Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1889 — PICKING HUCKLEBERRIES. [ARTICLE]

PICKING HUCKLEBERRIES.

More About the Camp Life tn the Swamps. Walkerton. Ind., CorChicago EKrald/ Stark county is one of the poorest counties in northern Indiana, and whole families from this section annually visit the marshes to engage in picking; They are mostly decent but poverty-stricken people, who look upon, the huckleberry, harvest as little less than a godsend to their scant purses. Others come in from outlying districts to earn an honest penny, and lots of small boys go in just for the ' tea <rt ths thing, but they soon peter out. The pickers usually bring their own tents and cooking utensils and camp in the woods; some haul in pine boards and build shanties, but the greater part eat and sleep under canvas. It is ndt unusual to find from six to ten persons of all ages and both sexes* living and sleeping in a small fly tent. Some facetious joker dubbed the camp South Chicago ten or twelve years ago, and the name has stuck to the place. Two additions have been platted since then—one called Helltown, where the gamblers, fakirs and some ' women stay, and the other known as Middletown, where the restaurants, dry goods stores and dancing pavillions are. The chief street is called Bull Run avenue. Pine board shanties and wall tentsdine it on each side for nearly half a mile. It begins in Marshall county and ends in Stark county. A man was driving along the thoroughfare one day when his horse shied and

threw him out of the wagon, breaking his collar bone. The driver sued a saloon keeper for scaring his horse, and claimed damages. He located his fall in Marshall county, but the liquor dealer proved that when he fell his body was in Stara county and his legs in Marshall county. The accident occurred right at the county line, and the man lost his case on this technicality. As a rule all work is suspended on Sundays, and the day is given over to recreation. Two weeks ago 3,000 people were present on the grounds at the grand picnic. Foot races, sparring matches, balloon ascensions, live “pigs in clover,” and other novelties were advertised as among the attractions, and a cornet band from Walkerton dispensed music. Four saloons did a rushing business, the seven restaurants l were crowded, and the gambling fraternity reaped a big harvest from the I visitors. The shell racket, three-card-monte, chuck-a-luck, “beehive,” “tlvoli,” and “spindle” were among the games offered by the noble army of scamps who prey upon the unwary country youth, and all were liberally patronized. It is a notable fact that the real huckleberry picker neither gambles nor drinks; it is the visitors who do this, and who have given the locality the hard name it now bears. Notwithstanding the crowded condition of the camp and the free life of the pickers, their morals are remarkably good, and few instances are recorded of any departure from virtue among the working class. Some of the young girls patronize the Bowery dances on Bull Run avenue in the evening, but they are generally attended by relatives who are quick to resent any undue familiarities. Lately all fast characters have been rigorously excluded from the pavillion, and only the pickers allowed to dance. Stealing has always been a source of great annoyance to the campers, and dire vengeance has fallen on more than one individual who was caught “lifting” stray articles while the owners were at work in themarshea- A chuck-a-luck artist named * ’Graveyard Pete, ” so-called on account of his propensities for taking in anything within reach, was long suspected of breaking the eighth commandment, but no one could prove it on him. Finally he stole some knives and forks frem a poor woman who kept a boarding house, and the pickers arose en masse and determined to lynch him. It was about sa. m. when they caught the follow and the rope was actually around his neck when the chief buyer. George Warner, appeared, and, by his arguments, induced the crowd to let their victim go. “Graveyard Pete” was escorted from camp at the point of two rifles which were borrowed from one of the shooting galleries. This was several years ago. but he has never returned. Another man who “lazed” around and refused to do any Work, yet always had money was taken in hand by the women and taught a valuable lesson. He had been warned to leave camp, but declined to take the hint. One morning fifty sturdy females corralled the loafer, tied his hands behind, and fastened a five-pronged rake at his back. Then they took turns in marching him up and down Bull Run avenue

cleaning up the street, the boys meantime hooting and yelling as he passed along. Next day he disappeared, and the camp was rid of a thief as well as an insulting loafer. This rough sketch would be incomplete without some reference to the huckleberry queen, who for fourteen years has been a regular attendant at the berry harvesting. She made her debut in camp in the summer of 1870, and in rather startling costume. A circus had stranded in Plymouth, where she was then employed as an ‘ ‘iron-jaw” specialist. She was at that tivae a handsome, well-formed, young woman of 20, who also did a clever riding act. As part pay for salary due she took a piebald riding horse and rode across country into camp. She startled the pickers of Bull Run avenue by riding down that highway on her horse’s back and clad only in tights and mosquisto netting. They dubbed her the huckleberry queen, and this cognomen she has retained ever since. Few residents in northern Indiana have not heard of her and her daring exploits. Every years Queen Mat appears ip camp with the opening of the picking season; she-is not a good woman, and her mode of living

has scarcely been conducive to the preservation of her beauty, still she retains part of her charms, and her gunoerha fits yet lost its roundness.