Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-08-18
AMOS RUSLE NOW
DIGGING PEARLS
GRADUATED FROM RANKS OF A
PLANNING MILL
Received Small Weekly Stipend and
Decided to Start Out on His
Own Hook-Nothing
Found So Far

Found So Far
vINCENNES, Ind, Aug. 17-Amos Ru-
sic, once the greatest pitcher that ever
stood In box, is now pearl diver at
Vincennes, and, while he has thus far
not discovered any gems of very great
value, he has made fair living for his
| family.
When his weak arm compelled Rusie to
retire from professional baseball, Rusie
found that he had squandered the thou
sands he had made in few years that
he had been on the top wave and that he
had nothing with which to support his
wife and children.
His home was at Indianapolis, and he
did not care to work at any mental oc-
| cupation there, so he came to VincenneS,
where he soon secured position at Nc
| Ilvane's planning mill. Every Saturday
night the boss crowded SO into his hands
as he passed out, paying at the rate of
| $150 per day.
For several years Rusie worked at the
mill, and none of his former friends
knew his whereabouts. Then it came
out On one occasion not long ago the
Vincennes team needed a good pitcher
in the box to defeat a neighboring team,
and it was suggested that they work
Rusie in as a ringer
The former star of the big league
agreed to do what he could. For the first
three innings he put them over the plate
and all around it at his former great
speed. Then he weakened and was batted
out of the box. Once afterward he ven
tured to play, but the bad arm was again
In evidence, and a medical examination
showed that he would never be able to
pitch again. There is a great lump under
the arm of the Giants former celebrity
and idol of the New York fans in the
long ago, and medical science can fine
no way to reduce it.
But Rusie has become a philosophical
sort of a fellow and he simply settled
down at his little $3.50 day job. He
lives in little cottage, and on Sundays
or at idle times he has been teaching his
son how to pitch ball. The latter has
the same brawny arm that characterized
the father in his good days. but 1t is
doubtful if he will ever become as noted
as was the redoubtable Amos.
Ruse Not Attentive
When the pearl fishing craze struck
Vincennes Rusie did not pay particular
attention to it, but as one after another
of his neighbors began to find pearls and
build houses and buy property on the
proceeds he became interested.
About three weeks ago he took his wife
and son for a skiff ride up the Wabash
river and when they had proceeded about
a mile up the river they alighted at a
pearl camp. After watching the fishers
for a little while Rusie saw how they
opened the mussel shells and how they
managed to detect the elusive gems.
Then he went down to the mussel banks
and saw how the men dived and shoveled
for the shells. He and his family went
on to another bank that was not oc-
cupied and he stripped off his clothing
and dove for shells. In little while he
had a great pile of the shells on the
shore He and his son and wife worked
all afternoon in opening them, and they
found three little button" pearls that
brought at the office of one of the fifty
pearl buyers here 81 each.
This was not such bad days work,
and the next Sunday Rusie tried it again.
This time he succeeded in finding five of
the buttons. He seemed to have struck a
place that abounded in the buttons. Ten
days ago he was working on the shore
opening the shells when a little boy not
five feet from him opened a shell and
brought out beautiful rosebud pearl
that brought $500 when the buyers began
to bid for it.
Nothing So Far
Thus far Rusie has discovered nothing
but buttons and "slugs." The latter are
worth about 90 cents each, but he is hope
full, and at any time he may run across a
gem that may make him rich. Last sum-
mer boy, Charles Johnson, discovered a
rosebud pearl that his guardian sold for
500. 1t Is said to have been one of the
purest pearls ever found in the Wabash
! river
I Probably one of the most discouraging
circumstances connected with Rusie's
hunt for pearls is the mistake made by
his son.. The latter was sitting a little
apart from Rusie and his wife and was
busy opening the shells. He came upon a
jet black pearl about the size of a pea
and of great brilliancy. The boy sup
| posed because 1t was black that it was of
no value and he laid II on a stone and
shattered it with another.
A New York buyer passed not long after
and young Amos. upon being asked IL he
had made and finds, replied that all he
| had been able TO locate was IAN old black
thing" The buyer locker at the broken
pieces and there were almost tears in his
eyes as he said:
boy. you have just destroyed what
may have been the most valuable pearl
that has ever been found in the Wabash
| river"
Thus the Ruse family was once more in
sight of fortune, but III luck that seems to
pursue them was with them still. and the
tickle goddess passed them, a ship in the
night.