Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1896 — About the “Stopper,” [ARTICLE]

About the “Stopper,”

“That man is a slopper,” remarked i» police officer to a Star writer a few mornings since, “and he and his class give us any amount of trouble. If he stole we could reach him by the law,, but as he only finds, we cannot easily reach him.” In further explanation he said: “A slopjier Is a man who> searches through the garbage cans ini the alleys in the rear of the boardinghouses and private houses. Home only search for spoons, knives and forks, that are thrown into the garbage receptacles by careless servants, for it is a fact that there are more sliver spoons and knives amt forks thrown away with the garbage than is stolen by servants, though the contrary is generally bellevedL Theslopper is generally an hour or so ahead of the garbage collector, and he Is often more regular and careful in his rounds than the garbage man. " ‘By Industry we thrive,’ as the Ihie In the copy books used to contain, and by industry on a good West End route, especially one which takes in a number of boarding houses or hotels, a slopper can find enough table ware to pay the expenses of ids tour. Often he makes a rich find. Very frequently he lias permission to ‘slop’ the can from the owners of the houses themselves, for he tells them he is on the lookout for stray pieces of meat, etc., which he sells to those who have dogs to feed. Some stoppers are honest enough to return any silver ware they may find for the dog meat privilege, but It is a terrible temptation to many, and one they cannot, or do not, at times withstand.”— Washington Star.