The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-10

/ in poverty almost always. for he rarely
owns his boat, and Invariably is hired by
Others. generally al $50 q month. These
wages he receives when his boat is in car
| go His pay stops when his boat is empty
He is lucky if he is busy FIVE months in
the year
He and the missus and the kids have
got TO live" said an old coal pilot today.
Why 1t is only a matter of easy con-
science to him Just supposing some
dark night, say along about midnight
when the flood tide is sweeping tow I'D
through the Kill The tug Is 50 far ahead.
maybe you can't hear the 'chug- sound
OF her exhaust. About of Rossville
half-dozen oyster boats viii shoot out
from the shadows Of the bank and make
fast TO the middle Of the tow The men
IN the boats don't grab the first coal
they come to. neither. They have no use
for pea OF buekwheat. They make straight
for the stove egg, and chestnut. Just as
they want and then they begin to sheTeI
They take their time, too Maybe the coal
they want is ne middle of the tow.
and they viii 10 lug 1t IN baskets
across the outsio rye to their boats
Supposing the tran. captains hear the
pirates They stick IL heads 10 the
companion way to meet q fist CIutching
their price
a It's all right Skip nlutters the cove.
Sometimes the skipper meets a gun or
slungshot. but that's only when he's hon
est and refuses to dicker- The price Of a
tramp IS s., but only the shippers who
wake up get their money. The pirates
don't hunt for them. The skiffs of the pi-
rates held anywhere from two 10 four tons
apiece. so. you see. five boats could make
a tolerably fair haul in one trip. Often
the beat captains are in partnership with
the pirates I have known of pirates who
owned coal yards on Staten Island. and
probably they got a good share Of their
stock from their friends on the lows Ii
IS common thing for crooked shippers
&c fill their cabins with coal when loading
at the pockets, and cover il over with dun
n9ge- Then. after their boats are unload
ed. they carry the hidden coal back 10
tEelr partners Many shippers put up a
job with the stevedores who unload their
boats They let the stevedoreS quit work
early and the steTedores leave q few tons
in the bottom of the boat Tor the skipper
10 carry away I suppose most of those
old TeScais never have an idea that thew
are crooked.
They are smart people. It Sas early
last spring, during the breakup. that 2
tow hit the bridge, at Arthur XIII. anz.
stove in the Mary Elsa. one Of our biggest
baTges. / pushed her cut of deep water. til
her stern settled fast in the mud. and tben
left her for help. Il was in the morn
ing when I got out. and 10 when got
back; and in the FIVE hours those coal
pirates had got away with Just thirty-fve
tons of good hard coal
I can tell better yarn than that We
broke another boat in the same place soon
after thar. and mighty bad spot 1t Is. So
remembering my last experience. I lefs a
tugooat 20 stay by her While 1 went for
more help The tugboatmen did not see
sign OF a pirate all day. but when tney
turned IN 20 supper az O'Clock out came
the thieves They didn't stop al coal. but
they took the red-hot stove from the gal
ley, the furniture, and all the boats cables
and pulley blocks, and when The tusboaS-
men came out from supper there wasn't I
sign CT them
This business has been going on for
years It isn't only in the XIII; it is just
as bad up Cow Bay. and City Island, in
Long Island Sound. Il VIII stop now for
while, since the raid of the New York
river police and then some day. when tina
thing blows over. the beggars will begin
getting in their work again''