| Show beam oi of light and a lucky grab save man racing to sea in sewer I 1 III aj seaward through a city S SWEPT sewer by tons ol of water which had bur burst a barricade ol of bags jam james e s alt clarke arke new york sand ling bog owes his bis life to a small flashlight and a chance grab at the rungs of a manhole ladder ashe asbe as he be was hurtled along BO 30 teet feet underground toward the waters ol of jamaica day bay clarke was one of a crew ordered to repair a leak in the main sewer tine line at jamaica by way of 0 preparation for the repairs the men arec ted sandbag b barriers on each side bide of 0 the leak the plan was to dry out a foot section between the tha bar with compressed air tore forc ing out the water through the break in the pipe the break would then be closed with a tough quick dry ng ing cement soon after the air was turned on h he e men found that they were mak ng no headway the pressure ne essary to force out the water was 0 10 o great that air kept escaping h rough the sand clarke thereupon went down to stop these leaks he carried a bae of clay and oakum to stuff into the chinks be tween the bags he had bad been at it only a few minutes when the upper barricade where he was waa working burst buist in an instant he was lifted off ual his feet and plunged headlong in a wall all of water which moved with such force that it carried out the second bar ricadel as soon boon as it hit it beaten by the bags and halt half drowned clarke fought to keep atop the flood as it picked up speed arill began to rise toward the root of the sewer tine line A few seconds more and th the sewer would have been filled said clarke and it ray my flashlight kept on working I 1 never would have bave seen that manhole ladder my jobs underground make me dependent on that kind of a light and so io I 1 I 1 take lake no chances I 1 test it before I 1 I 1 go down and I 1 always make swe sine that bat the batteries are fresh when ben I 1 put them in rut but bow a 8 small mall light soaked anti and pounded around as that was could stand up lip Is more than I 1 can explain at that I 1 was just able to grab me ladder as I 1 wont by and I 1 almost pulled my arm out trying to haul malli up clarkes charkes Cl arkes escape to fellow workers is unique such anat ana aident man below who Is drowned awl also sometimes crushed by biank adi terl als |
