The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-09-08
AMONG THE WHARF RATS,
The Poor wretches Who Haunt the River
Fronts.

1
| Fronts.
"Whst isa wharf rat and where is
he to be found 2" asked one day Of an
old and experienced police captain who
had seen twenty years service wearing
the blue uniform, and was well acqnaint-
ed with all the habits and haunts of the
outcasts and criminal classes.
! ga wharf rat" he answered, "is
something entirely different from all
others of those who defy or evade the
law. His home is on the docks, and he
is only to be found on the most lonely
and least frequented city piers. How
he lives and gets his food and clothing is
to any one who does not know the great
city curious problem, and startling
fact when analysed. You have often
strolled along the docks, perhaps, at
early morning2"
Occasionally have visited some of
the docks at an early hour to get
breath Of fresh air on a summer morn
ing," answered.
"Wel," he continued, " if you 90
early enough you may see here and there
a wretched looking man in soiled cloth
ing sleeping behind hay bale, pile of
bricks, or a stack of lumber. His hair
will be full of straw or hay, and his face
and skin are of the color of clay, sullen
and destitute of any high expression.
Occasionally you see an overgrown boy
of the same description, but the scamp is
not yet fixed ineradically in his face of
degradation and Indifference to all things
human and divine. Perhaps you may
find some of these people fishing off the
end OF wooden stringpiece, or off some
schooner, but that is all pretense, and
g.,
Masters of vessels, schooners and light
ers have to watch carefully for these
fellows, or they will steal and get away
with their plunder quicker than light
ming hash.''
care they in any way connected with
the class known as river thieves 2" 1
asked.
:" 1t is fact that the majority of the
river thieves-the most skillful and ex-
pert among them-are recruited from
the dock or wharf rats. Of course, such
men as the Bay Ridge burglars, who
were shot, do not and could not have
belonged to this class. Those fellows
were bold and determined men, who al
ways fought for heavy stake, and they
would despise themselves if they were
found lying out all night merely to Sc
cure piece of old junk, q coil of rope,
or even piece of old iron, copper or
block lead. / believe that these are the
things taken principally by the dock
rats, as they are easy to conceal, and
shipmasters or shipowners do not care
to go to unnecessary trouble to prose-
cute in cases where the loss only amounts
in detached instances of from fifty cents
to five dollars. On the East river side,
around Burling slip and in that neigh
borhood, there are to be found crowds
of wharf rats, weather beaten old fellows
vino have done nothing since boyhood
but sleep on docks and hang around like
sharks for any eatable offal in the way of
decayed pineapples, grapes, oranges or
| other fruit that may be cast aside on the
docks from coasting or West India YES
sels."
"Can nothing be done with these fell
lows 2" I inquired. "Can they not be
put to some use in society2"
Nothing can be done with them
whatever. They are a hopeless, shift
| less lot of wretches, whose utter insig-
nificance prevents the law from dealing
too severely with them, and they are so
dirty, reckless and lazy as we'll as dis
honest that they are fit for nothing; as
one of these told me himself one day in
n fit of despair, only to be made manure
OF. suppose that there may be prob
boys and men, who come under the head
of dock rats in this city. When winter
comes they cannot sleep on the docks as
a matter of course, and then they have
to seek shelter in the police station
houses, wandering from one to another,
night after night, without hope or care
for anything. But it is strange that even
in midwinter, If you should choose to
walk dosyn to the river fronts, you will
find some of these rats hanging around,
haunting the place where he spends his
summer vacation, for it is vacation all
the year around to him, and probably
some charitably disposed woman on q
canal boat, or some mate of coasting or
foreign schooner will give him a piece
OF bread and meat and some potatoes for
doing an odd chore, such as sweeping up
the deck, or the like, or for going to
market to get some meat or other provi-
sions for voyage; that is, If the dock
rat will take to the work, which he gen.
orally does not.
leould cite numerous instances where
good boys, who were wont to be regular
IN their attendance on school, and obedi-
ent to father and mother, have been
ruined finally by their being seduced by
older and more vicious companions to
visit the docks to idle away q day, and
finally to spend night after night away
from their homes, and at last they turn
out to be nothing but confirmed young
blackguards and hardened thieves and
criminals. And for that reason am
greatly in favor of the truant law, which
makes it compulsory for children to at
tend school, and thus they are kept
away from the docks and the deprayity
OF these associations and bad company.
found In boys pocket one night, and