Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-01

VI YOU MIGHT think the contractor the
last man TO run across romance in
the course of his everyday business,
n but he isn't. In fact he Is perhaps,
little more likely to encounter the
unexpected. the unusual. than most men.
Suppose, for instance, that he has TO build
a sewer system and has already gone
through the job of getting the contract
signed. (There's a good deal of what the
ordinary citizen would think out of the
ordinary about that operation by the way
sometimes, only this isn't just the place to
speak about it, From the day of breaking
the ground till the completion of the work
the man with such a contract is constantly
expecting the unexpected to speak anti
theticaIly
Thus, as he well knows his men may find
rocks where clay is looked for, quicksand
where rock Is suspected, or subterrauean
water course just where the solidest imag-
Unable subsoil ought to be. Nothing ro-
mantle about any of those things? Perhaps
not, but they are sometimes highly exciting
since they may mean that the work is going
to cost the contractor a lot more to do than
he expected. and If he has not provided for
Just such contingencies in his contract he
may be out a good deal more than he ex-
pected his profits to foot up.
Finding quicksand or subterranean water
courses when sewer digging is sometimes
little less than a financial catastrophe.
Next to strikes. what the contractor breads
most, of course, Is accidents, and of
course, he always gets them The certainty
that they Will come Is accompanied by
delightful uncertainty as to when they will
happen and what form they will take. A
contractor of my acquaintance who put in a
five-mile trunk sewer with many laterals in
a middle-sized city a number of years ago
telling about this combined GER
tainty and uncertainty regarding accidents.
He had nearly finished the contract and
a n fAtt tr~if1 rni= hlr
only one man had been killed and the
money loss from casualties had been hardly
worth speaking about.
Il felt 80 good about it," said he. that l
was foolish enough to mention the cir
cumstanees. though I knew better. But 1
had no sooner told one or two friends how
lucky 1 had been than I began to feel 1t In
my bones that trouble was brewing. Wheth-
er it was-due to come in the form of an ac
cideut or trouble in getting my pay-city
governments are sometimes mighty poor
pay maSters-I couldn't conjecture, but,
anyway, 1 knew it was coming and l
knocked hard on wood right away.
Think I'm too superstitious? Well. let
me tell you what happened the next day
and then see what you think.
Although good deal was yet to be
done. the main line of the trunk sewer WAS
completed and several of the laterals were
pouring in big streams Then came a
heavy rain which made the body of water
rushing through the big pipe a big one.r
was little worried about how a part of
the work would stand the pressure and
went down manhole myself to do a little
inspection. Well. sir. without any reason
for it and In some way that l never could
describe. slipped into the stream in that
trunk sewer. 1t wasn't over my head, but
the current was too strong for me and be-
fore | knew it l was off my feet and fioun-
dering around, gasping for breath, when
ever my head was above water, and act
ually fighting for my life fifteen or sixteen
feet below the surface of the street
Whether I'd ever get out not I didn't
know, of course / didn't speculate much
about IL as l remember. didn't have the
time nor the strength But 1 did put in
my best licks for safety, by floating as
quietly l could. to save my strength.
1t was about two miles to where the sewer
empted into the river and l thought If
/ could stand 1t that far I'd be all right
But l didn't have to. Pretty soon l saw
4 big beam of gray light shining down
through a hole in the sewers arched roof.