The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-20
WORK OF WRECKERS
MUSEUM FULL OF
RELICS
ALL KINDS OF CURIos IN IT
Recovery of Articles of Value From
the Bottom Of the Ocean
Is Attended With
Danger.

New YORK Sun.
Purse overboard!'' promises to become
popular alarm. Twice within a week
one of The wrecking companies has had
to send diver down after a pocketbook.
I'VE hadn't got an order like that for
the last seven or eight years." said the
chief Of the diving department. "The
first one was surprise. When the second
pocketbooks in these waters"
It was a man who started the fashion
He dropped his pocketbook overheard in
wild delirium of joy at reaching Ho-
boken. The pocketbook was recovered
by the wrecking company. Thereupon an
actress whose talents are rusting for lack
OF exercise, or in other words who is out
of job, followed suit. She dropped
whole chatelaine bag into the slip at the
Long Island railroad ferry. One account,
which bears upon it's face the stamp of
truth, says that the bag, which cost 81
cents, contained:
Two gold watches, two ordinary gold
pins, two extraordinary stick pins the
chains for the watches, a gold purse con-
tanning tWenty-three coppers, a diamond
bug pin, several antique gold coins, two
hairpins, dream book, some powder (not
gunpowder), lace handkerchief and sew
eral other artiacles of feminine use and
adornment'
The wrecking company lent the actress
q diver at $35 for two hours work The
bag was recovered and all the newspapers
printed her name and the fact that she
was open to engagement. 1t was cheap
at $35.
The wrecking company, however, is
prepared for this purse dropping to be-
come the rage and if the drain upon it's
resources becomes to great prices will go
up. 1t is case of no matter what drops,
prices won't. These little pocketbook
episodes seem pretty picayunish beside
the Herculean labors which are almost
every day occurrences in the history of
q big wrecking company.
When the chief of a department of one
Of these companies was asked to tell
about the things they had to do, he led
the way into an adjoining room and be-
gan unlocking glass doors. behind which
were shelves covered with a medley OF
objects.
This is our museum" he saia.
There's not a. thing in this collection but
could tell tale of romance and ad-
venture and tragedy if 1t could only
speak. What, for instance, would you
say was the story of these?" taking up q
well-worn pair of field glasses.
you give 1t up? Well, these glasses
belonged to Lieut.. Hobson and were
taken by him on board the Merrimac
when he ran her into the mouth OF
Santiago haTbor. He had them with him.
probably in his pocket, when he escaped
on the raft of which this is fragment"
picking up piece of battered 4-inch
plank. Evidently Cervera thought the
glasses were better than his own, for he
had them with him when the Spanish
fleet tried to leave the harbOr
He either threw them overheard or
they fell overheard and we found them
when we were down there raising the
Reina Mercedes. Here is a section of the
wheel of the Merrimac. We did not raise
her, you know, only freed the channel
completely.
Here" taking up a rusty old cannon
ball, sis all that is left except some sticks
of the hull and those are under water,
of the British treasure ship Hussar,
which sank at He'll Gate in Revolutionary
times. We were hired to hunt for her
by one of these perennial companies
which are formed to pursue the treasure
ship phantom.
We found the remains of this one all
right enough but that old rusty ball was
the only treasure aboard her The
records show that she was several days
going down and in all probability the