The evening times., 1896-04-22
ROMANCE OF The SEWERS
Uncaany Things Fcu-:d in Sub
terraaeaa Passages.
USED TO CONCEAL CRIME
Bodies of Infants Are Occasionally
Fished Out of the Murky Waters.
FavOrite Resting Place for Catsand
Other Aninnis-On Rare Occasions
Money Hus Been Found.

group of men, garbed in long rubber
boots caked with mud and slime hes pa tered
clothes, stood the other day near IA cart
reeking with it's load OF refuse and fifth.
The men were examining something that
had just been dra W II up In u bucket through
the man trap OF a St wer nearby. Tie object
of their attention was the decomposed re-
mains of what had iuce been IA thing of life
for day-an innocent babe.
Poor little devil,'' sighed one OF the
party softly. Then when his companions
laughed Jeeringiy at his feeling. he tossed
the contents OF the bucket roughly into
the cart. beside some drowned cats and
rat with his head mashed 10 a wafer.
These men Were employees of the District
government giving the sewers a spring
cleaning. Sewers. like rivers, give up their
dead, as the above incident shows, as well
as many other curious things.
LOVE LETTERS FOUND.
1t would seem that Il sewer is he last
of places to look for romance. Yet in the
big conduit that rmplies into the river at
Seventeenth street was found Il package
of letters. out of which Il yoSsamer web of
fiction could he woven. They were ad-
dressed TO "narling Jack" and signed
Your loving Neil"
The water had played fast and loose with
the tender literature, but what could be do.
ciphered showed that Nelrs heart beat
warmly for Master Jack, who evidently
held no high station in life. Because, i'll
one of the billet -.loux his sweetheart
refers to his getting off to 70 to some pace
with her. So The young man must have
cried cash. and measured ribbons he
hind a bargain counter, or busted sheepskin
in some legal shop. In all events, he was
a heartless fellow in allowing his best
girls letters to waste their sweetness in a
sewer.
MONEY SELDOM FIsHED UP.
Capitol Hill the men fshed up what had
once been dozen pairs OF fine six
socks. Their presence there is a mys-
terry. Whether they had been thrown in
by a conscience-stricken ihlef or an
equally remorseful follower OF Jerry Simp-
son viii never he known. Money is sell
domf found i'll the black ides flo wing tn rough
the city's suhterranean arteries.
There is n legend. and only legend.
among the employees that in the DAYS of
the municipality. when vags fiourishch
and the cry OF the voter was heard through
the land, n sewer cleaner discovered n
fat roll Of crcenhacks-ril filthy lucr". in
deed. This fairy story has been retailed
through succeeding generations OF en-
ployes until the originally stated amount
in the hundreds has swcl!ed 10 thcusa ndS.
In a South Washington sewer some time
ago quite a quantity of pennies. green with
Copperas. was found. and also Il lot Of
cheap tewelry tied up in a handkerchief.
evidently thrown there nv thieves to
cape detect ion. But of all the strange
and unhear:l-Of things To find resting
place in the great pipes was set of
false teeth. run across by one of Supt.
McComb's men.
SOMEBODY'S FALSE TEETH
They were ne perfect rs on the dav they
came from the workshop of the dentist.
Among other findings Of the sewers are
old boots and shoes. hats. fashi"red for
the st yies of long ago: hascbal!s. ever one
representing some small boys anguish. as
does the occasional roller skate. Cats are
the most prolific products. A great many
of them in life evidently belonged to feline
mandolin and guitar clubs. indnlging in
midnight nocturnes under the moons pale
light
This conclusion is dra wn from the MANNED
and mutilatcd condition OF the once CAV
troubadors. Wounds inflicted by the swift
ly whirling boot jack. the savage water
pitcher or the tornado cxtinguishmcht OF
the washstand drawer. tell the sad story
only too well.
AT rare. very rare. intervals. infants
re found In the obscure gloom of the under
ground world. Their discovery might form
a foundation for some new stories in the
chill and fever line that are usually found
in cheap novels by cheaper authors. As it
is. these small tragedies lose any tiuce Of
romance in the hard. official verbiage OF
the sewer reports.
CIRCUS MEN RITN RIOT.