The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-01-19
For The Cecil Wing
BROADBRlM'S NEW YORK LETTER.

LIFE AMONG THE RIVER PIRATES; THE
MASKED ROBBERS FATE; THE TWO
BIRDS; DRAMATIC REBELLION; STOCKS;
ETC.
1t is not alone in the stately mansions of
the Fifth Avenue, nor in the art museums,
or theaters, or churches, that New York
life is seen. The villany of Wall street
brokers, and the perjury of bank and in
surance presidents, are but single phases
of that social life, the foundation of which
is laid on a volcano. Pass down two blocks
from Wall street toward the west and you
find life. the like of which the heart of
man could scarcely conceive TO exist in a
civilized and enlightened community
Trinity church stands like an awful SEN
tinel between the two,-the representative
Of all that is rich or arstocratic in morals
or religion; the broad and splendid avenue
toward Wall street being opened wide as
standing invitation for Dives and his
friends to enter; while the huge rocky
barrier at the back seems to wall out the
who live at its base, and who need a heav-
emily ministration as it was seldom needed
by mortal men before.
For whole blocks the neishborhood is
inhabited by pirates and river thieves,
and the scum and refuse of our foreign
population. The murderer from foreign
lands or from distant cities in the States
here find congenial companions, among
robbers and assassins like himself They
may not have the extensive nomenclature
of crime made famous by the criminal
classes of London and Paris, but even here
their intercourse is interarded with words
and EXPLANATIONS, the Interpretation of
which can only be found in the thieves
lexicon or the cracksman's dictionary
Along the wharves exists race unlike
any other class to be found in the city.
Many of them are recruits from foreign
lands-England, Ireland, France, Italy and
Spain furnishing much of the material
of which it is composed. Almost every man
man has served a longer or shorter term in
States Prison; and among the guild the
man who served two or three terms ranks
infinitely above the unfortunate scoundlel
who has had the bad luck to serve only one.
The recruits for this terrible army are not
likely to give out, for the wharves swarm
with hundreds of half grown boys whose
only business is theft, who rise in the
morning from some hogshead or dry goods
box, where they have passed the night,
without knowing or caring where they will
lay their heads when the sun goes down.
They all have the same hard, old, pinched
look; all of them chew tobacco and smoke
and swear. A cop, as they call a police
man, is their natural and hereditary enemy,
while all the stray vagsbond dogs and
social parah are their friends. Last Octc-
Der little colony of them was discovered
under one of the wharves, where they had
shared their home with the river rats which
swarm in this vicinity. The proceeds of a
multitude of robberies were brought to
light, the captain of the band desperate
robber about twelve years old, being sent
to the Reform School, from which he es
capped in less than a week; and, although it
gang which has planned and carried out
number of successful robberies, so far the
officers have been unable to lay hands on
him or to find where he makes his head
quarters. Jim Brady, Dan Shelley, Portu-
guese Mike, French Pete and Italian Joe
are fair types of the desperate class who,
as river thieves and masked robbers, have
made their names terror to the towns and
villages along the river.
1t is just two years ago this month that
a gentleman and his family were seated at
their table, little way above the village
of Hastings, enjoying their evening. meal.
The building was a beautiful cottage, only
a short distance from the river bank, aud
the interior was furnished with that ex-
quisite taste which denotes refinement as
well as wealth. A bright fire sent a cheerful
glow into the room, and the family chat
tered and laughed, for all was happiness
and joy within that pleasant household,
which no cloud or shadow seemed to mar.
The young wife had just handed her hus-
band cup of tea, which he was in the act
of raising to his lips, when face masked
with a covering of black Grape was rudely
thrust in the door. Mrs. Faulkner scream
ed and swooned, but Mr.. Faulkner, think
ing it was only practical joke of some
friends, rushed forward to eassure his wife;
iPk lv 4 icn laH
for one of the robbers struck him a blow
on the head with the butt of pistol which
fractured his skull and left him on the
floor for dead. The differ ent members of the
family were securely bound and the house
was thoroughly ransacked, everything that
was easily portable being carried off. The
saddest portion of the story is yet to be
told. Mr.. Faulkner fingered for weeks,
recovering consciousness long enough to
tell the dreadful story, and then died. His
wife became raving maniac, never having
recovered from the shock. Their two
children are worse than orphans, and this
is all that remains of that happy home on
the Hudson.
TlNc "eIC III tio
and of the five only one remains Jim
Brady, and he is in States Prison. Dan
Shelley was killed by the chief mate of the
Ocean King, while trying to break into her
cabin at night. Portuguese Mike was
killed by Waterman close to Martins
stores year ago this month. French Pete
was drowned while trying to escape from
the police, and Italian Joe, the last of the
gang, died in Bellevue Hospital, having
been desperately cut by fellow country
man in a murderous aifray on Baxter
street. The death of the two river pirates
at Bay Ridge, who kidnapped Charley Ross,
is still fresh on the record. Plenty, how
ever, still remain. You can find them, at
night, down in the cellars of Greenwich
and Washington streets, through Cherry
and Water streets, and over on the river
streets of Brooklyn. Their lights have
been under bushel for the past few weeks,