The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-05-07
NEWARK FISH STORY.
BeIIevilleian Tells a Remark
able Story Apropos of
a Suction Pump.

The Newark Sunday Calf is respon-
sible for the following
Il hear that. you were out fishing last
night, Uncle Jim" said the Suction Pump
to the aged Bellevillian on Wednesday.
80 I was said Uncle Jim; $50 1 was.
| was spearing UP the Second river"
How did you make out?"
"Only just .ollible. Ketched two cells
and q mess of suckers, but spearin' adn't
what It used to be when I was a boy. I
remember the time when, If YOU was
any sort of a hand with the brook spear,
you could getsall the fish two men could
carry Just by wading the brook 'twixt
any two of the ponds. Yes. sir; many's
the time Eve lone the spearing and had
to have two men with feed bags to carry
eff the fish. Them days we got something
besides cells and suckers. We speared
trout and salmon then; but what's the use
of me telling you anything? You just
put me down as the dad fetchedest old
liar in the county when I'm telling you
nothing but the sober nth Look how
you acted about that matter of the Belle
vile bank I just amt going to talk to
you any more
Now, Uncle Jim, that isn't right. Here
I am looking for information. and ! come
to the man, with the best memory and
by long odds the best story teller in the
county, and you throw me down. You are
the only man in the township that I can
| depend upon for straight "reminiscences of
old Belleville. and you want to shut me
off. I wanted to ask you about the old
time counterfeiting business in this town,
but, of course. l will have to give it up
now
Whats that? Counterfeitfng? There
wasn't any such thing in BelleviAe."
.But history says that there was" pro-
tested the Pump.
s'Tain't history, if it says that re-
| marked Uncle Jim. 'It's just loose talk,
and comes from some jealous old-timers.
There wasn't any counterfeiting. 1t was
| just a legitimate business Of making coin
for a lot of people that needed EN- and
couldn't get enough from their Govern
ment. Some of them measly South Amer
lean governments never would make
| enough money for their people, and we
just took holt and supplied them by the
| barrel. You see, we had the rolling mills
| and copper works here, and we took the
South American copper and turned it into
| coins for them. The coins were just as
good, or a little better, than the Govern
ments turned out. and there was no law
| against making them. I remember a case
| where a diesinker was arrested for max
| ing pistareens, which passed for about
sixteen cents even around here. He was
tried in the Supreme Court at Trenton
and was acquitted, because a pistareen
| was no part of a Spanish milled dollar.
That meant that you couldn't make any
dollar or fraction, and we kept on making
them The coins were taken TO New
| same vessels brought back opp from
| the ships that traded with Peru, Bolivia
| and either South American ports, where
the natives needed money and liked to get
it cheap. This coming was done by firms
of business men in good standing, and
in the light of day. or course there might
have been some fellows making United
| States coins on the sly, but that happens
| anywhere and everywhere even now, and
shouldn't be held up as a reproach to
Belleville. Long about the hard times in
1887 we had a big business up here in maxi
ing limitations of copper pennies called
| tokens. / Ia seen hundreds of barrels
of them shipped. II used to be said that
there was pretty near a cents worth of
| copper in them, and nobody lost money in
taking them, so long as they could be
passed again. There wasn't much straight
American money floating around in those
| days, and people were glad to get any
thing that looked like a coin"
"There used to be a great deal Of manu-
1dctuiHi5 uoAc = D H@iu
aDeed there did,: More thai you would
dream of now There was a time when
we thought that Belleville was going to
be a greater town thar Newark on ac-
| count of the water power here, but | guess
the steam engine had a good deal 10 do
with the falling off of manufacturing
business here, that and the Jealousy OF
| Newark people"
Were they so jealous of your"
Jealous amt no name for X. They
were worse than a tribe of Indians. Every
little While a dam would be pulled down
in the might or a mill sot fire to and you
accident. Ny old dad used to say hat 1t
was N~ewarkers that blew up our powder
| mill, which stood where DeWitt'S wire
cloth factory is, and was about the first
| ~gunpowder mill in this country We had
lots Of first things in B~elleyille. and
amongst them was the first leather split
ting machine. Then it was claimed the
built in Belleville and tried on the Pas
sale. The first Scotch snuff made In this
| country was ground in an old mill on Sec
ord River. and ore of the first calico
| printing works followed Ii. Then we had
the first copper mines In this country
you astonish me, said the Pump. Il
had no idea. that Belleville was such a
celebrated place.
That's nothing at all. Them Is facts
that everybody knows. but It isn't every
body; tina knows that the first typewriter
lathe, the first ice cream freezer, shoepeg
/ cutter, metallic life boat, folding bed
combination lock. typeset ting machine
and fountain pen, were all products or
Bellevi1le ingenuity. It amt everybody
that knows that