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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1900)
lSZ5rrrr?vnx!tyj: fb 'W&we- -v nnwmfq!nf u iii-wp,--rrw('VTSSF "W ""'4ip"iRlf" iff TMItt U MATTERS OF SOME IMPORT TO DWELLERS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY CURRENT TOPICS OF INTEREST FOR MEN AND WOMEN READERS vol. xrx TWENTY-FOUR PAGES POKTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 11, 1900. PAGES 13 TO 24 no. H Wm. Ga THE HOUSEFURN15HER dsby Gadsby Block, cor. Washington and First Sts. THE LARGEST COMPLETE HOUSEFURNISHING ESTABLISHMENT IN THE STATE . BMBBH f1iili WKtSmK $12.50 Everything in ttock io furnish throughout All .goods new, up-to-date and styMsh. Prices the most reasonable in the city. Special Sale of Carpets Now On Iron Bedsteads, each $ 3.50 Bedroom Suits, oak, at 20.00 Bedroom Suits, ash, at 13.00 Sideboards, ash at 10.00 Chiffoniers, oak, at . 7.00 Parlor Suits, 5 pieces, at 25.00 Parlor Suits, 3 pieces, at - 15.00 Couches 5.00 Kitchen Cupboards 4.00 Household Treasures 2.50 Bedsteads, hardwood 4 2.00 We abb Arry the highest jgrade- of .Mahogany and Birdseye Maple Furniture. THjHKffif Thlsls a good thing "push It along"! This Morris Chair Is the best for the money ever produced. The frame Is made from quarter-sawed oak, has a rich, dark, golden finish, the back is adjustable, it has a spring seat below the cushion. The cushions are stuffed with hair and covered In beautiful four-tone velour. It Is a most com fortable chair and an ornament to any parlor. "We have others that are cheap er, but we specially recommend this one. Notice the high arms. You can rest the elbows to read. " rvNis' ll "' xi' ' '" fin the rods they were clinging; un the gunnels they -were swinging; Through the tunnels they were singing, On the way to Montreal. There was great rejoicing', No cursing or quarreling; 'Every yag was loaded to the neclc with, alcohol. The burlies had bandanas. Filled up with short Havana Cigarettes and bananas. For the punk that mooches all. Not by Budyard Kipling. has not been worked too often, the plan HILE It Is true that succeeds and he produces. The "mooch Portland was never hon- eI" varie3 tne st01"y from llmo to Ume ored with a beggars' con vention, such as was held In Montreal, Can ada, half a decade ago, It Is still a favored spot for mendicants. Hero they wax fat and flour- ish as In few other cit ies in the United States. Portland Is scarcely large enough for many of the League of American Mendicants to make It their headquarters; but few, if any, of the old timers are willing to be paddled over waters Stygian without hav ing paid at least one visit to the metrop olis of the Pacific Northwest. They all come here the aged and the rheumatic to winter In this genial clime, where the Arctic blasts are tempered by the gentle Chinook. The young and able-bodied graft er seeks these congenial shades because here is a place where the weary are at rest and the tired cease from worrying. Other Reasons. The climate and other bounties that na ture has bestowed on the beautiful city of the Willamette are not the only reasons why Portland is a Mecca for beggars. Port land people are easily "worked." The men, as a rule, are soft-hearted, and can always find a spare "two-bit" piece in the northwest corner of their trousers pock ets for the poor man with a hard-luck story, and who wants money to enable him to go home and die. It may be re marked, parenthetically, that nearly all the mendicants are anxious to .reach their native heath, that they may turn up their toes to the daisies of their youth. It goes hard with them to croak in a foreign clime. The cold hand of death feels not so ley with the familiar scenes of child hood looming up in the background. So sas the suppliant; the kind-hearted citi zen coughs un "four bits"; the beggar mutters a prayer, drops a scalding tear, and as a sequel the dally traffic in rum Lj increased by five drinks. Indeed, the Portland men are so easy to give up that some early-visiting beggar must have made a strawberry mark. In chalk, on the small of their backs, so large and plain that the mendicant who runs may read. The Portland woman, too, Is prone to cast her bread, pies and cold "spuds" on the waters, hoping they may return In many 'dajs, wearing the gladsome shapes of 1900-model "bikes" and wlntergreen chewing gum. "Yogs on Saps." Here am I, a lonely stranger. Beat my way from vamp to camp; When I work my life's In danger, For I'm the rojal Bengal tramp Dutch Shorty. Nature assisted some men and women to be successful beggars, but, more often, art and science have been invoked to perform this mission. Paradoxical as the expression may appear, an impediment of any kind Is no Impediment to the beggar. Big afflictions are great blessings. For ex ample, the most successful "moocher" is, perhaps, the "yag on saps." For the In formation of the unsophisticated, the ex planation is made that a "yag" Is a beggar; a "sap" Is a crutch, or a cane, and "a yag on saps" is therefore only a cripple who, the more hideous and repulsive his affliction, the more lovely he is in the sight of his comrades, and the more useful is he to the Amalgamated As sociation of Touchers. Traellng "with a bug" Is a favorite scheme with beggars wh oply their nefari ous -trade on the Pacific slope. It Is not so much In vogue now as In former days" but men with large "bugs" often come here. But perhaps some esthetic maiden or silver-haired philanthropist may not be quite Informed as to the meaning of "bug," In this connection. For their bet ter information. It may be said that a "bug" is a sore, made by artificial means, usually by the use of some acid, on the arm or leg of the "moocher," and that, when Intelligently worked, It Is a splendid "graft." "Working a Graft." The modus operandi commonly adopted In Portland by the "moocher" and the "yag" Is something like this: The man alights from a freight train, washes up and -walks up town. He picks out a busy thoroughfare like "Washington, Morrison and Third streets. He approaches the first well-dTessed man he sees who Is, for the time being, unoccupied, and then does to him a tale unfold. If lie has a "bug" he displays the pufrld sore- with great pride, and expects to receive much pity. If the man "touched'r Is an easy mark, and in order to maintain interest In It him self, and, In the course of a day, a good "bug" will bring In considerable revenue. The man with a "bug" usually has a partner who Is a specialist In some other branch of the business, or he may be only a general practitioner. Portland's Street Musicians. If you love me, do not sing. Old Play. The most ludicrous and at the same" time the most persistent and annoying of all the street beggars that Infest this city are the members of the curbstone orches tra. The street musician we have with us always, like the poor and the Salvation Army. Oft In the stilly night, his tuneful lay can be heard, and bars of ragtime music mingle with the din of the busy day traffic of the city. Portland has many of these people who strive to soothe the savage breast. One, or rather a pair, of the best-known of these, Is Thompson, the organ-grinder, and his -nlfe. Both are blind, or nearly so, and the tones of then-hand organ are sometimes terrible. Thompson wears a G. A. P.., button, with which to appeal to old soldiera. It Is said that his father, or his uncle, .w as at tme time In the army. It may be that people give him money to go away, but, In any event, he has made his business pay, as he owns six acres of valuable land, near the city limits. He still owes some of the purchase price, but will probably meet all the pannents If the credulity of the Portland public holds out. Thompson takes trips. It was at the Spokane fruit fair, last October, that his wife was knocked down and run over during a firemen's parade. Like the re ligion of the Apostle Paul, this woman's blindness struck her suddenly. In her younger days she manufactured . bead work, like that sold by the Indians, but now clings close to music. "U. P. Sam." Nearly everybody In Portland knows "U. P. Sam," the blind fiddler, poet and sweet singer An laraek There are few ears that his harsh falsetto has not grated upon. He puts in his entire time In giving street-corner concerts, the notable feature of which is the frequency of the collections he makes. He resides In the suburbs of Portland and Is quite well fixed. The blind maji, Piper, not the Pled Piper of Hamelln City, Is a versatile and oer sistent beggar, who has given the author ities and the public much annoyance. He never speaks a word, and has no "fake" or "graft." He, Is labeled with a huge placard, bearing this legend: : I am totally blind. Lost my : : eyes when I had the ty- : : phold fever. : He holds out a cup, but says never a word. He has often been arrested, and recently employed a lawyer to defend, him In the police court. "When fined, he drew from his pocket a large amount of money, in gold, and paid his fine like a prince. To avoid further complications with the law, he is now a vender of cheap graph ite pencils. Another blind beggar, whose sightless orbs have often made mute appeals to the hearts and pocketbooks of the Port land people, Is reputed to have begged enough money to purchase a $30,000 farm, near The Dalles, His wife persuadedhlm to place the property In her name, and then she eloped with a younger and handsomer man, and one who could see. The Lodge Grafter. Kind and faithful to each other, Linked to us by friendship's chain. Old Lodge Song. The most successful, the most Insidious and the most vexatious of all the beggars who work Portland are the lodge and fellowship men, and they are the most persistent, too. Nearly all of them are alike. They are fellows who once were de cent and really belong to the orders they say they do. They all tell the same story. Came out here from the East; found the "West not what "was expected; had "bad luck, and must have money enough to get home to go to San Francisco, or to Se attle, or elsewhere, a3 the case may be. Members of the lodge may suspect the men to be frauds, but it Is difficult to obtain proof of it, and while investigations are being made they must be boarded, and it is usually considered cheaper to give them a few dollars at the start and get rid of them. A popular state organizer In a well known order, and a prominent member of several other fraternities, has been made such a prominent mark for lodge workers that he has abandoned the plan of wear ing his badges and other insignia of lodge room rapk, .except on state occasions. No order Is exempt. Masons, Odd Fellows, Pythlans, Elks, and, In fact, all the or- ders are worked to a finish by the "mooch er" who can give you the "grip." Some of them are willing to take the risk to work two or three'lodges of the same order, at the same time. Often ?10, or several times that amount, Is obtained from each lodge, and the plan proves to be more profitable than working, and the "yag" considers it more dignified. Some of these fraternal order beggars, who have worked Portland recently, be long to two or three different orders, and obtained, money from several at a time, It Is supposed that they beg money enough to keep up their dues in their home lodge and thus retain their good standing. Napoleon, the Impersonator. Have no half dealings with thine art. Shakespeare. Perhaps bo k&S another name some tiwe, rim flP T SfiW W&m' One day he may have been somebody's darling. Time was whn a fond mother cherished a bright-eyed, curly-haired boy, and called him Theodore or Lancelot or Percy. He Is "Napoleop" now, and In the North End he 13 regarded as a bum. But he Is no common beggar. "What is worth doing at all Is worth doing well, and in his own particular line Napoleon shines as a star of the first magnitude. He Is an .Im personator and a mimic, and most of his work would do credit to many profession als. He Is also a singer of no mean ability. Napoleon is superior In every way. His headquarters is in a saloon where good whisky and beer can be obtained. Two rounds of drinks will start him going. His first number Is usually Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech, and his Impersonation of the Nebraska apostle of free silver Is very fine. It Includes tone, gesture, and facial expression. This Is followed by Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg and Ingersoll's beau tiful oration on "Napoleon Bonaparte." Napoleon is a "dope fiend." He ha3 a history. The story goes that he and his father were walking over a railroad trestle at Puyallup, when the elder "Na poleon" was knocked off and Instantly killed and the young man barely escaped. Since then he has been "bughouse," or "nutty," as partially Insane people are known in bum parlance. He usually ob- tains money enough for food and opium, without asking for It directly. One of his "grafts" Is grinding knives, razors, sclssora, etc., at which he is an adept. He has traveled all over the country, and has acquaintances In nearly every city in the. Union but that is another story. Passed for a Preacher. Borrowed the livery of heaven To serve the. devil in. f Shakespeare. Portland offers an ample field -for the working of the religious dodge, and "moochers" with sanctimonious tend encies are not slow to take advantage of it One of the smoothest articles In this line that ever happened struck Portland not long since. He worked the dodge for all there was In it, and also played the "lodge graft." He was a versatile fellow, being an Odd Fellow, a. Baptist and a boozer. A well-known minister on the East Side, who Is noted for his persuasive pulpit eloquence, staked the man to a suit of clothes and a week's board. Other religious men and organizations wero ap pealed to, and then he turned his atten tion to his craft. The Odd Fellows came down handsomely, and the quasi-clerical gentleman secured a pass, by some means, and started out, seeking fresh pas tures. Clergymen are not considered so easy to work as formerly. There Is such a thing as riding a free horse to death, and the men who preach the gospel now, Instead of always yielding up coin, as has been their custom, sometimes Issue "char ity tickets" that are good for so many meals at a restaurant, or a certain num ber of nights' lodging at a lodging-house. Quite a number of citizens have adopted this plan, and the professionals tell each other of them, and they are systematically "worked." Grafters, Large and Small. Some mute Inglorious Hilton here may rest Some Cromwell, guiltless of hla country's blood. Gray. Those who have been mentioned are only some of the star beggars. There are others. Selling lead pencils is a legiti mate business In the eyes of the law, but everybody knows it is usualjy only a cloak to shield begging. Even the sale of dally newspapers Is sometimes pervert ed to this base use. It has been asserted that a woman who stands on prominent street corners, beseeching the passer-by to purchase papers, has no need to do this. Selling "phony" Jewelry Is a plan of begging that is more frequently adopted by tramps than others, but the profes sional mendicant know3 how to work the racket. Imitation gold-rlmmed spectacles, that cost 12 cents, are sold to benevolent old genuemen for a dollar, and gilt finger rings, with bright-colored glass settings, are easily palmed off on the credulous. "Tim" Snlllvan. To omit the name of "Tim" Sullivan from any sketch, however incomplete, of Portland" beggars, would be rank treason. "Tim" has only one arm and one leg, and has been persistently practicing his pro fession In Portland for 17 years. "When abnormally drunk, he becomes aftmslve to those who fail to donate to his burning thirst; and then he usually lands In -Jail. As soon as his term expires, he takes up the burden of life again. Then there Is a short man, with a big head, who says he has been a lithographer and engraver. As distinguishing marks, both of thl3 man's eyes are bum. The one-legged mas, TTho boWe Qtrt Wa MflwWvM - jml imlwfflmw&xmm & hat as he walks up and down Third street, and the man with a- guitar who plaintive ly sings "Just as the Sun "Went Down" and "Jack the "Whistler," are both fa miliar figures in Portland. The last-named individual Is, by no means, a scrub, and is always well dressed and prosperous, In " way. Carried Grandma's FIctnre. Oh. for the touch of a vanished hand. And the sound of a. voice that Is still. Tennysos. The latest grafter to strike Portland with a dull, sickening thud is a tall gen tleman In black, with a lean-and-hungry-Casslus kind of a look, who sells a com plexion salve, which- has all the virtues j of an elixir of life. It Is more potent than the famed fountain of youth of Ponce de Leon. It's the real thing, and has a. cata logued price of $16 per bottle This "moooher" carries wish him two photo graphs, one of his mother and one of his "grandmother-." But these come into play later on. His own hair is as black as the plumage of a raven. He begins by saying: "Lady, how old do you think I am?" "Oh, about 40," is the guess. Tho wretch is really only about 30. "Oh, you are wrong," he says; "I am 86 years old." He then explains that he has been using some of his own "dope," and his wonder ful preservation Is the result. Then he exhibits his art gallery. He shows two photographs of women of about 40 years of age. "These," he explains, "are the plotures of my mother and my grandmother. Ma Is 102 years old, and 'granny Is 126. They are hale, hearty, and can crack English walnuts with their teeth, without making & wry face. It Is all due to their use of this wonderful elixir." After a while he reduces the price from $16 to "four bits" a bottle, and, if a pur chase Is not made, will finally strike the woman of the house for a "hand-out" and a dime. It All Goes. He lacked refinement, culture, grace; He had no charm of form or face. To see him read would) pain your eight. 'Twas misery for him to write. And yet, like all that's human, he Had one trait of humanity And that the best, I might here itate At making money he was great. "Wherefore, around him all men flocked, And women, too, and wero not shocked At things he'd do or things he'd say. In hla rough, coarse and brutal way. They merely smiled Indulgently, and saldt "How free from guile la he I He j doesn't have to try to please . We love his eccentricities." Philadelphia North American. T lf fSF Jpip dt " mlW'Z. iS Jd ih ti . mSjQ.
