Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-31

Row the City Unwittingly Contributes
TO the support of Certain Negroes.
From Tie Macon lGal Tal<oraDA.


From the 1acon tGa.l Telegraph.
PEOPLE that visit the cotton compress
and use Poplar street as their route in
dong so. have not failed to notice a
mighty trash heap which lies in a TRAN
gular shaped space among the network
OF railroad tracks little west of the front
OF the electric light engine house.
rms trash heap has grown to it's pres
ent large proportions by reason OF the con-
Ilnuai dumping of the contents OF the city
scaVenger carts upon it. Old boxes of
every description, old tin cans, waste
paper, straw, old iron and old copper, old
brass; In fact, anything that has become
OLD enough to be thrown into the streets
ali are gathered up day after day by the
city seavengers and carted to this general
receptacle for trash. Nobody seems to
care that this mass OF ugly matter lies not
only in the CITY limits, but plainly In sight
OF passengers that enter or leave the city
ey either the Central or the Georgia rail-
road. 1t Is convenient to the scavengers,
and that seems to be all that is consid-
cred. The trash heap is there, and most
OF IL Is there TO stay, until some explorer
OF the future shall delve among the ruins
OF Macon, strike upon pile of old tin cans
ana ponder In wonder over the curious
AT So'clock yesterday morning a repor--
ter stoo0 upon the railroad embank-
ment overlooking the trash heap, and
found twenty persone engaged in looking
for lost treasures. They were all negroes.
-Four were females, six were men and the
others boys. A party of the latter stood
around blazing fire, which they had
built to take off the sharp edge of the
mornings cold. When they saw the re-
porter take out small red notebook they
held WHISPERED consultation and then
scampered away and hid themselves un-
der bridge.
Dem little niggers is FOOLS" one of the
females said. obey links dat white man
is de boss OBJ de railroad come to take DER
names fur de p'lice."
'COme back, little nigs. cried the re-
porter. "There's nobody here to hurt
you.''
One by one the little nigs crawled from
under the bridge and resumedthelr places
around the fire.
The reporter scrambled down the en-
bankment and entered into conversation
with the treasure hunters.
what do you find in the trashe" he
asked one of the little nigs.
"Heap o. things" was the very vague
answer.
"Whst do you do with themw
1--WE sells 'em. All de rags what we
picks up we sells ter de rag men whut
goes roun' wild de wagon blowin' big tin
horn. De Iyun an brass we sells ter de
sheen shops. We fms err spoon, some
times, sho' 'nough silver spoon. We sells
dat, too. One niger boy name 'Spsr-ribs'
done fOun' fO' dollars jes' beyant dat ole
piece o. stove, de udder day. He done
quit comm here now"
HE made his fortune and retired, did
hep
mo, sab; he feared de p'lice ak him
fur de money"
"How much do you make here in a
week ?"
"Makes bout 50 eff we work stiddy.
Mos o. de time we dom work stiddy."
In a conversation with one of the men,
the reporter learned that one negro wO-
man, who has been seeking lost treasures
in the trash heap for several years, had
made enough money to purchase for her.
sell and children a comfortable home.
Others have made good ivings for years.
"What season of the year is most
profitable to those who gain a livelihood
from the trash pilep'
ode winter, sah," the man replied
"Folks gifts pOw'ful keerless in de winter
time. Dey often throws silver spoons an
SIGH like out in de trash piles in front OBJ
deir gates when dey empties ashes. De
coli make people keerless. Dey's got mo-
money in de winter, too, an pears like
dey dom keer so much bout de waste"
"What~wOuld you give the city tor the
exclusive right to dig in the trash heapW
'"BOut five bundled dollars er year,
sah."
The information which the reporter OBJ
tanned at the trash heap illustrated the
truth of q saying sometimes found in a
school boys copy book: zone mans
waste is another mans gam"
There IS not the smallest doubt but that
at leas; $500 year are extracted from the
trash heap by the negroes that dig there
with more or less regularity every day.
One of these days somebody Will buy the
dumpings of the scavenger carts from the
city and make fortune out of trash.