Arizona silver belt., 1895-06-29
LOADING COTTON.
Tho Work of Negroes on tho
 steemshipa Down South.
Great BEul Required in the Handling of tho Heavy Ialcs--rhe Men Always Cheerful and SmgtnG Whiio
 at Labor.

cotton Shlp-tO HI every cubic loot or | freight room with the awkward rec 1 taugulur bales-and some men are so ! much more skilled than others in this ! science that it often makes difference 1 of 100 or 300 bales in Q 2.o0O-ton ship 1 and that amount of loss ip the profit of l thc voyage. Therefore, the stevedores l and screwmen receive big wages, per | haps the largest that are paid to negroes anywhere in the world, for
 most of tho longshoremen in the South | Atlantic arc of that race, says tho Chi | oago Record.
 In New Orleans they are nearly all | white men Italians, Swodes and Irish men and the riots that we read about in the papers were due to the introduc- ton of negro packers and sorowmen from Galveston to take tho place of the ! whites
 The screwmep arc divided into gangs of five, with a foreman, and the whole arc under the direction of chief ! steyedorc, who is usually a white man, and acts as superintendent of the dock Each gang occupies hatehway of the steamer, and five men are all that can conveniently work in such narrow space.
 , The cotton comes from the plauta- l ton on the cars or upon ilatboats, The ! bales as they leave the plantation are loosely packed generally four feet | high-aud Che first thing when they ' reach the dock is to tumble them into 1 hydraulic press, which reduces Jhojr lul's by one.half and makes 1t possible Co pack twice as many in the hold of q steamer
 Tho trucl5mcu pass back and forth between the pile of bales and Che ship i'm procession, rapidly and in perfect time, and it is an awkward and "wuth- less nigrer, as tho foreman said, who cycr touches a bale with hia hands, some ui them put on iaunty airs,
 rilse attitudes, and introduce fancy stops as if they were at a cake walk, | particularly when spectators are watch ilr but thot is uupgoicssional and tue | serious and sclfTOspoCgm truelgman totes his bales without trying to at- tract cta.tcntion. They sing as they go, l, for the life of mo could not catch ! tlc words, and when in au interval ] | s,scd ono Co repoa. the verses he re- i. pied;
 ~Dsy aint none, Dat wuz jcs' de ! truckers song,
 ] The refrain sounded like Oh rio rily oh, Oh rio rily oh, and it yas evidently 1 hing bat ribhcrish lJ JaVpears that ! hg several gangs have their own par
 -u.ar songs and I judged from le nat
 
 ! usually without maaai9 s, cr aila- ! iv s2rt-s of ravthwical sounds with ] -armluat0as Chat rhvlea, invented by ! a1ua one of their number and sung to 1 .am...-l ,.i-s
 ! Inc cg -nan drops the bale 9 tho edge of he l1el, or tosscs it by @ jerk ! ci the handles of his truck over the ] guaUale of thc vessel; then a man ad- ] sa,s ghegrlp lppliuEiron and 5hout5g zig ! who turns bis lever. and, ho.9tiug the ] 54la into taa air lets it swiftly down ! into She hold where lhe live aruists are ! ai ing Co pack it away.
 ! It is h9t work b1iJw, and tho packers ] and s-rETmcn arc usually blrcfoote3 l and naked above tho waists, while peg 1 3,ra,ion rolls down theu massive ! lg es Each has a hook in lis hand,
 and Jley s2ize and to5s the JJJp5lld l balQs as Japanese jugglcr play with I plates
 Five hooks arc in tho cotton the in- ! 1saut it touches bo.toE, and they seem ! % work like 9 slot machine, for one | does not pull ono way and another al- ! other, but by united si-apltcacoas cf-
 Fort the great package is lifted and
 s.1ps into the very place where tho
 boss wants t to go.
 Then at intervals they got out a big
 jacEscrew that must weigh 800 pounds
 and o-owd the bales together uatil the
 hold of tho ship is ono solid mass. One
 cnl Of the jl1.Isercy i5 placed against
 Q bale and tho other end against Q
 .c-o Of heavy oak timber four or i've
 ln-aCs aqazrc, which i5 ug5ehcd to keep . tIo screw from clipping, end c1a De in-
 cinc1 against the side Of tho ship or
 oaH oi it's slaIaaionGi co tI15 good
 rurchaso nay Do obtained, Tho sercw
 worked by a double crank, and one
 mon holds ic in position while the other
 fur tarn. That operation i5 called
 "uosiaG up."
 All this is done to Q musical accom-
 panimcnt-I suppose negro always
 sings when he ,yoril5-but tho songs of
 the ssrewIucn ure different from those
 of tho tcuskron, and thc air tho, goes
 vi.h the jtekscraw ia not the same that
 i1 5uug when tho scrcwTnen are placing
 thc bale in position.
 These stovcdorc5 have work only j. about six months in the year. but while
 they arc Gt is they receive good pay.
 They work by tho piece tiios is 50
 much money for storing away 90 many ' bales and t.6 foreman, who gets the
 job and selects his Oau associates gets . onc.bglf more than they.
 Daring be cotton season, for l2 or q
 hours work, h9 win avcravc ST5J Q day
 and they S5, if they are slsilIul and cn- 1 --Tl5ie The trucl5or3 arc paid by tho
 dou and make from SIPS 10 5L5o.
 natwcca seasons tho arcwmen cn, ! ce~c ia otlcr occupations, cultivating
 rau,cas doing plantation work, or fol- l 'y"llg a1y trade that thay may have ! learned; but they arc universally re. < raried as superior beings lil;o bull- 1 lChtcra in spain and baseball players [ iu inc United States.
 | X bale ol cotton weighs from 950 10
 500 poUnd9, and sl.iilful packers can l get fsJm 9,O00 to 1o,090 bales in 6 ,59)-
 ton ship. Tho number of balcs D ship ! will carry increases rapidly with it's 1 tonnage. Tor example, a 1,oJ0ton ship
 viii carry G,00J baic4; @ l,500ton ship,
 0,o00; a 2,0G)-ion s,Fo. il, ,ss), and 3,00J-
 ton ship So,0a9 balga
 AN INDIANS AWFUL FATE.
 tiia Alcoholic Ereath Caught Tire and He
 Uns rnraod to Death.
 The manufacture of distilled spirits