The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 4, 1901, Page 6

“THARF-RAT" is the smoothest rascal the police run up against. In their own language he is “a warm article.” He usually plies his nefarious business on dark, foggy nights, but some- n the broad light of times ventures out the mo: w 1 “cheese” is “Jocated” the scamy's procure a small skiff, and, placing the oars in the bottom of the boat, they shoot under the wharf. Through that aark, silent tunnel they push their boat from pile to pile until under the dock at which the “cheese” Is moored. One cf the rats, who is the scout of the party (usual- shifts aloft; that is, he squirms dock to investigate the possi- e “haul.” S is clear he taps on which shield his waiting pards i to a convenient pile and the cheese. They ly three) the boat the wharf-rats “‘nibbl pace the deck. One runs art, low, one for'ard. stimes the cheese holds a few cases Under these circumstances a “small bottl follow. A rat » the boat and quickly and skill- eplaces the bottles in the case. An- treated likewise, and a the “‘commodore” cries without accident, the skiff her dark, “underground” return r Many times the goods are sold to saloon men the water front. If they not be disposed of readily, the spark- nid trickles down their brown, bare keeps their “whistles wet"” ng throats and Harry Reynolds onme dark ed some suspicious move- ound the docks at North Beach tely made an investigation s was fortunate, for he discovered, not the thieves but their plu er. A sloop filled with liquors, brandies, etc., m the Potrero, and & heavy and miscel- bundle of tools, “swiped” from Iron Works. s a clever capture for Mr. Reyn- 2 twelve robbed a bonded of whisky, kiff, under ed in e foot of Vallejo street y packed the cases up to restaurant keeper, a fat nt the fi water. It was scovered that the whisky had been kept stored away under the whart near th war two weeks! Note this Healy, Tibbitts & Co., pile-drivers, had a logs moored somewhere near tne street. On awakening one made the astonish | P. L. #enderson, | Chief Wharfingar. &7=» POLICE PATROL BOAT / )\ is absolutely necessary /) in this harbor. The | crimes of such people as | “wharf rats” are a disgrace to our beautiful city. A police beat, supplied with a search- | light, could soon clear the wharves of the pests. Eastern people are very much surprised when they are told we have no | police patrol. Every decent ! man along the water front will | hail its coming with @elight. | &5 — THE SUNDAY CALL they cut the rivet in a shackle of the cable chain, so that when the ship drop- ped her anchor in the stream the cable would run out and drop to the bottom of the bay, subsequently to be dredged and sold for old iron. And they did not stop at this, either. The ship had a number of horses aboard and the rats induced two of the horses tn enter the water, presumably to land the first point of land they But for some reason or other thelr job before getting the land, and the beasts were them at reached. they quit horses to drowned. The Tacoma incident is a familiar topic »* conversation among the members of the harbor police. Night ter night hides piled up on Broadway wharf disappeared in lots of half a dozen or more. Fifty have been stolen to date. As is their custom, the wharf rats sneaked the hides down un- der the whart into their boat and navi- gated to South San Francisco. Broadway wharf seems to be a favorite rendezvous of the wharf rat element. Mezny “minor” incidents might be re- corded, such as the stealing of a barre! of sugar or knocking over an Italian fish- ermsn and sailing his boat full of fish across the bay, there disposing of the scaly cargo. A hundred cases of tin to be sent to the Alaska canneries were piled on Fol- som-street wharf No. 2 and the rats helped themselves to seven or eight of them. Their escape was easy. By the time the police had secured a boat the rascals were a mile away. It was only a week or 5o ago when the captain of a ship was robbed of his watch | Paris Kilburn, President Commissioners, Considers it a Necessity, known as “wharf rats” should be severely punished, as their very presence on the water front is detrimental to the inter- ests of the merchant. In addition to preserving order, such a boat would be valuable in case of firte. Our commission has two tugs available day or night, but assistance from the police patrol would be a great help. | ] APOLICE PATROL BOAT ie certainly a necessity. | | of the PBoard of farbor Rascals ing discovery that their raft was gone! With stified curses they reported to Cap- tain Dunle Although they heaved the news at him in chunks, the amiable Po- lice Captain instructed his men to hire a launch and make a “voyage of discovery.” After considerable trouble and unavoid- eble delay, a tug was secured, and, after cruising about the bay for some time, the raft was found grounded on Alameda’s shores It was evident that the rats had rowed the “bor- 2 tug to tow the big raft across One starless night, while crew and cap- tain of the good ship Tacoma were deep in slumber, members of the gang sneaked aboard and took down the ship's bell, tied a rope to it and sunk it, fastening the other end of the rope to the timbers of the pler. This feat being accomplished in safety, they grew bolder and, going down into the hold of the big “cheese.” \ | | | | x3 the thieves taking some of the ship’s belongings incidentally. A story is told by the second officer of a small vessel on the water front which iliustrates the nerve of these rascals. He says: “One night it happened that T was alone on board the B—, and after reading un! nearly 12 o'clock I threw aside my book and filled my pipe afresh, stretching out my feet prepatatory to a comfortable srooze. “I could hear the water lapping against the sides of the boat and this sound, in company with the ticking of my little brass clock, was the means of making my sleep easier. Hints for the . Smcker. 7 _§7 ERE is a good tip for a smoker. r—‘l' The best pipe grows foul some- B Qtimes, and the various = patent vices are of little use in fresh. But if you pack the bowl tight with grass or hay and lay the pipe aside you will have it as making it for a few days sweet as wh was new. Talking about smoking, here is a good idea for lighting matches. Don't light them on your trous- ers, for your shoe off. The pla ou'll burn slits in them; nor on for you'll rub the heads is to rub them on a piece of paper—a folded newspaper, an envelope, a ticket The aper. Many people can’t smoke a dozen cigar- ettes without getting a sore throat. In- veterate cigarette smokers are frequently troubled with a perpetual cold in the head not the smoke that is to blame, but Now, if you use a cigarette ber, cherry or cardboard—a tiny of cotton wool in the bottom of it will h every particle of dust. silica in the paper acts like “I was disturbed in my slumber by a rattle of the door latch. I knew none ot the crew were to come back that night, lay still and, my lamp being turned low, I resolved to give my midnight visitor the ’ 1d To Make Qo | N preparing creams or lotions, it must | be remembered that the formula should be followed exactly if certain | | Fats or oils should be melted over a | slow fire by the least poseible heat, and in | a double bofler preferably. The method | should be closely adhered to. Tinctlres | and extracts are invariably added at the\' | 1ast, when the mixture has slightly cooled, Glycerine, properly used, is an invalu- | able cosmetic. It whitens, softens and dissolves coloring miatter when carefully elder flower or orange water. It is very | injurious used in concentrated form, as 1t | burns, parches and yellows the skin. | Wax and spermaceti are often added to | give requisite firmness, but possess no in- trinsic value. They are inciined to clog g0 1 promptly suspected wharf rats. I Qreams. I results are expected. | as given of adding the other ingredients | and drop by drop, or at least very slowly. | combined with other agents, such as rose, Fats are the basis of all cold creams. the pores. T confess imprersion that I was asleep. my heert beat more rapidly than usual. “The door opened gowly and the visitor stood in the doorway. “I noticed through my half-closed eye- 1ids that he far surpassed me in size and strength, and I realized that T would have to make up my inferiority with coclness and strategy. “He fumbled in his inside vest pocket for something and presently drew forth a /’/4"’7fl ““i¥e Was Jaken Completely by Jurprise.” bright polished knife, probably well suited to slice my anatomy to a queen's taste, He approached my chair, looking around cautiously. I suddenly sprang up and, | Odd Expzriments With Tnszgis. DEVAUX, a French physiolo- gist, recently made experiments o with insects, his object being to ascertaln how long they would be able to resist asphyxiation after they had been submerged in water. An ant, he says, after being submerged, doubles its body up three or four times and then becomes absolutely inert. Though apparently drowned, it soon be- gins to move after It is taken out of the water, and at the end of five or ten min- utes it walks about as well as ever. If they remain submerged for several hours, say from six to elght, ants require a longer period, at least half an hour, to recover themselves. The direct heat of the sun seems to benefit them greatly. Even if the submersion lasts for twenty- four hours most of the drowned ants come back to life. They do not begin to move for half or three-quarters of an hour and their first tokens of life are so slight that they can only be seen through X = microscope. If an ant is lightly touched while it is making these weak movements it becomes more brisk and acts as though it had just been aroused from sleep. According to M. Devaux, some ants can even be restored to life after they have been in the water for sixty hours. Others, on the contrary, though they manifest a few signs of life, die at the end of one or two dar “I have,” he says, ‘‘seen an ant mani- ROTECTION| THATISA NECESSITY. p | f 1 I fest a momentary return to life after it had been submerged for 110 hours. I left three ants lying inert at the bottom of a vessel of water from 6 o'clock in the morning of May 9 to 8 o'clock in the morn- ing of May 14, and when I took them out one became quite lively after it had passed a few hours in the open air. This insect, therefore, recovered completely after it had been five days under water. 1 do not believe that there is on record 1all in the race, sent him 3 gering to the other end of the room. “He was taken completely by surprise, and before he recovered I had secured my revolver from the shelf and leveled it at him. “In as cool a tone as possible I said, “What's the row, friend?’ “He sald nothing, but picked up my rifle, which stood in the corner, but find- ing it unloaded, he threw it down in con- tempt. “Coolly putting away his knife, he pulled out his pipe and calmly remarked, ‘Guess you've got the drop on me, pard; reckon you'll 'low me to take a smoke, won't you? “I stopd as one in a dream, and me- chanically gave him permission to fill his pipa. “On being asked who or what he was, he sald: ‘Pard, I'm not much; I'm a rat. it you had all the stuff I've swiped,’ he continued, ‘you'd flll your bark. I've kept the police guessing. When they appear on the dock we fellers takes a ride through oty Liul de tunnel. The police have no beat have a skinch. If you let me go pard, I'il show you something and treat you right. “T remarked that I couldn’t do better, as I was obliged to remain in the ship, so he said, ‘Foller me.’ He opened and led me to the stern; here I looked down and saw a small skiff con ] mysterious cargo covered with bl cloth “He torned etter shake, m “T refused, for I knew his little game. “With a bound he was in the water hidden by his skiff and slowly swam to the wharf, dragging with difficulty his heavily laden boat “He disappeared In the dark shadows, and all that he left behind was a little disturbance in the water. “I was never visited by wharf rats agamn, but T see every day thé great ad- vantages to be derived from the presence of a police t in our harbor. No doubt this very day, were a boat to search un- ddenly to me and s e; I meant no harm.’ L5 - = JIts Mere Presence &ould T HERE is a great need of a pt to preserve order. things, but is sadly lacking in efforts of The Call in this direct e Jend to Preserve Order, Jays Chief of Police &. P. Jullivan. ! operly equipped patrol station on | the water front. The mere presence of a patrol boat would tend A launch sufficient for all purposes could be ,purchased for $5000, and its subsequent maintenance compared to its usefulness. Our city leads the world in many | would. be small indeed | | efficient harbor protection. The | ion will be appreciated by the citi- | zens of San Francisco, and especially by the harbor police. any example of an insect being resusel- tated in this wonderful manner.” One would naturally think that {nsects which generally live in the water and which only occasionally come to the sur- face for the purpose of breathing would be able to resist asphyxiation longer than ants and other land insects, but such s | not the case. The experiments made by | M. Devaux show that aquatic insects are | more easily asphyxiated than ants. | owys a railrcad two miles | to | A. J. Dunlevy, i Capt. Harbor Police. | ff O T W ITHSTANDING ‘ r[7\: that the act of Con- i 5 U gress passed March 31, 1900, and the regulation | prescribed by the Treasury | Department pursuant thereto, | relieve the Police Depart- | ment from the duty of board- | ing incoming deep-water ves- | | sels, there is still a necessity | of establishing and main- | taining a properly equipped patrol station, supplied with a patrol boat. No time should be lest in doing it. der the wharves there would be discov- ered many a hidden easure, and evidence of many murders This story, the foregolng record of wharf rat robberies, and the opinions ot the Chief of Police, the president of the Board of Harbor Commissioners, the cap- of the harbor police and the Chiet are offered as conclusive an argument in favor of the in points purchase of a police patrol for the har- bor of San Francisco. Tt is the only har- bor in the world without such rvice. The public officlals want it, the citizens demand it. What GoIF Qosts Us T is within bounds to say that this || country spends at least $15,000.000 a & year on golf. Fiteen mililon dollars is a large amount even to an Amer- fean. Few of us hive that much pocket - | money, yet I belisve the sum to be well within bounds wien reckoning up the an- nual expenditures for golf. Remember that a few yedrs ago the Morris County Golf Club at Morristown, N. J., although | already boasting fine and extensive links, added in Jne purchase $90,000 worth of | 1and to 118 possessions, so that clubkouse and lin}S now represent an expénse of about- 350,000; that the Midlothian Coun- try CQub, near Chicago, represents at least@n equal amount of expenditure and long, wich the “Golf Limited” conveys mem- 1ers of the club from the Blue Island station of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway to the clubhouse. In round numbers there are 1000 listed clubs in the United States, but there must be many more. I myself belong to a club within little more than an hour's railroad over | ride from New York. but it has not yet | ¥ot Into the “Guid How many more clubs must there be that have escaped no- tice? The total number easily is 1200, ai- though I think 200 is a small aggregate allow as having escaped the official aye. Considering that the Country Club at Brookline, Mass., has 750 members, and that it Is not at all extraordinary to find goit clubs with over 300 members, it is not unreasonable to allow an average membership of 120,000, In New York City there are 2000 players who are not mem- bers of any club. Golfers of this class throughout the country must aggregate at least 30,000, so that the golft of America may be put down as 150,000 strong. Certainly it is not too much to allow an average annual expense of $100 each, which makes the total $15,000,000.— Gustave Kobbe, in Harper's Weekly.