The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-08-29
WATCHING FOR DEAD MEN.
The Grim Summer Occupation of Niagara
Fishermen.

/ Fishermen.
There exists at Niagara Falls and
along the river from that point to
Lake Ontario an industry The like of
which cannot probably be found in
the civilized world. In his character
OF Rogue Riderhood, Dickens has
portrayed man who eked out an
existence by robbing the dead bodies
of unfortunates who had met death
in the muddy waters of the Thames
| or had been thrown into the stream
to conceal a greater crime, but to
him and his kind the corpses had no
interest aside from any valuables
they might have upon their persons.
At the falls, however, dead bodies
have marketable value, and it is
the business of hunters for float
ers, as they are called, that consti-
tutes so unique An industry.
Yet the occupation is perfectly
legitimate one. The bodies are not
despoiled in any way by the men
who pursue this occupation, and
there is little doubt that they are as
honest a set as can be found any,
where. They do not sell the bodies
to medical colleges or for any pur-
pose not recognized by LAWN fact,
it might be said they do not sell
them at all, yet they realize often
comfortable incomes from this
source.
What makes this possible is the
fact that there are two nations on
the two banks of the Niagara river.
In the towns along the river on both
sides there are coroners, and it is
the rivalry among these coroners
that creates the demand for hoaters
and makes them q marketable com.
modify. The coroners receive their
pay by fees, SO much for every in.
quest, and are naturally anxious to
learn of any new cases.
The annual number of cases is
large, so large that number of men
exist on what they make in picking
up foaters. The falls have always
been a favorite spot for suicides.
and many mysterious disappear
ance has been solved long after by
the finding of foater in the Mag
ara river which is identified as the
missing one. Nearly every body that
is drowned off the shores at Buffalo
eventually finds its way to the falls,
and once over the brink of the preci-
pice it is soon picked up by some
one of these f1oater hunters.
Youngstown is an especially good
spot for the finding of floaters. Here
there is an eddy that brings the bod
les in close to shore, and often they
become becalmed, as it were, for
days, long enough to rise to the sur
face and be picked up instead of
drifting out into the lake. Two or
three men make this their regular
hunting ground, and passersby on
the rivers brink often hear a cry of
JOY arising from the depths of the
gorge, which on inquiry proves to
be the shout of one of these hunters
who has just made a find.
The men are mostly fishermen and
longshoremen, who fill in the dull
season in the winter by fishing
through the ice. They are a hardy
set, rough in appearance and man
ners and dulled by their long asso-
citation with corpses, SO that they
do not feel any Qualms at handling
the most decomposed body. AS soon
as one of their number finds a float
or he anchors it in some safe spot by
the riverside, where it will be con-
cealed by the overgrowing bushes,
and sets out to notify the coroner.
One man, it is said, always waits
until he has three bodies before send
ing for the authorities, saving him
self two trips to the coroner's Office
and receiving his emolument in lar
ger sums by this means. Most of
them, however, are satisfied to get
IS at a time, which is said to be the
commission allowed by the officials
for new buSiness.-Buffalo Express.