Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-10-14
RICH OND WING.
SATURDAY MORNING.. OCT. IA, 1866.
HOW ONE CLASS OF THE LONDON
POOR LIVES.
From the London Daily News.


"Nen live by fishing for corpses. This
CHASTITY trade is at least as profitable as reg
ular labor, and, as it unites somewhat Of
the excitement of gambling with not little
of the SAVIOR of larceny, it is perhaps not
wonderful that to q certain class of mind its
attractions should be irresistible. First,
there is the chance of a reward-sometimes
as much as one hundred pounds having been
offered for the body by the friends or legal
representatives of the deceased secondly,
there Is the chauce Of vauables and money
being in the dead persons pockets and in
the event of both these contingencies failing
there is still six shillingS paid by the coro-
ner, and this, as was pertinently remarked
to US, SIS good days work for the like Of
them when watch or purse is found on
body, for which reward has not ben of
fered, they are, as a rule, quietly po keted,
and their late owner put back into the river,
that he may be pcked'up either by the po-
lice or some brother professional. That the
men following this loathsome calling are cal
lous, hardened and brutal, is a matter of
course, that they should long for crop Of well
dressed, richly appointed suicides as eagerly
as the sportsman hopes for good bag, Is not
wonderful, and that they are as unscrupu-
lous in their dealings with the dead as they
are perseyering in their efforts TO capture
them NAV be taken as inevitable. The
strange and repugnant calling once known
and realized; the character of its professors
may be easily conceived.
"Of course, the Thames police take
prompt charge OF all the bodies they see
but the range OF their duties is wide, the
number OF boats and men told of to pre-.
scribed number Of miles OF river compare
lively small, and tie result is a not unpro-
fitable opening for the lighterman, who, half
| thief, half body. snatcher, turns his atten-
tion and deyotes his nights to looking up and
| down the river for cOrpses. A short time
back one OF the best known of these fellows
was seen, about two A. M, pulling STEALTH
ly in shore, with what seemed in the dense
mist and darkness to be a passenger or fell
| low -laborer sitting in the stern. Something
in the uncouth swinging to and fro of the
latter excited the suspicion of the police
boat on duty, and fearing that helpless
drunkard had fallen into evil hands and
would be robbed and maltreated, the light
erman was hailed and ordered to pull to. 1t
was then seen that the man supposed TO be
drunk was dead. The gear ordinarily used
for towing the subjects from where they are
| found 10 the nearest wharf If the same pa
IRISH was out Of order, and the lighternIan
hat in consequence calmly cared the corpse
| up with its back to the rudder, and in such
an attitude that the faces of the living and
the dead men all but touched each time the
former bent forward to his oar. Only a
stiff mo, master, I'm Il taking up to Rother-
| hithe,' was sulkily given in reply to the
questions put; after which the speaker was
permitted to pass on, to deposit his prey and
claim his reward in due course"