San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-08-31
WATCHING FOR DEAD MEN.
The Grim Summer Occupation of Niagara
Falls Fishermen.

The Grim Summer Occupation of Niagara
Falls 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 civil
lied world. In his character of Rogue
Riderhood, Dickens has portrayed
man who elxed out an existence by rob-
bling 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 greater crime
but to him and his kind the corpses
had no interest, aside from any val
uables they might have upon their per-
sons. At the falls, however, dead
bodies have marketable value, and it
is the business of hunters for "hoaters,"
as they are called, that constitutes so
unique an industry.
Yet the occupation is a perfectly
legitimate one, says the Buffalo Ex-
press. 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 set as can be
1ounu anywhere.
They do not sell the bodies to medical
colleges or for any purpose not recog-
nized by law; in 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 floaters and makes them
marketable commodity. The coroners
receive their pay by fees, so much for
every inquest, 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 hoaters.
The falls have always been favorite
spot for suicides, and many mysteri.
GUS disappearance has been solved long
after by the finding of f1oater in the
Niagara 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 of
these f1oater hunters.
Youngstown is an especially good
spot for the finding of foaters. Here
there is an eddy that brings the bodies
in close to shore, and often they be-
come becalmed, as it were, for days,
long enough to rise to the surface and
be picked up instead of drifting out
into the lake. Two or three men make
this their regular hunting ground, and
passers-by on the rivers bank often
hear 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 inst made find.
The men are mostly fishermen and
1ongshoremen, who fill in the dull
season in the winter by fishing through
the ice. They are hardy set, rough
in appearance and manners, and dulled
by their long association with corpses
so that they do not feel any qualms at
handling the most decomposed body.
AS soon as one of their number finds
foater, 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 sending for
the authorities, saving himself two
trips to the coroner's office and receiv-
ing his emolument in larger sums by
this means Most of them boyvavar ara
satisfied to get five dollars at a time,
which is said to be the commission al
lowed by the officials for new business.