Milford chronicle., 1888-02-17
CRIMINALS OF Low TYPE.

CRIMINALS OF LOW T1PE.
Buckshot Taylor is the best known of
the wharf rats, but there are hundreds
who follow in his footsteps. As a rule
they commit no greater crime than petty
larceny. The majority Of the wharf rats
do their work at night and move about on
the water in row boats. Their specially
is the stealing of rope, which is an article
clsy to dispose Of TO junkmen who do
business with shipmasters. If chased by
the harb0r police they abandon their boat
AMI swim, under cover Of the darkness, to
places Of refuge under the wharves. Some
of these fellows makes \ speciality of using
sian1 augers, aud boring through the
h)oring of the docks ana into the sugar
barrels that have been unlOaded from
SHIPS. They empty the sugar into bags,
and then dispose Of it when the oppOrtu-
nifty offers
All these wharf rats do not carry their
pluuder to the stores along South and
West streets. In some cases the plumber is
too bulky, and in other cases the wharf
rats are too well known to risk discovery
by carrying the stolen goods in the street.
Friendly junkmen fill this deficiency.
There is n band of junkmen that goes
from wharf to wharf in boats and buys old
stufIs from the captains of ships. Some
times these junkmen have something 10
sell in the way Of rope, anchor chains and
pulley blocks. The wharf rats await the
coming of these junkmen, and in their
lairs under the wharves make their sales
of stolen property One shipmaster buys
the rope and other stuff stolen from
another ship, and so there is a constant
demand by junkmen for the plumber OBJ
tanned by the wharf rats These degraded
specimens of our civilization have very
little courage aud are of sneaky dis
position. Once in n while they 90 an
honest days work in unloading boats, but
it is only when luck goes against them
and when they must work or starve.
THEIR METHOD OF LIVING.
In the summer months the wharf rats
sleep in row boats under the wharves, or
in the daytime upon the docks. Not a
few Of them who steal at night sneak
upon the summer excursions of local So
cial clubs, and when they are stupid from
drinking beer sleep under the benches to
be found on all excursion barges. When
they find themselves penniless they sweep
out the ginmills that line the river front,
and with the dime they get for their labor
buy coffee and cakes Others fish from
the ends of the piers, and if they catch
a quarter from the liquor store proprie-
tors, who offer ''fine fish chowder'' free
as an inducement for 'longshoremen to
spend five cents for beer or ten cents for
whisky A quarter of u dollar goes a
long way with river crook, for next to
the satisfaction of stealing he finds his
greatest comfort IL chewing the cheapest
kind of tobacco. The wharf rats who
have good fortune divide with their COM
panions who have i'll luck. In this way
the proceeds of q days plunder will make
large number of the thieves happy.
The hundreds that sleep on the piers in
summer have to find ten cent lodging
houses in winter. Such of these as have
not courage to pick pockets or steal from
the stands outside of stores get u little
money in the winter by begging 1t is
not easy to steal from the docks in the
winter, and so 30 per cent. of the wharf
rats have to exist as best they can until
the severity of the weather passes away
and permits them to use the water and
the under side Of the wharves as aids to
their methods Of thieving. These wharf
rats have a great horror of policemen and,
even when not guilty Of any recent crime,
keep away from the vicinity of the blue
coats. \ few Of the river crooks become
professional burglars and in many cases
sneak thieves. Many of them tire OF their
hard experience and ship before the mast,
and natural percentage find death in
the river, temporary place on slab in
the morgue and then rest in potter's
deld.-NeW York Mail aud Express