now waiting anXiously for the armor
plates, which are about being tested and
will begin to be shipped on February 1st.
The trial of the sample barbette plate is
expected 10 take place within two or three
days, and all the side armor plates, the
6-inch and S-inch armor and the armor for
the yentilatOr and smoke-stack have been
rolled. The first ingot of the 13-ineh armor
was cast on December 9Th, and the II Inch
armor Is being cast at the rate of two ingots
weekly. Meanwhile the engine and boilers
of the vessel are in place and progress is
being made on the interior fittings. but
work elsewhere is practically suspended
until the armor arrives
SEAS OF MID
The advent of the rainy season is nowhere
so severely felt as in the Pot zero and South
San Francisco, for the simp lie reason that
the soil is q rich CLAW, which is daily churned
up by the feet of thousands of cattle and
sheep. Kentucky street, from Napa to the
head of the Long Bridge, is a sea Of mud,
not improved by an unfinished eght-foot
ch auge of grade. The sewer on Napa
street has caved in, and on Illinois street
the mud is so thick that local resident ar
rived home few evenings ago without his
shoes, which had stuck and sunk out of
sight in the mud. The Long Bridge is also
impossible Tor pedestrians as far as the line
of Kentucky street is concerned, and COM
municatlon is had By way Of the old bridge.
DUCKING ON IsLAIs CREEK.
The marshes and the pond formed by
the outfall of lslais Creek are just now
swaTming with ducks of all kinds, espe-
cially malardS, brOWn-heads ana long-bllls.
A result over two hundred hunters were
out yesterday, some tTamping the marshes,
some In boats on the pond and scores on the
line of the old bridge. The birds can only
tie shot at one stage Of the tide, namely, on
the first Of the ebb, when the water begins
to leave the marsh aud the fresh food sup
ply is laid bare. just at present this OPP
poTtunity occurs at dusk, and a perfect
fuSllade is kept up when a band of ducks
come in from the bay, to the great danger
of pedestrians on Kent lucky street and the
bridge. Numbers Of the slaughtered birds
are lost, since the only chance the gunners
have OF recovering them is by fishing them
up with a hook and line as the tide carries
them out
IN SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO.
One of the largest f0cks of sheep ever
driven into Butcher,Own passed over she
Long Bridge yesterday. There were just
$50 OF them and 1t took nearly an hour to
get them from Napa 10 Sierra streets, dis
tance Of only two blocks.
There are many primitive Chinese shan
ties in and around South San Francisco and
Hunter Point, but the prize shanty is that
lying in the rear of the Omnibus stables at
the north end of the Long Bridge. 1t is
about 200 yards from present high water
mark ana consists of an old thirty-ioOt boat
with the deck torn cut and pitched roof
erected amidships. Three celestials occupy
the narrow quarters. The smoke from the
stove within escapes from all parts of the
interior, in the absence of a chimney, and
the odor Of mingled denominations reminds
the visitor Of Cologne, THE city OF a thou
sand smells"
La grippe is extensively prevalent in
South San Francisco, and the local physi-
clans have their hands full. Many of the
cases are accompanied with broncho- pneu-
m0nia and great depression Of the vital
powers
Building operations have been largely
suspended Oh account OF the state IF tile
th0rOughfares and the dOwnpOur of rain.
There are signs of busy times in tue spring