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42
channel which has received the name of the Drop. The
effluent from the Oil Refinery, in fact, monopolizes this
channel, and alone constitutes the stream issuing from the
upper end of the Sewer. Three small houses contribute the
remaining inlets, throwing their contents into the Sewer
many feet beyond the closed manhole.
The Broadwall Sewer was thoroughly cleansed in August,
1893. A large quantity of sludge, described by the workmen
as chemical-looking stuff, was removed from that part of the
Sewer lying in proximity to the inlet from the Oil Refinery.
In disturbing the deposit the men complained that the silver
in their pockets and silver watch-chains turned black, and
even the man engaged in working the windlass on the surface
noticed that his silver chain was blackened after a few hours.
WORK ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT.
On May 4th, at 11.40 a.m., Ryder with his mates Baker
and Garrod entered the Broadwall Sewer, descending by the
manhole in Stamford Street. Their steps were directed in
the first instance along that section of the Sewer lying on the
south side of Stamford Street, being a continuation of that
already described. The butt end having been reached at a
distance of 350 feet from the entrance at Stamford Street,
the flushers retraced their steps and approached the section
which lies between Stamford Street and Commercial Road.
The men were then traversing the Sewer destined later to
become the scene of the accident. Ryder led the party,
Baker followed and after him Garrod. The stooping attitude
assumed by men moving along the channel of a low arched
Sewer has the effect of depressing the head to the level of the
shoulders or even the body. Since the vertical diameter of
Broadwall Sewer measures barely four feet, the distance
between the faces of the flushers and the channel of the Sewer