New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-09
THE RIVER THIEVES.
Cor,lpued from First Page.


shief Headquarters Of the East River gangs Is NJ 10"
sslcou No 100 Montgomery Here at all hours OF 'ne
night may be found gang OF desperadoes Inc saoon
n the resort of thieves and pckpockes About tne ho
Of il each 'boatman" gides away into the DARKNESS,
and after some circutOus walking drops INTO BOAT ~
She head of some slip The souls are handled al once
and the boat moves out into the river. Al
come Of the junk stores near South-st-as BOD Day
sld place at No. lC6 Neutrality-suspicious. daylight tno
next morning the same men may be found qheuy SiV
Ting smoking worthless pipes, or stretched upon Duu
die Of saicoth asleep: while the proprietor OF a''"
Of the store may be seen wheeling loads OF rope Ut ~
terious looking sacks from boat at the dock 49,,
TRIBUNE reporter, thoroughly disguised Visl'eu
che haunts Of these men, and, after long series Vi
introductions, extending over considerame U"e' e0
eeeded in gaining the confidence of one oil the oS nv
FERROUS and desperate thieves the East RIVER Aier
rome cement on the part Of private ueVeeute
and al the request Of several OF his irlehus 'he .
gave the following outline of nights WORK. no' one
smce IL is needless to say that II is fepiouueou io
memory without pretense of exactness as 70 the "oruS
EMPLOYED as The taking Of would have been very
Hnsafe business.
RIVER THIEF'S CONFESSION.
"veO the way we did that Job was this About II
o'clock having slid INTO our boat. at the foot OF p
rt we Quietly pulled into the slip Of the Roosevelt - .bo
tusf after the arrival Of the boat, and haVns III re
paintcr fast 10 the rudder-chains, laid down -. ar
we're towed up 10 South-seventh-st' VIC a. HIM
and getting out our SOULS, pulled lehuep ~. +b NJ
ters Point. Here made fast to tne uO.A AMI At TY
ahe ferry-slp, and went ashore 10 HaNo N About
u,Ee,ro,s. II was inst before he went 10 JAN
,,.loel ,ye came hack 10 the boat ana hhoNeu " w
The river There were two sehooueIs an" 49,, ,o
inst ahove tbe Point. The brig ndu oouio III w. -,
af,ornoon and knew that all hahus were VoinP''oF
tuekered out Having pulled AROUND tne oiis anu
-, ,,., the coast clear, had no uouoie III
-, into the bow by u loose rope which was
-, a., the water from the bOwsprit. As bad
ectcd the Waterman on deck after All the crew hau
zone below had rolled himself mp IN the ious oi ie
.ipsail and Icy snoring soundly. l didht mVehu W
wake him. hut lust as was going past nm s'epPeu
into wet place deck ION such occasions thieves wear
nothing but stockings their feet, and eoudn heiP
swearing The follow SAT mp and looked around ou'
enav went TO sleep again. had scarcely time TO jump
Asbtnd tie maiumas then passed three coils OF rope
over to Jimmy in the boat. There was considerable can
VAS but II was so old and rotten that did mol thk II
would nav 10 work IT, tried twith my KNIFE ana II cut
like wet paper The brig had Just come In from CAMS we
et visited one of the schooner which, had been told
was from Havana Believing that the cook or mate
would have some sweeteniDg for sale, we rowed along
nv her side and whsted. fellow at once rose up be-
hind the bulwarks who returned the salute He swung
I, rome down to me and leapcd on deck IL was very
asy TO see that be Englshnan ana the mate Oh
che vessel said the captain would be ashore an nsu
and that he had waiting long time for some OF us
fellows Tie then told that he had about 500 pounds OF
choice sweetenlug Sugar slowed away in the Tor
which ne and two OF the crew had preached the night
AFTER The vessel loaded. If you are ready 70 90 'he
souare thing with me- said he, will sell you the lo'
have not been here four year. hut then fellow 10
whom sold lot Of Junk, cheated me with bad money
s course assured him that, while there were men on
the river who would do such things / dealt on the
.apare lie then asked p cents pound, and when
,d him that could be bought shore for that price,
said he would not take a cent less. When boarded the
schooner had meant deal squarely with the fellow
hit now that he acted stubborn determined 70 chea
-, q, nossible 7 told him that il he would give
n chance 10 make a little the next lot he brought
70 this port would buy the sweetenng, although
should not make anything went below and looked at
,be sugar it was rstrate article and in good cond-
ton We brought the sacks up deck rugged up pair
Of scales and weighed the sugar 1t fell little short
and ne agreed 10 take SO for the lot produced roll
OF hills of the Bullion Bank concern that broke in
Washington in ls63l'you can buy any quantity OF them
At the corner Peck slip and southst for three cents
OIL the dollar-and counted ont the money in -
notes He looked at them somewhat, but when told
him II was a new issue of 'greenbacks, and showed
him the Washington D. c. on the face, he was salts
fled He helped me lower down the sacks to Jimmy
and a. soon as all stored, swung into my seat
We pulled down TO the South Side Railroad Dock and in
under the guards the Idaho (Which always lays mp
over Il-ItI uttNttH tllt ldeN tNN t4AS "AANoN' w
then Iaid down and ,lept tin daylight
HIDING PLACES FOR THE NIGHT.
.Thcrc ere only three four places where am viii
ling TO take risks sometimes run under short dock
Al Jances Wool or OF the piers between Grccnpolnt
and the Graud-st ferry. There is not the least danger
a follow knows ms business The pohceboa goes up on
the NewYork side between and O'Clock, and, crossing
the river az the island. down along the Brooklyn
shore. Jimmy watched the movements Of the police
he nd All COCK IN the boat had
furned 10 the Battery. Then got out our oars and
pulled ont into the river. The openly fellow can
do this the better for there any quantity Of small
boats out at tha time We then ran the oadno the dock
below The Roosevelt Ferry and1 went across to NICK
Kings. who sent two fellows down to relieve Jimmy.
Mex deals the square lie does. He'll buy anything;
be always gives fellow show and don't ask any ques-
tons"
There l. considerable risk, but very little from the
police There isn't enough Of them TO do any harm. We
fear green hand in the boat a drunken mate on the
vessels deck far 1t often happens that, when
man hasn't been long before the mast and don't know
nothing fellow will get shot at when he goes alongside
a craft. stil," hOughtfullyl there great many
dangers down for any nights work Maybe,
you haven't ysd here long, that you've heard Of sam
Bunkerl NO. Well, he very likely on a haul
but one night he got punked. He and his partner
al work on brig at Harbeck's stores, and both
were on deck, when he saw that the waves
from a propeller were drifting their boat
IN between the dock and the vessels side
Tie tide runs swift at the ends of the piers He quietly
slipped down rope the briggs side push out the
yawl when a canal boat in tow Of the propeller struck
the stem Of the Originating fender of poor Sam and
mis- boat between the dock and the vessels side. His
pard stood on deck and what was coming 10 time,
but dare ut yen say word 10 warn him. The poor
fellow was dead IN minute; every bone in his body
broken. and when the vessel swung back his body
dropped into the water. Johnnie had 10 drop down the
rope ard Out under the dock he stayed long
while the dark with SANS dead body floating around
him Tie shock woke everybody board the brig and
some Of the crew deck that he had to lay low
BE got ont toward morning through trap in the dock"
HOW SAILORS ARE MANIPULATED.
'sOf course a fellow must run his chances. Only in