Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-07

GOSSIP FROM GOTHAM
III, >,
Slowing" as a Prosperous Industry
at Coney Island
ARMY OFFICERS LUCKY STRIKE
Poison Bottles in Coroner's Office
With Sad Histories.
CSING OF, THE CARRIE TINE
OFFICERS LUCKY STRIKE
PASSING OF THE CABLE LINE


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, May Is, 1901.
| The diamond mine is getting under way
again at Coney Island after a short spring
| lull This mine is very profitable to resi-
dents of the place--a little Kimberley, in
| fact. to those who live there all the year
round. 1t yields not only cut gems of
| first water but also diamond chips and
| rings. pins, brooches, studs and cuff but
tons adorned with the precious stones. Gold
| silver and copper coins also important
products of these mines while jack-knives
| penknives, hat pins. fish hooks. Masonic
| and Grand Army badges and every other
| kind of badge and button often reward the
| industrious diggers in the sands under the
| piers and under the eating houses and bath
houses.
The Coney Islanders, however, do not
! call the industry mining, but "sieving.
| The highly virtuous theory of it's practice
| is this: People go into the water by thou
! sands and tens of thousands all summer
| long, and they take their rings with them
The originator of the "sieving' industry
says that in some sort of way the cool
| ness of the water works the warmness
| of their hands. and. first thing they know,
| slip go the rings off their fingers The
waves play with the jewels for weeks or
| months, and at last when the season Is
| been scattered far and wide, the sands in
| which the jewels are hidden swept up
| under the hotels and bath houses. Then the
| winters work of 'sevng' begins. There is
perfect forest of wooden piles supporting
| these wooden buildings. To walk among
| them on the clean sand when the tide is
| out is to receive the impression of being
| among the trees of far-reaching wood
! land. And here by moonlight at noon
| day the men of Coney Island take their
! sleeves, dig deep into the sands and sft
| them with all the industry of Klondlle
| placer miners to see what they pan
| out.
Army officer Lucky Miner.
! Lieut.. Col. Edward f. bravo has struck
it rich, according to reports from Phoenix,
| ArlZ.. near which city a gold mine which
he owns is located. Lieut.. Col. bravo is
chief commissary of the department of the
east and has his headquarters at Govern
or's Island. Says the lieutenant colonel:
Il located these claims which | am now
working, in 1877, during my first year out
from West Point. when | was second lieu
tenant of the 9th cavalry, then stationed
at Fort Mcdowell. Sixteen years of my
army HE has been spent in Arizona. and |
am thoroughly acquainted with the entire
territory, as well as with the tribe of Tonic
ApacheS which prevented this rich find
being worked for many years. In the Cave
Creek mountains ten years before my
rival. an Old miner called Old Man Rowe
worked the district. At that time the
Tontos Were held by the government ON the
Fort Neldc reservation. Stiu further to the
north. AS the country was Sparsey set
tied, they occasionally swooped down on
the old miner and his camp and for a
time mining would have to be abandoned
However. The miner and his associates per
sisted and over LOCO was taken out with
the assistance of a crude Mexican stamp
mill. ] have refused to sell out these claims
and intend to work them until fully salts
fed, whether l win or lose, and | cannot
but feel elated at the present outlook"
An Odd Occupation.
Among the many strange occupations
in this city is that of the professional Crap
pler-the man who makes his living with
graphing irons, recovering from the bot
tom of the rivers whatever has fallen over
board from piers from vessels At first
sight this means of earning q livelihood
seems at best miserable one. Such is not
the case, however In the borough of Man
haitian alone there is a small army of
grapplers, and, though. as in the of
most contract work, these mems weekly
wages vary considerably, the yearly aver
age is as much. if not more, than can be
earned in many rell-reputed trade. Not
infrequently q grapp(er makes over $40
week; in cases the 500 mark is
reached; but even the average from $50 to
$50 is a neat sum. considering that tie
work Is largely mskilled, and that AL that
is necessary as a stock in trade is a row.
boat and a graphing iron. The wages
earned by these men show at once the en-
ormouS amount of merchandise that finds
it's way overheard. The loss of this is due
almost wholly to accidents while loading
vessel. All day long the man has been
| loafing about in his rowboat. lodging YES
sells and tides by prowing under piers and
along the water front. Any one of hum
dred longshOrcmen or tug deckhands- they
all are of a fraternity-hails the grappl ar,
and away he goes to close his job. He
knows every current and eddy al a certain
height of the tide along the entire water
: front included In his stamping ground He
needs only to know the point from which
the draft fell and the nature and shape of
the lost merchandise, and ten, to one he
Will have it hooked and brought to the sur
face before you realize he has begun to
work.
Poison Bottles With Histories
Enough poison to kill half the iuha bitants
| of Manhattan has been stored away in the
| cOrOner's office. There were more than a
! thousand packages and bottles and back
| of every grain drop of the deadly stuff
| lies story. Under old law the chief
! clerk of the board of coroners is RESPONSE
! BILE for all poisons that reach the office.
| Where suicide has been ACCOMPLISHED by
! pistol or knife, the weapon generally finds
| it's way to the public administrator who
| later sells it at auction. Whenever poison
| IS used, however, whatever is found in
| the bottle or package near the victim Is
| sent to the coroners office, where 1t is
| stored away as "evidence." Every time
! he. 11nN