From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 12/18/1907, p. 10, c. 3
FELL INTO SEWER
Rope Broke as Thomas Harris Was Getting Out, and He Pitched Backward.
While attempting to make his exit from a deep sewer in which he was working at the Tredegar Iron Works yesterday morning, Thomas Harris, colored, fell backward twenty-five feet into mud and water, and sustained severe injuries. The fall was due to the breaking of a rope just as the man had reached the upper edge of the sewer. Harris suffered three broken ribs, a broken cheek bone and a broken wrist. He was rendered unconscious by the fall.
Dr. Strole, of the ambulance staff, treated the man, and took him to the City Home, where he was operated upon.