Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-07-06
ASTOWAWAY SLEUTH
ODD VOCATION OF AN OLD SAN FRAN
CISCO BoATMAN.

water front character" and his busl-
ness is the sleuthing of stowaways.
He doesn't run his prey to earth,
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
dozen variations all of which smack of
| the salt, salt sea. These are some of
his aliases: Wharf Rat, Water Fowl,
Sea Dog, Whaler, Old Man Jack and
1 The Boatman.
His stock in trade consists of his
shrewdness in ''spotting stow" and a
battered but seaworthy old boat which
through successive seasons. The towns
attractions do not lure him from his
long accustomed haunts among the
masts, figureheads, piers and piles,
sails, nets, strlngers 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 yenturesome creature of
chance, the stowaway, who would
fain voyage out of port without the
previous formality of paying for pas
senger privileges.
"Tve been in this business a long
time," he said, ian | can centrally
spot a stow
Different ones has different meth
DDS. Some hangs round the docks
afore a ship sails. offerin to lend a
hand. or proposln to work a 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 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 loollin about 'em that it
gives 'em dead away-leastways it
does to n person who's spent a good
many years studyin their kind.
"Others. though wait till the last
minute, then come lustIin along as if
they was too rushe& to buy ticket
or as if they had one in their pocket.
Why, I've even been asked by 'em to
row 'em out to ship after she'd got
clear out into the stream If a skipper
happens to be good natured, he'll slack
up an take passengers aboard An
after all that bother I've had to bring
'em back again. for nary red did they
have.
"This class of deadheads Is centrally
supplied with clothes. grlpsaclzs. hat.
boxes, steamer trunks. canes, umbrel-
las, cameras. foldin chairs an some
times a servant"
"Not a valetY
"Sure. That's what we sailors call
putin on terrible lot Of dog. Them's
the fellers that always has friends
'mong guvnors, raiahs, lords, dukes
an consuls. an likewise money to burn
but always across the water some
where's. don't mind the men, but |
hate to tackle a woman"
w oiHeu SlOWdWdgSt
''Sure. When the Klondike boom
was on, used to bring in as many
women as men. Some was only
girls-little slim things, goin to the
icy gold mines with no more outfit
than the thin clothes they stood In.
"'rhe easiest part of the slows plan
in maxim an escapeis the gittin aboard.
Nobody knows who's who the day
q ships leavin 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 ''All visitors ashorev
given, the gangplank withdrawn,
the last rope loosened and the screw
turned, the vessels interior is care
fully explored. Meanwhile Captain
Jacks weather beaten boat is speed
ing in its wake. If a stowaway be
discovered 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, "a
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
Meiggs' wharf. It's a heap easier for
me an for the slows There's more
lumber there an fewer folks to stare.
Some of 'em turns out all right, an
some is afterward fished out of the
bay. Then they 90 to the coroner
A dead man. it seems. is worth more
to the city than live one"
And thus it is that the stowaways
sooner or later all Journey with Cap
tain Jack-some to begin life all over
again, others to lie for a brief time
on marble slab at the morgue
marked "Unidentified"-Sa Fran.
cisco Examiner.