Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-07-30
Life with Ragpickers.

\ New York reporter lately accompanied
a chiffOnier or professional ragpicker to his
den in that city. 1t was situated near Me
chauics' alley, in the Sixth Ward. Enter
ing the hallway through doorless opening,
the floor creaked beneath his feet, AS though
il was about to separate and swallow him
up. AT the end of the passage an.ther
doorway, which was partially barricaded
by bundles of rags, heaps of iron, coal,
bones, etc, was found, and he entered a
low rooted cellar. In this cavern, whichisper-
haps ID feet long by II broad, there were
at least twenty human beings of both sexes
huddled together. The floor seemed to be
all one bed, and was Uttered with rags of
every description, while the stencil was
horrible, there being no ventilation. Sit
ting or crouching round the floor in groups
of threes and fours were several homely
females, old and young, who were occupied
in asserting rags by the dim, flickering light
of a candle The miserable rays of the
candle gave the den weird, lonesome and
dismal appearance, andthe light fell strange
" on the faces of the occupants, the ma jori-
ty of whom were withered and wrinkled
out of al semblance of humanity. In this
den the reporter found that the ragpicker
and his family work night and day. While
one is making the rounds in quest of bones,
coal, cinders or old bottles, the balance Of
the family are at work asserting the gather
ed scraps in their den, and selecting what
they intend to sell to the junkmen.
.'The business was good, years ago, ," re-
marked Black Paddy to the reporter, ''but
the trade of late years, is greatly depressed,
and body cannot sell for as much as he
used to"
''Who is to blame for this: z" asked the
"Why. these heather Italians; soshat the
likes OF us are obliged to he ont nearly all
the night"
Paddy is one of the kings of the rag
pickers. He lives in the ''Bay," as he
styles it, which means Baxter street. He
claims to have come originally from Ire
land, and says he is one of the oldest in
business in this city. Paddy is always boss
over well filed ash barrel, from which he
often drives the Italian with threatening
gestures with his long iron hook. 1t is
claimed that Black Paddy is worth small
fortune All the week he culls rags and
carries his large hempen bag, but on Sun
day he dresses up in gorgeous style. Paddy,
after relieving himself in some slight de-
gree by the outburst against Italia's dark
sons, proceeded to say, as he swung his
rag hook in dangerous proximity to the re
porter's nose, that the business is now a.
most entirely monopolized by the Italians,
who can ''live on nothing a day and get
rich on it." Paddy complained that the
Italians start out too early in the morning,
and to find anything good he has to follow
suit, or have the labor of travelling round
the city only to find that all the coal, iron,
scraps, rags, ETC., have all disappeared, and
everything that cent could be made on
has been gathered from the ash barrels by
the one who was ahead of him. After gain
ing a good deal of information from Paddy,
the reporter left him and went on his way,
puzzled al the idea that men and women