The St. Johns herald., 1895-11-23
WATCHING FOR DEAD HEN.
Tie Grim Summer Occupation of Niagara
 Falls Fishermen.


 Tlse Grim Summer Occupation of Niagara
 Falls Eishermen.
 There exists at Niagara falls and along the river From that point to Lake Ontario an industry, the Elze of which cannot probably be found in the civil izcd world. I.l Lis c.,aracte- of l.oS..e R.derhocd, Dickens has portrayed man who el5ed out an existence by rob- bing the dead bodies of unfortunates who had lactdeath in Inc muddy waters of the Thamc5 or had been thrown into the stream to conceal greater crime, but to him and his kind the cCrpses had no interest, aside from any val ua bles they might have upon their per sons. At the falls, however, dead bodies have marketable value, and it is the bus ess of hunters for ''1oaters, 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 Bct 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 found 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, ,coElfortable 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 c0roners that creates the demand for fioaters 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 a number of men exist on what they make in picking up foaters. The falls have always been a favorite spot for suicides, and many mysteri- ous disappearance has been solved long after by the finding of foater 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 foater hunters.
 Youngstown is an especially good spot for the finding of foaters. Here there is an eddy that brings the bodies al~, %< c1A 1,O 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 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 inst made fnd
 The men are mostly fishermen and longshoremen, 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 a hoatcr, 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, however, are satisfied to get five dollars at time, which is said to be the commission al- lowed by the officials for new business.