Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-17

however, after the manner of other
hunters of human game He runs it to
water.
| This weather hardened, wrinkled man
is at once the terror and the friend of
would be stowaways. He is known as
Captain Jack, but his name has half a
dozen variations, all of which smack OF
the salt, salt sea. Thess are some of
his aliases: Wharf Rat. Water Fowl,
Sea Dog, Whaler, Old Man Jack and
The Boatmau.
His stock in trade consists of his
shrewdness in ''spotting a stow aud a
battered but seaworthy old boat which
rides the water by night and day
through successive seasons. The towns 5
attractions 10 not lure him from his
long accustomed haunts among the
mastS. figCi;.heads. piers and piles,
sails nets, StringerS and multitudinouS
varieties Of merchandise that crowd
the bays edge.
Captain Jack came out of his sea
shell of reserve long enough the other
day to tell bit of what he knows
about that venturesome creature of
chance, the stowaway, who would
fain voyage out of port without the
previous formality of paying for pas
senger privileges.
1--WE been in this business a long
time" he said. "an l can centrally
spot 4 stow
Different ones has different meth
DDS. Some hangs round the docks
afore Il ship sails. offerin to lend a
hand, or proposin to work I passage
somewheres. When they find this
don't go the way they want it to, they
commence to talk big-inquire bout
sea weather. the cost of Il cruise. the
time it takes to git to the islands or
Alaska or Panama. They're always
just a-goin to make the trip. But
there's somethin so hungry an home
sick an tired Iookin about 'em that it
gives lem dead away-leastways it
does to a person who's spent a good
many years studyin their kind
Others, though, wait till the last
minute, then come hustlin along as if
they was too rushed to buy a ticket
or as if they had one in their pocket
Why, I've even been asked by 'em to
row 'em out to IL ship after she'd got
clear out into the stream. If n skipper
happens TO be good natured. he'll slack
up an take passengers aboard. An
Of f+nr oil I,,t
'em back again. for nary red did they
have.
This class of deadheads is centrally
supplied with clothes. gripsacks, hat
boxes, steamer trunks, canes, umbrel-
las, cameras. foldin chairs an some
times servant
Not valet?''
"Sure. That's what we sailors call
putin on terrible lot of dog. Them's
the fellers that always has friends
'mong guvnors. rajahs, lords, dukes
an consuls. an likewise money to burn
but always across the water some
where's. | don't mind the men, but l
hate to tackle woman
women stowaways:'
Sure. When the Klondike boom
was on. | used to bring in as many
women as men. Some was only
girls-little slim things, gotn to the
icy gold mines with no more outfit
than the thin clothes they stood i'll.
'''rhe easiest part of the slows plan
in maxi an escapeis the gittin aboard.
Nobody knows who's who the day
ships Ieavin port If she's crowded
so much the better. The stow can
hide in the hold without bein spied
But it's mighty hard to git past the
Heads, for by that time the ships
been searched an the slows yanked out
on deck
Captain Jack spoke truly. The
stowaway who passes the Heads has
run the gantlet safely-unless an in
coming vessel be at hand to convey
the intruder back again.
When the final gong has been sound
ed, the warning "Al visitors ashorew
given, the gangplank withdrawn,
the last rope looscned and the screw
turned. the vessels interior is care
fully explored. Meanwhile Captain
Jacks weather beaten boat is speed
ing in its wake. If stowaway be
discovered a signal is sent from the
pilots bridge and Captain Jack is
quickly alongside. A rope ladder is
lowered, and toward it the purser or
other officer and his aids escort the
discounted ''stow."
Every day. continued Jack, 81
fetch in men an women that want to
git away. They're broke. an thought
they'd try their luck in some other
place. | lump most of 'em off at
aIeiggs' wharf. Its a heap easier for
Inc an for the slows. There's more
lumber there an fewer folks to stare.
Some of 'em turns out all right, an
ZONE is afterward fished out. of the
bay. Then they go to the coroner. g.
y dead man, it seems, is worth more
to the city than live one"
And thus ii is that the stowaways
sooner or later all journey with Cap
tain .Iack-some to begin life all over
again. others to lie for brief time
OH !, marble slab at the morgue
marked Unidentified" San Fran
cisco Exa miner
Pre-emntarJ