The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-03
DANGERS IN A CITY SEWER.
of a Veteran in Birming
ham.
(From the london Mails


Birmingham is on the eve of losing
one of the most remarkable public Off
GERS the city has ever had. His name is
Grub, and he has spent nearly fifty
years in exploring the sewers, good,
bad and Indifferent, most of them in
different.
On an average Grubb has trudged
each day, and reckons that his total
tramp is close upon one hundred thou
sand miles.
There is perhaps, no other man in the
world who could spend so long period
under circumstances so unhealthy and
say that he has never had days ILL
ness He has risked his life over and
over again, faced millions Of angry and
hungry rats, and thrived on an atmos-
phere which is certainly not better
than that Of Omdurman.
He is now reaching ripe old age, and
has every appearance Of leading an ac-
tive life for many years. but whether
the air Which most people breathe will
suit his constitution is an interesting
problem.
Talking to our Birmingham cores
pendent yesterday, the sewer veteran
explained that when he entered upon
a well constructed underground channel
of even moderate dimensions, whereas
today it was possible to have a subter-
ranean stroll from north to south and
east to west, either journey being over
seven miles
Most of the men engaged in the work
enjoyed fairly good health, but it was
a question of the survival Of the fittest.
Some of the people who attempted to
follow the fi0n 1gnnDlyaH
in few hours. and not few of them
were timid at the rats. AS rule the
rats moved about in hundreds, and
when driven into corner We're not at
all pleasant to meet.
'There is only one way of dealing
with them effectively" he says. Sup
posing you are brought face to face
with a few hundred of them and they
cannot get away. You turn out your
lamps and plant your feet against one
side of the sewer, and support yourself
in horizontal position, with your
hands against the opposite side.
BY this means you leave them q
clear passage. While you are in this
position one of the men beats the water
in the channel with the back Of his
spade. 1t makes an awful noise and
every one does his best to swell it by
shrieks and cries.
THE rats, knowing they are at bay
and experimenting danger, make a dash
past where you are situated Those
that come within reach of the shovel
finish their stampede, but the rest race
on squealing and frightened. Some
times we get nipped. but as rule this
plan almost friehtens the life out of
them.
zone of the great dangers we have
to encounter down below is that Of be-
ing overtaken by storm water. and
only the greatest care can prevent dts
aster | remember being with another
workman IN the sewer running UNDER
meath the Parade on the occasion Of
the queens visit to Birmingham many
years ago.
I'VE had just got down, and as
passed manhole | extended my arm
and felt few drops Of rain. Unfor-
tunately the grating above was secure
and II became necessary to make for
the next outlet. where | knew n man
was stationed. We had scarcely begun
to move forward when we heard an
awful rumbling at fine back which in
dicated that a terrific storm had brok-
en- over the city and that the water
was coming after us in torrents.
I'VE hurried along as quickly as pos
sible. but every second the water rose
higher and higher, and our task became
harder and harder II was up to our
WdlstS Wneu we nfSt caught Si2ht or
the speck Of light which showed us
where we had to get to IN less than a
minute II we were to save our lives.
TT was thrilling race 10 escape a
terri bic death. We exerted every mus
Gle and as the water reached our
shoulders ] thought our efforts were
doomed to failure. l allowed my COM
oanion, a younger man than / was. to
climb up the opening first. with the
aid Of the men on top he was hauled
out quickly, but ] had scarcely had
time to make start when the torrent