New-York tribune., 1900-07-15
NO MORE RIVER THIEVES.
THE SPECIAL CLASS STAMPED OUT BY
THE RIVER POLICE.
WHAT LITTLE STEALING is DONE ON THE

"A0|hS ana nave carried away much valuable
property This news item, which appeared on
the day after the Hoboken disaster caused much
comment and Inquiries as to the class of criri-
nails named in the item made by many citi-
zens- The man who is probably tier qualified
TO answer these inquiries than any other person
In New-Yorll is Captain Z. O. Smith, OF the river
police, whose headquarters are at Pier A. North
River The members of the police force who
serve under him the guardians of the river
front and patrol beat siXty-five miles in length.
This beat extends from Mount St Vincent
down to Sandy Hook. and then back the
other side to City Island thus encircling Man
haitian Island and including Staten Island. Six
ty-five men. steamer five steam launches
and small fleet OF rowbOats make up this police
navy, which has a sub-statiOn in East One-hun-
dred-and-twenty-s -second-st.. where twenty of the
men. two launches and some Of the rowboats are
stationed
Captain Smith smiled when he the ar
ticle in question. and said that there was no
doubt that junkmen become active when there
IS. wreck, and that thieves hire boats and
swarm about a wreck as they would about the
ruins of a hotel or store destroyed by fire if they
are allowed 10 do
'eThey we're around the Saale, the Main ana the
Bremen IL large numbers" said captain Sml'h
"and we had much difficulty with them, but they
were not river thieves any more than Iaho
tfieves-they We're simply thieves VINO were
willing to risk much to gain a little. The TACT
is, the specialists in crime known as river
thieves who were once a big factor in the crIni-
nal world. have ceased to exist. They are stiH
with Ms nut they have become general practl-
TONERS. Rope. scrap iron and junk Of all kinds
are picked up daily by people who make IL ller
business but they are junhmen"
one class Of river thief does make his appear
ance occasionally, and he gives the police many
unhappy hours He is a specialist in all that
the word implies, and devotes his energies eXclu-
sivey to cotton He visits the wharVes where
cotton is piled up in bales, and either by clever
work through collusOn with watchmen he
succeeds in filling small bags with cotton.
Men have been caught by Captain Smiths po-
lice with as many as twenty small bags of raw
cotton which they had found" Owners of ships
and shippers are always asked to appear when
one of these men IS brought up for examination,
but they do not answer The summons The cot
ton cannot be identified, and the who
found" it goes free.
Before the police patrol along the waterfront
was established and perfected the industry was
q highly rernunerative one. BoathOuses were
in some instances nothing more than the head
quarters of organized gangs, and shops and
dives in the waterfront streets which looked |
harmless and simple enough fences for
the petty pirates
Those were the days" said old ship
chandler when a ships anchor might be car
ried away and when it was nothing unusual
10 hear of a river thief helping himself to the
lines with which q ship made fast. Sailor
men often stood in with the gangs, and masters
Of ships lost in port all that they had made on
a voyage"
To prove that this condition was matter
of the misty past Captain Smith said: We
know Of only one case Of theft on the river IN
the last year. and that was a remarkable one
When the Olympia was anchored off Forty |
sacoud-st Lieutenant Craig came ashore one
eraning. and in leaving the launch said TO some
one with him: / must send over for the box
with curios records and things which want TO
send to Washington What he said was heard |
Inv a couple Of men, who lost no time in max
ing MS. of the Iieutenant's tip. They hired
boat roUed to the Olympia, represented them
saIxes as messengers in the employ Of Lieu
tenant Craig asked for that box received II
md roVyed away The Olympia was at that
,in,e tn. most notable feature on the river, and
- .baf, was one of the boldest Of the year.
"A day later Lieutenant Craig reported the
1,s. -, C,antain Smith The boatman from whom
.ba mon hired the boat was found the men
were located the property recovered ana Wlthlh
a week the bold river thieves were behind the
bars in Sing Sing prison.
Excursion boats and vessels making SNORT