West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1881-04-16
-tDIrEB ron rHE sEtD.
Au ola Wan who>o Living - Nsndc
ia the Bottoms at thc Rivers
Around Now Work.


Around Now Work.
Az No. 30 Cranberry street, New York,
in a small, Old fashioned cottage painted
white, With green shutters anG n small
portico in front with green painted lat
tice work, over which an ivy trails It's
irregular course. lives John II. Blower,
who has been engaged I'm curious bust
ness for GlGost lifetime. a Tribune
reporter found the old man in the small
courtyard 9djoinirg his humble home.
All the objects in the yard were strongly
suggestive Of nautical pursuits. An old
weatber-beS,en. four-oarcd yawl occu-
pied the greater part of tho little inclosure,
while one corner was tsRcn up 10y couple
OF oars, another by a smsll. rusty anchor,
some chains and scraps. The only Lying
occupant OF the yard at the time of the
reporters visit was a decrcpit-looking,
whito-haircd old man engaged in tinker
ing az The Old hoq' lie said nc was John
IL. Brewer, The person ths reporter was
IN search 81.
Eve been in the buaincss of grnpplin
and divin' for over ntiy yoars, for I be
gan when l was about twenty, aud I'm
nieA onto scvcnty-four now / was born
and brought up In this State. and $50 were
my father aud grandfather before me
I'm Dn American to ihc backbone I've
done rrappin' and wrcc'iu' I'm tho Ess,
and North rivcrs, in iho long Island
sound, AZ Sandy Hook aud lIo,l Gate, aud
have always succecJ. q In maxim a prot,y
good livin' on, of IL, can tell YOU I'VE
raised thousands OF tons o. railroad iron.
anchors, big a-d little chains, cables.
bssides canal boats, bodies aud rings,
watcher, lockets and other iowelry. one
of the baet Jobs I've over had was Gmin'
the war. whon The government was build
ing an iron-clad at the navy yard Eighty
four steel plates, each fourteen feet long,
four feet wide and three feet thick, were
lYn' near the dock. The weight was too
much for the old pier uud size broke down.
sendin' the plates to the bottom of lhr
East river. They sent for me, and asked
me 10 get the plates for 'tm said /
would, but | wanted $40 for each plate I
got out They were satisfied and vent
To work. We'll Brower' SAID the
csptiD, j s pose it'll take you a couple
o days TO get oAS O. them plates up,
Days Y said |. Just you come back ia
an hour or an hour an' \ half, an' I'll
show you somethin' = IL laughs hinder,
and walks Off, thiGkin' I'm blow.n'.
Wgll 1pQI ms o. - 4
them plates, and when tho capl'in came
back had three on the pier. Just tell
you he opened his eyes.
"A cGnal boat full OF coal lying ~ her
dock got hole stove in her by steam
boat runnin' into her and was sunk. /
got The job OF liftin' her and getting out
her cargo, If possible. Il was mighty
hard work, but get her up | did, and by
bucketsful, overy pound Of coal in her.
I've done some treasure liftin'. too. A
Spanish brig dropped Gag OF dollars that
she was tekin' TO South America over
board ia the harbOr here, good many
years ego. There WAS a very strong tide
runnin' at the time, and the divers tina;
were sent after the Gag soon gave it up rs
a Dad job. Somebody told the spanish h
captin about my luck in fndn' things.
and nc sent foe me. lie offered me 5000
TO get up that Gag. / went down, and
known the harbor SO intimately, ] soon
found IL. But bore was tx tbe bot
tom of the Gag had fallen out aud be
dollars were sjrewed around IL. We'll, /
jest went aboard ship again, got rny scoop
net an' went down again Then put TIC
dollars oil back 10 the Gag, fAstoned ny
scoop Dct over it and had IL dlawcd up.
So / made my S2OO
''Weu, should just say had oyo
fifty, | guess n great many women, too.
They seem TO be Kind o. fond o. drown
themselves. one o. the queercst cases
can remember w8s that Of watchman nj
North river dock. He had gone Al night
10 bis dock, and the Rext moruin' bic bat
was found lyin in the dock, but be WAS
gong. Wen, they scroped tie river for
/ his body high aud low but cousn't fnd
/ him, They flnt lCr me when they was al
their wIt's ends, alI won't tO hunt him
up. / was good deal pulzItd go Hs.
that be shoulsrt ae aL the bottom If Che
/ river bui 40 lat thought of lo9Iu a'
tho piles Ihcr, surc enough I found
him, with arms and ieEs s5 tightly o.aspc8
around Goo pile ta.t + bod rond deal Of
trouble ia geu'n' t'm oG U bod av.
dart'y fallen .1 the water aDI liisI 10 st'r
uE the pile, aH. l.a ar. e,H rlye ,st y.
fore bee was haIi way op and Dice wa,
. drowned hs.ihcr case, remember.
w1s tRat of b s.H NJ o. Ucl man who wa,
. drowned while bsihu Cn South ferry.
Wei, the la'h.ri iriad everything 90 Let
/ TIC body engaged divers. lad cannon
I bale FREQ into tbo river, 6o that tney
! would s,ir up iho bottom aud tae water ID
force the body gp But it was no use,
The body couldn't be- f9urd. The diver.
gave 10 uP. s1yiu 10 bsd probably bcea
swept oul iosea by thc strong tide running
90 The time. ~ Jest they sent for me.and
I offered mo big reward 10 Gnd the boy.
/ Now The secret of my success in finding
I bodies was that ] always found Out how
. The tide bad stood when one bad got Iost.
/ and went down at the exact turn. prog,
I along The bottom, and always found IL.
+ ! done the samc in this case, but the