The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-06
SECRETS OF THE HARB0R.
STORIES OF NEW YoRK's UNDER
CURRENT AND WATER GATE.

The Most Expert hINer AheNes IN
the WorId-DanGerous Work of
che HarbOr POIice-MakiDg Money
Erom the Poor UnfOrtunates"
who Are Found Dead-PrecOcious
xoBpg RascaIs Who Steal Fish.
Robbine the SaiIOrs-Big Fees for
Bontmen.
New York, Aug. 4-There is no hamlet
IN the United States so remote that it
ought not to be interested in New York
barb5r. And there is no person, from
the bootblack in Seattle TO the richest
ranch owner in Texas, from the Missouri
mountain girl to the best dressed woman
of fashion in Savannah who is not af-
fa-lel by our European trade in some
wav. however slightly New York har-
bor5 waters bear messages of supplies
every year to or from pretty nearly every
human being in all America.
These are the busiest Gays of the year
there.
Ii is a queer place. More than 10000
men and women are engaged in doing
your business, and nine, for US In New
York harbor, and nowhere in the world
are there stranger people than may be
found among them. And yet New York
harbor has had no historian. Dickens
wrote of London's Thames, and Hugo,
Dumas and a dozen others have told the
story of the Seine of Paris; but New
Yorks great harbor and its two rivers
with enough anchorage ground for every
vessel aioat on all the oceans in the
world. and with over sixty miles of docks,
has not been recognized by the great ones
who have told true stories.
II is the under current of life about
the harbor which are more interesting
and being under currents, they are, some
of them, as dark and devious as the black
bottom waters Of the rivers which touch
the oOze and twist and turn among the
Spiles below the docks.
dark night Two men creep carefully
to a slightly remote water front such as
that of Astoria or Bayonne. They SLOUGH
and Turk along until they find small
boat unguarded. Silently they slip its
moorngs, crawl slowly in and row out to
the deep channels where ships pass They
wait there, drifting, until a schooner
bound out to sea comes near, with sails
set or tOWed by a steam tug. From her
stern a rowboat or dingy is trailed by
rope. The silent watchers become ami
mated. They pull quickly but quietly be-
tween the small boat and the passing
schooners stern. They cut the line. The
schooner passes on. The men have set
themselves up in trade They have Sc
cured their first and most important tool.
started In Trade.
They conceal their acquisition under
some dock and carefully return the first
stolen boat TO its original moorings before
daylight 1t has been stolen too near
home and they would be in danger of ar
rest If they kept it. But the schooner
which owned the second one has gone to
sea, and the theft cannot be reported be-
fore they have had plenty of time to alter
the appearance of their prize by tar, by
paint, or by mud so completely that there
Will be little chance of capture.
lhey are perfectly equipped now for
river thevery.
Jerry McAu.ey who has turned from
me leadership of a desperate gang of river
thieves to become a useful missionary
among the sailors, tells how he and one
OF his boy chums in this way got their
start IN the business which they pursued
so successfully for many years. These
ooys with their boat, became the nucleus
OF what was afterward known as the
Efankhn dock gang of harbor thieves
thelr rendezvous was under dock at the
loot of Franklin street, where the aes-
demonstrated by elegant furnishings. The
expensive carpet was stolen from the cabin
VI paIaual steamboat, and the chairs
n anu SOFAS came from whatever craft were
Aot sulileienuy guarded The pace was
nuPy Hghted by lanterns taken from boats
and piers
When the leader and his young accom-
4 E"e We're new at the business. before thew
aad learned the larger way of gagging or
81 ,aii'9a Sglng the night watch of a pier or
"sSel ehey used to loiter on the docks. and
Sheh opportunity offered roll a barrel or
oA 81 goods into the water. One would
"aitlng down the tide" with their
81 2'l ana towed their plumber to the Frank
"N Nock under cover of the night As If
'S not always easy to tell by the looks
q package whether it would float or
q tlN' they lost many of the things which
,S jumped from piers. But this diff
'5 was overcome TO a considerab Bile ex-
"aeh young oysterman Joined them
Anu suggested the use of oyster tcngs. In
r a'us 'his gang became so expert in the va
II ,'ouS methods of graphing that il made
10 Inference to them whether property
~ NJ 10 the bottom or not. It@was only
ny" women had been admitted 10 this
t'OezFous that the noise of midnight or
NJ attracted the attention of the police
aegN OF course, the place was no longer
Ep1s as business headquarters.
tlIt ingenuity OF these tUleNeS
ous lahtly they steal wines and liquors
sos me docks in a way which almost de
r,s io"poat puts under a pier in the dark
sr. e51pants are provided with a barrel
i lohS auger. The rest is simplicity
t A hole bored through the floor of
re per and into a barrel of anything
any," VIII run transfers the property to
w. owners, and II they manage TO evade
Il e-I pohce patrol they have no difficulty
XIX ,n Matchmen on the piers. Nor do they
M much difficulty in disposing of a bar
nr, ioI instance, of wine or spirits at he
''ee winch they can sell with good profits.
Sometimes IA Murder.
n ara '''te are many OF these thieves. They
Nh cunning ana often desperate. They
e 49, =" man occasionally in spite of the
stts5 police force. Four murders we're
n M .ouled to them last year. And there
de- police are well organized and work
o,le'1'cly hard. Their work must not
IN When darkness comes, and il is in
~, Weather that they are most needed.
rra.. y 20 heavily armed ana sometimes the