Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-20

"Ah hez been pickn' on dis dump ioh
free yeres and dey amt nobody inaiered
wild me tell you come yere'
The Star man hastened to explain that
he had no wish to interfere; that she was
not to be disturbed in the pursuance or
her profession, and that the city govern
ment merely wished him 10 drop down
and look the dump over to see if 1t would
do for a golf links for the fire depart
ment.
Somewhat Modified, the old woman re-
turned TO her task. She proved poor
conversationalist. but by degrees The
Star man managed to learn few facts
about her life and daily work. She comes
to the dump every morning just after
sunrise and stays until late in the even
ing. She plies her hoe and rake hour
after hour. with eyes closely watching
each handful of refuse stirred by the
implements. A bit of metal protruding
from the ashes catches her eye. She
picks it up, rubs the crust of dirt from
it to see what metal 1t is and drops it in
the sack hanging from her shoulders
Bits of good coal are separated from the
ashes and raked into little heaps To be
collected later. Bottles are also heaped
together.
She has working for her several of her
children's children. Shs pays them GER
tain stipulated sums for each days labor
not much. but enough TO get them To do
the work At the end of each day she
hires one of the itinerant ash men. like
the old fellow of The Star mans ac-
quaintance. to load his wagon with her
nil and convey Il haru 70 her hun1bi+.
southwest home. Here she spends the
evenings and other spare hours sorting
over the accumulated junk. The metal
which ranges from old brass knobs and
buckles to iron nails-is assorted accord
ing to Hoyle to be disposed of at the junk
dealers. Rags are bundled together to
he sold at so much per pound. The coal
is placed in impromptu bins and sold to
the neighbors at from p to 40 cents
barrel The weeks work usually nets
her about s12. Not SO bad. what?
This old woman is only one of dozen
more who make their I.ying from what
they find in the refuse of this Isl street
dump. She is. perhaps, the bsst business
woman of then all and carries on her
operations on a larger seal than any. but
there are ii number who make as much as
SO or IS each week through the Junsshop
men. There are also great many chill
dren working on the dump who are mer.-
ly gathering coal and wood to keep the
family stove hot. A number Of negro
families in the southwest section of the
city cook their food the year around by
the heat of this picked up fuel.
-
Besides these individual dump pickers.
working for their own int rests. The Star
man saw number of colored laborers
moving about the field behind large
wagon. gath ring up all the old tin cans
and kitchen ut rsils. Upon inquiry it
was learned that these men ar employed
b. a local firm whose business it is TO
ship carloads Of this cast-off tinware to
a manufacturing house in Baltimore,
where the metal is melted and made into
various " utensils.
Stories are told on the dump OF rich
finds by the pickers Old Miss Liza told
The Star man that she had on several
occasions found gold rings of varying
value and one diamond stickpin that was
advertised. but whose owner never show
ed up. and that was sold and netted quite
neat sum for her bank account. Oh
yes. she has a bank account. friend
of hers. she said, found pearl necklace
worth nearly $1,000 some years ago in
some ashes that afterward were found to
have come from one of the city's big
| hotels.
She was feared ter keep it," said Miss
Liza, AN done tu'n it ODER ter de perlice.
Dey foun de owner an she come an glib
nnllarS ri do.
grayfulness oh EN-; dass de way dey
| treats yer foh ben' homes"
But jewelry doesn't often find its way
| to the ash barrel, and most of the lucky
finds consist of small coins and an occa-
| SIGNAL bank note. ERS