The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-07
MULES IN SUBWAY.
Hauling Cars Many Feet Beneath
the Surface of New York.

the Surface of New York.
From the New York Mail and Express.
The citizens of the town will owe much
of the ease and comfort which they expect
to take in the Rapid Transit subway to
everyday mules. The mules will not re-
ceive public thanks for their labors.
On the contrary, they will continue to
tug at cars of heavy rock until they pull
the very breath out of their bodies, and
then they will go down to unmarked
graves.
The mule is not a good household pet,
| nor does he look well drawing a road wa
gon, but he outworks and outlves half a
dozen horses, and goes through ID all
without a murmur man with fond
| ness for argument once started out to
prove that mule never dies. He did IL
/ by asking every friend he met IL he had
| ever seen a dead mule. The answer al
ways was No" Ergo. mules do not die.
| He subsequently posed as an authority.
His friends accepted his proposition ex-
planned It's unanswerabe terms to their
friends, and, in this way, the Immortality
OF the mule was established.
The six mules which are tucked away
down under the city streets are not how
ever, according to their drivers worried
by abstruse problems of existence. All
they ask is no more than a bit OF hay
now and then and an opportunity occa-
sionally to lean against a wall of rock
and doze. II takes years Of constant
companionshlp with a mule to bring out
his good points, so the driver Of one of
the subway beasts who is said to have
handled mules for a quarter of a century
claims He summed up the characteris-
ties OF his charges briefly and succinctly.
Said the driver: "A mule never eats or
sleeps. and he works like all possessed
twenty-fours in the day" That is an cpl
taph which could be placed on the grave
OF every dead mule. unless the argumen-
tative man is right, and which could be
truthfully applied to very few men. But
the world owes every man living and
Il doesn't owe anything to a mule.
100 Feet Under Ground.
Four OF the subway animals are work.
ing In the tunnel at Broadway and One
Hundred and Sixty-eighth street, los feet
under ground. Next week four more will
be lowered down the l50-foot shaft at One
LEdred and Eighty-frst street. The
contractors have sunk shafts in Broad
way at these two cross streets and are
boring north and south through solid rock
from each one.
About 800 feet of rock has been taken
out at One Hundred and Sixty-eighth
street. and about S75 feet at One Hundred
and Eighty-hrst street The mules haul
cars loaded with rock from the heading
along rude railway track to the mouth
of the shaft. Like the ''muckerB" and
the drillers. they work In eight-hour
shifts. but. unlike their human compan-
cions they never see daylight.
They will stay In the tunnel until they
die or until their work is done. The mules
of n nj ahaanf and
sleep when they get chance.
They are not taken up when the blast
Ing is in progress, but are driven to the
mouth OF the shaft. where they stand
while the conclusion from the blast
comes roaring out of the tunnel and the
smoke curls and eddies around them. The
only visible effect OF tunnel work on a
mule is a temporary loss of appetite.
When once he becomes accustomed TO his
surroundings he thrives like a green bay
tree and grows sleek and fat
Lowering the Mules.
The mules were. lowered into the shaft
IN a big wooden cage. Rapid" and
Transit" the younger two, accepted the
situation with philosophic calm, but
Ajax" and old "Croton" were inclined TO
cut up a bit. Croton Ia particular OBJ
jected most strenuousiy 20 the prospect
Of life underground. He appreciated what
Il meant, for sixteen years ago he toiled
on the Croton aqueduct Just TO show
how he felt about II, he kicked a couple
Of planks off the cage and, poking his
head through the hole, looked toward
the bottom OF the shaft with an express
sion OF intense disgust
After he touched ground and was har-
messed he refused TO pull his car. Some
argument followed, reinforced by a large
board but Croton maintained that the
work was not suited 20 a superannuated
gentleman. He braced himself firmly and
brayed loud and long. After all means of
stasion. moral and physical. had been ex-
hausted be was relieved from duty and
a substitute was purchased. II Is 10 be
hoped that crotOn u now stretching his
feeble old legs In some May green pas
ture.
why Croton Kicked.
EFT was Jest this way" said croton'a
dusky human friend and confident. Gro
ton he says 20 himself 4 alnt Kwine 10
work no mo- and the boss he says Ia
crofou. Take yo' clozc an go An afn'i
/ a'hinruiuf fhF ole mule ana 1 afnf = HI s,,.