cannibalfromhannibal
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Took advantage of nicer than normal weather to go dig a new permission this Monday though Wednesday. Dug the side behind the stone rubble, reportedly a slave quarters, about this time last year. Dug some grand pontil shards like an emerald green scroll flask, teal cathedral pickles, meds, etc. Also a purple Ms. Allens Hair (glued back 80% of it), and a complete Crowleytown Mason, minus the very bottom. Only whole pontiled was a Grone & Durhold from Quincy, Il. and some smooth based Helmbolds. These were at the 8 foot level of a stone lined privy that had a strange anomaly. While nearing the bottom, I discovered the wall to the north (left in pic) on the property line was shorter than the other three sides. Also, the stones were considerably larger than the other sides. All the pontiled stuff was in the bottom 2 foot level, and while digging towards the "short" wall, I discovered there was glass UNDER the wall! I kept at it and first broken pontiled bottle was a C. Heimstreet hair in light cobalt! I began to remove some of the stones to proceed further north but quickly realized the danger potential and aborted the ill thought out plan. I revisited the Sanborn map and it showed what appeared to be a similar sized privy on the other side of the property line. Owner of the house I was digging claimed his and the neighbor's house were built the same time (1855) for 2 sisters who lived next door to each other for years. I was excited about the prospect of digging the other side but my friend informed me the neighbor in no way was about to give me permission. So I didn't try, until I couldn't stand it any more and began to practice my speech. I approached the door and knocked several times but no answer, even though I knew someone was home. This went on a couple more times with the same non-results. I finally noticed they were working in the front yard last week and stopped and gave my pitch and to my shock, got the permiss! He did warn me of having to move the gas line and to be careful when digging. I assured him I would take extra precautions, which I did. Turned out to be smack dab over the middle! Became more of a pain than I expected. He also was able to clear up the mystery of why anyone would divide two privies built at the same time with rocks so big I could barely roll them out of my way. Lifting them was out of the question. Apparently the wall went from alley to street and predated the privies!