Connecticut western news., 1892-03-10
A DAY IN A BOILER.
AN ENGINEERS TERRIBLE SABBATH
 DAY EXPERIENCE.

to Make Some Repairs-Got Fastened
 and Spent Nearly n Day Expecting
 That the Fire Would be Lighted.
 Sunday morning Engineer E. W. Ris- ley crawled into boiler. Sunday night he crawled out. It was a bright, active man that entered the grim mouth of the big iron cylinder. It was feeble, broken, nerveless creature that emerged to light again after an experience such as turns mems hair gray in an hour and shatters their constitutions for life. That MT. Risley is alive today is due both to his presence of mind and the endurance of his sinewy frame. Death had stared him in the face for hours that seemed like interminable days to him.
 MT. Risley is employed as engineer in the factory of Nathan Drucker 6 Co, trunk and vahse manufacturers. Sun- day the establishment was solitary, and MT. Risley took advantage of the oppor- tunity to clean out the big boiler in the basement He went alone. He usually took candle into the boiler, but could
 
 lamp, which he placed in such a position that it's bright rays flickered down through the gloomy flues under which he was to pass.
 Opening the manhole in the end, Mir Risley had soon wormed his way to the farthest end of the passage into which he ventured. Water was standing several inches deep in the bottom of the boiler, having dripped down from above, and the engineer was chilled to the bone. But he cared little for that excepting to remain but few minutes. He finished his work and started to return. It oc- cured to him that he might avoid the icy water better if he turned around and sought egress head first.
 Narrow as the passage was, he had accomplished this feat more than once before and he anticipated no difficulty in l repeating it. Slowly he turned, closing | his limbs together like the blades of knife and bringing his knees against his chin He succeeded in turning half way around when he found that he could go | no farther.
 FASTENED IN THE BOILER | MT. Risley made vigorous efforts to complete the turn, but in vain. Then he concluded to resume his original po- sition and back out, but to his horror he | found that he could not move. He had become fixed in the strained position he occupied, and his attempts to move only made matters worse. For quarter of an hour the engineer worked to free himself, while the precipitation poured | from him in spite of the chill the water had produced. Then the awful reality of his predicament dawned upon him for the first time and almost drove his senses away. He was fastened, with out hope of freedom, in space hardly large enough for his body.
 The pitiless iron bore down on his head above and seemed to be acquir- ing the weight of thousand hundred weight. The faint gleam of the lamp above illuminated the darkness of the engine room and the blacker night of the boilers interior. His position forced the blood to his bent head. MT. Risley did not know how long he could stand the strain. Before the morning, how ever, when the factory would resume its life, he would be unconscious and the manhole would be shut, the fires lighted and he would awake, if he awoke at all, to be roasted alive before it would be possible to extricate him.
 1 Filled with the horror of his position, the engineer shouted for help, but his voice was smothered in the depths of his prison. He found, too, that he could not exercise his vocal powers with effect, as his chest was pressed against his knees so tightly that he could hardly breathe. A FORTUNATE RELEASE.
 MT. Risley collected his senses and re- solved to husband his strength, and. above all, to keep cool. He knew that to remain where he was until the next day, cramped in the icy water, would be fatal, and he went to work carefully to extricate himself.
 No words could describe the suffer ings of MT. Risley during that Sabbath. Noon came, and he thought it must al- ready be night. Then the long, long afternoon. The lamp paled, and with a final splutter went out altogether. The captive felt himself growing weaker. His body was half frozen as it lay in the water. He had spent the long hours in desperate attempts at freedom, alter mated by long periods of despairing rest. Thoughts of his wife and three little chil- dren came to his frenzied brain. The aues seemed pressing slowly upon him on all sides, like the famous "iron bride of the days of torture.
 After nightfall, by some happy chance, the engineer unlocked his cramped limbs.
 How he did it he does not know. Half crazed by his terrible experience, he
 struggled madly for escape. Reaching
 the air outside he sank to the ground
 and lay exhausted for an hour before he
 was able to go home.-Cincinnai Cor.
 Chicago Herald.