Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1893 — An Odd Trade in Paris. [ARTICLE]

An Odd Trade in Paris.

Paris Letter in London Telegraph. CZ3 The macchabee men, or fishers of dead bodies, whb ply their doleful trade on the Seine, between the Auteui! Viaduct und the Billancourt Bridge, threaten to go on strike owing to the slowness, with which their money premiums are paid. Pere Joseph, the senior member of the -profession of ecumers. or scavengers of the Seine, has been fishing for macchabees during the past twentyfive years, but he is idle pow with his companions, as he has not been paid for the last batch of corpses sent to the morgue. Joseph, by the way, sent forty-two macchabees to the city dead-house last year, and was paid 15f. each for them, his tota’ gains for the twelve months being a little over £25. This year the tratie again seemed to be improving; the morgue was literally overflowing with bodies taken out o' the river of late, and in one day Pere Joseph made 60f. That tooney, -however, has not yet been received, although it has been due for a fortnight, and hence he has laid down his ropes and grapplingirons until the city officials, whose duty it is to remunerate him and his companions for their services, shall see their wav to organizing more expedition in their pay department. X