, 1885-08-01
TIE ZINC Of rAE nuaPs
An Irlsh Sovereign WIN Euiess IA Peaes
y Host Of italian subject.
fNet. York Stu

y Host Of italian subject.
New York Suu
Years ago "A large portion Of the Tenth
ward In South Brooklyn was known rs
"ihc A.cadows. " The land was barely
higher than the level OF the bay. md, was
at times over owed for a mile. Now II is
rrihIroned BIZ streets and avenues. and
the few remnants of the old ronds ard
hollows are being rapidly filed in by the
ash.fri man. the : excayator. aud
the street clcaeer. These dumps are
FIRE icnted by rag pickers. who ran
sacA every load taken there. bor'
merely Irish. now nearly all are Italians
With them every morning is an old Irish,
man. who. rain or shine. appears with a
dilapldnled Ii rse and "A still more dilapi
dated wagon. and remains until dusk or
unit his wagon Is loaded with the tiotsam
and icisam Of the streets, He is known
Tvs Mike. the King of the Dumps. = His
ragged itaiian vassals and customers speak
Of him as I'll SIgnor I~rishamanna.
10 hen the reporter approached he was
chafiering with mn Italian over a piece Of
lead pipe the latter had unoarthcd in the
dump 4 few coins were handed over.
and the metal was pitched into the an
cient wagon. There nothing like hu
man nature. " said Mike. Thin Fyetal.
ians ARE all thieves. and that's how |
mike my money out Of them That fel.
low has got his bag full Of fifty or sixty
pounds Of paper and rags, and now hi
finds that chunk Of pipe II il was you
or me we'd have some friend
carry 1t home for us. But not
much will The kyetalian. He
wouldn't trust his own brother. and so he
sells 1t 10 me for Is cents. lie didn I
know what he was selling. II was lead
pipe. but 1t was lined with solid block Tin.
al get about 20 cents for il. Them Eye.
talians sometimes find gold ind sill ey,
bat that they never sell TO me. very
thing else they do. One day one of them
came to me with a watch chain he had
hooked out. Lead, no ~silverg' he said.
looked at 1t. and il looked very queer.
thought 1t was pewter. but 1t was too
heavy. But | answered at a guess and
said; No good. kind of lead. He
wanted a half dollar. but l got it for u
quarter. | didn't know what the STUFF
was, and on my way home that day
stopped in at Il jewelers. store and asked
them They said il was n renrh metal
called platinum. and was worth $50. |
have been laying for the same stuff ever
since. but ha e never run across it a sec
ond tune
What do | buy Mostly Metals. iron,
Steel. lead. tin. bra =. pewter. solder. to.
mato. cans. wire. and the like. Then [
huy rags and parer and all sorts of odds
and ends- tne time ! bought a small
bronze Statue of Luther got It for 30
cents. and when | had cleaned 1t up |
sold 1t for -. The paper and cotton 90
To the paper mills; cloth. worn-out clothes.
and wooden rags to the hat manufactur-
ers; tomato cans, tin clippings. and every
thing with tin in it to a mar who has a
furnace 10 Jersey lone here. He melts
out all The tin and sells II. and then h
casts what is left into sash. weights and
other cheap castings For zinc. bronze,
copper. and pewter there's always a good
demand. and they bring first rate prices
There are lots Of new trades TO day
which Use up things hat formerly We're
no good TO any one. Rub er, bone, ivory.
leather, horn. celluoid. cane and umbrella
heads. and old bottles. all pay for the
picking. OF course they don I pay much
ierhaps they average 81 a day, but that's
big money for an old yetaiian woman.
who lives on so cents n week. Them Eye
Italians will do anything. They're worse
than pig-tailed Cinnamon. But | don't
growl much. In the old days. when
there was no ono on the dump but Irish
l made only a couple of dollars a day,
and | was young and active. Now the
Eyetalians have driven every body out of
the business. and ii is a very cold day
when | don't make q 50 note.