The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-30
SHOWER OF STONE
Careless Sewer WOrkmen Start
Small Panic.
Set Off Blast Without Notice to
Residents.
WARNING Is GIVEN.
Contractors Notified That They
Must Be More Careful.
City Force Having Trouble to
Keep Catch Basins Clear.

! About o'clock yesterday afternoon
everything was tranquil on Lincoln
street between Seventeenth and
Eighteenth streets, except for an
occasional outburst of laughter among
| the men who were working on sewer
No 80 Suddenly. however. the
| silence was broken by a loud report
and that was followed by a shower of
stones which came down as thick as
hail. Almost simultaneously a mother
| at 1717 Lincoln street rushed out of
the house screaming, and the express
sion of her face showed intense
alarm. Grabbing up her infant,
mensely on a pillow in the front
yard, she rushed with the child into
the house.
The facts of the case were that the
sewer between Lincoln and Lane
streets had blasted without giving
warning or taking proper precautions
to prevent rocks from flying. A stone
as large as a goose egg had struck
within two feet of the unsuspecting
infant and bounded away. The
mother of the baby thinking that her
child had been struck was on the
spot in an instant, terror stricken.
On all sides of the little one pieces of
stone rained down.
The casualty list was confined to
two barn yard fowls. For this fact
the sewer constructors may well be
thankful. for if human life had been
lost they would have been in deep
water indeed. License Collector Mat
tingly happened to be passing at the
moment that the affair occurred and
saw the whole thing.
Late yesterday afternoon City En-
gineer Rogers sent the contractors
Burge and Durbin. a warning to be
more careful in the future, and also
a request to have the alleys in the
i0iF ~ n 1In cd sol
that teams can get through them.
There is a strict city ordinance in
regard. to. blasting which reads in
part: cit shall be unlawful for any
person to blast, or order or direct or
cause to be blasted in any street, ave-
nue. or alley or public ground in the
city of Topeka any rock or other ma
terial without having the same
pIanks or timbers Of sufficient width
or thickness. and so placed as to
effectively prevent fragments of rocks
or other materials blasted from as
cending into the air The ordinance
provides a fine of from SIS to $50 for
any one who fails to comply with the
ordinance. The material where the
blasting took place YESTERDAY. was
soft and it was thought that 1t would
be blown to pieces instead of being |
waited upwards.
License Collector Mattingly told the |
workmen that if they attempted to |
do further blasting without using due |
precaution the people of the vicinity |
would be likely to mob them.
A city force is doing the usual
stunt after a rain Of clearing the |
catch basins. This is becoming more |
and more of an undertaking as the
and extent of the sewers IN
creases. A great many people when |
they trim their lawns throw the grass,
probably thoughtlessly, into the gut
tiers. When a rain comes this grass is
carried to the nearest catch basin
which it stops up in short order. The
result is that the lawns and in many
cases the Easements of mary of the
dwellings in the lower districts are