River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-07-30
Lost Treasures.

regret that the picturesquely dirty
chiffonnier or ragpicker of Paris threat
ems to become an extinct species in
consequence of the operation of string
ent municipal laws. If it should ever
happen that he should share the fate of
the dodo and disappear from the face
of the Continent of Europe. the enthusi-
asst will most probably be still able to
see him plying his particular vocation
on the streets of Chicago in the early
morning.
In great city like this there are
hundreds of men whose yocations com
pei them to 90 home about the time
when other citizens are preparing to
start out upon their daily labors. No
reference is here intended to those
lOafegs and sharks who reel out from
gambling saloons and surreptitious
drinking dens when dawn is breaking,
and are prepared to do anything that
may rake them in the flying dollar
anything at all, from playing the slick
confidence game to sandbagging some
befogged simpleton who has freely
placed the enemy within his mouth to
steal away his brains. On the con
trarv, the reference is to those toilers
of the night whose business is legiti-
mate; to the reporters and printers who
work for the public chiefly by the mid
night lamp; to the scores upon scores
of respectable men in other professions
who. one way or another, have to find
their bread by night and not by day.
One of these nocturnal laborerS lately
happened TO be Tribune reporter,
and Just before daybreak he could not
help noticing the singular demearor of
certain men who walked slowly along
the principle shopping thoroughfaers
with their eyes bent steadfastly upon
the ground. The majority carried
small coarse bags, and stopped wher-
ever they saw dust-heap, which they
diligently searched. These pickers-up
of unconsidered trifes were evidently
Italians for the most part They
worked the streets in sections, as no
two ever came within block of each
other A policeman happened to be
sauntering along State street, in the
vicinity of the Palmer house, and the
reporter asked him for an explanation
of the mysterious movements of the
men, who looked like desperate MEM
bers of conspirator' chorus.
Them fellcrs?' said the officer,
waving his hand in the direction of a
pair of Italian Searchers; ''why them is
dagos, and they are looking for articles
that folks may have happened to drop
over night. They generally work
State. Madison. and Dearborn streets,
because there the most of the women
do their shopping, and as they are out
the first thing in the morning the
chances are that they may pick up
something that will keep them in com
fort for a couple of months. A little
goes a long way with them dagOs.
Why, | don't believe they spend as
much in a week as YOU or ! or any
other Christian would spend for one
square meal. Do they ever get a good
find? well, yes; once in a while they do.
They may catch on to a ring, or lock
ct. or pair of earrings, and il not long
ago since | heard of one fellow that
picked up a purse containing over a
hundred dollars. 1t was lying just
under a curbstone half way in the
gutter. When he saw he was observed
he thought it wiSest to take it oyer to
the police-station, but it was never
claimed, and he got the dollars. You
/ would be astoniShed to know how
many things women-folks contrive to
/ lose maybe owing to the excitement
4 of buying fancy things, and maybe be-
/ cause in the crowd they get kind OF
/ ratified and careless. The daisy time
/ for the dago-searcher for lost articles is
! in the early spring when the snow be-
/ pins to melt. and then things that have
/ been lost are liable to be picked up by
4 those who make it their special bust
t ness to look for them. They are not
/ ut all particular about what they catch
/ on to. See that fellow there? Well,
/ he's Just picked up an old pair of boots
+ and stuck them in his bag. Hell get
/ some kind of a market on them some
where, and that shows you how some
! of the poor of this city have to live.
/ Neither Won nor | would look at these
/ boots. but there are hundreds who
would be glad to buy them for few
+ cents. All these dago men know where
To find market for almost anything
/ that is put out on the streets. There
I goes another who has picked up what
looks like an old cotton rag-probably
handkerchief that has been al
! trampled over in the mud-but it i,
good enough for him, as all's fish thai
comes to his net.
Are these men worked under the
| padrone SYSTEM?
Il don't know what that IS, replied
the officer. and the reporter explained
the system which prevails in New York
where a small Italian capitalist called
the padrone hires and feeds so many o
his wretched fellow-countrymen anC
vigorously exacts the lions share o
thei~ earnings.
The officer said he did not know
whether the Chicago treasure-trov'
seekers were governed by padrones
but thought they might be, becaus
he'd often noticed men going up an,
speaking to them as if they wer
watching them closely.
A few yards further on the reporte
me one of the young searchers, ant
ventured to ask whether he had
: padrone.
Non, signor.n he replied, as h
grinned broadly; me no have padrone
, me my own boss-no use for padrone
Non. mucha of zee business not do
too mucha povero and no dollar. 5
| saying he scutfled off on his search