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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1907)
. 1 AOjxe crrzz 7HK' Amr rau pauper la probably h qerat combination on earth. H la mlxtura of thrift and laal nM. only aqualrd by .that of the New England farmer who apent threa , boura looking lor ma umeo family dot In order that the beaat light aava hlro the labor of carrying a amall package half a mile. A well-known atudent to? eoonomio i itieatlona and oondltlona 1 authority the aaaertlon that nearly three- fourth of the paupera 'In America to v day are surh through aome fault of ! Uielr own. Every locality haa lta char h attera that go to the county poorhouse ; ...r, f.iL ltvlna a. life of eaae and luxury during the winter month., only to disappear In aprlng. when they could aartlally eompenaate the commonwealth for their winter'! lodging by working la the fielda that eurround nearly every auch Inatltotion. ' ... . ' i Bpeoincally. a pauper la a deetltute perion entitled to receive aid under the law. Generally apeaklng. howeveri the terra pauper haa been -atretehed to a n all that numeroua claaa who live by their wtte and are not criminal. . The beggar who apenda three or four month of th year In priaon or penitentiary aa a tramp la Juet aa much a pauper In tha general aenae aa the deaerted wife and child, who are left a-charge upon the commonwealth by aom drunken aot af husband end father. It la In the broader eens of tha word. then, that thla article la written partially becauae It enable tha Writer to cover tha topic la a more eompreneneive wjr pm uj Weuae the real pictureaque flgurea in ...rrrfnm are found among the indi vidual who do not come under the i clalfletlon in Ha atrlcteat unw. ' i Jf the verag pauper apent.the earn amount of time and energy Improving hlmaelf that he doea In inventing mean to live without work he would occupy, One of thoae pinnacle of fame toward which ordinary mortal but gaxe with tmaatlafled longing. In the aummer month life without work 1 compara tively eaay to find, but In th cold of drear winter thla life of doe not exist outaida of the walla of the na tlon a penal lnatltutlone. Folic re porter and members of tha polio foro n large cltlea ar thoroughly familiar with tha efforta of trampa to get looked up aa fall wanea into winter, and many A big copper haa the laugh on om shivering hobo when he rfuse to tak "'oid'Tom King of Buffalo, for 20 yeare , fiolic Juatlc and hlmelf a pictur-, 4 gux jmrtrz? - esqtie figure, .knew these tramp Of old. When th wind from the Uke rattled the windows of th dingy police court room and the red-faced men from off the beat would begin to haul In the dirty and ragged apeclmena of humanity he would remark, addressing th police man by name. 'The snowbird begin ning t flock hey. Bill" "Tesa, vour honor," would BUI reply. Thn "Judge" King would look th tramp all over. . ' "What' th charge, BUI?" h would ask. i .- . , ' "Vagrancy, your honor." f Thlg from Bill. - "SO you'r a, vagrant,' heyf ' , "Wher fromT" . ' ' "Wisconsin, Judg.' That from th tramp. ...' 'Wisconsin, hayt And you've been tramping .all " aummer, aleeplng in tba green orchards, and riding on the freight cara, and basking in' th sunshine, and bathing in the dewjjo. I gueaa you never bathed nd.-'ffow that It' come cold, you want tie to take you in and aend you to th penitentiary, where you will be nice and warm and comfortable until the anow atopa flying, heyf - "Yea, m Judge." - Again from ; th tramp. .. -l i "Well. I ain't goin" to do It" Thl latter in th vole of a young thunder. "Oet yotir good-for-nothing carcasa out of here and go back to Wisconsin where you come from, and let them keep you. If I find you Inside tha city within three hours I'll hav you ducked in th eanal oet" - , i And th tramp generally got Judge King' usual punishment wa to order thla class of pauper out of town. ' He appeared adamant, but Ilka all men, there waa a weak point In bia armor. The judge. It seems, had one suffered n unpleasant experience In Toronto, Canada, and from that time on wna death on Canadians. One wily hobomore rarged and dirty than the usual run, if thla war possible in aome way found thl out, and when th Judge asked htm where he hailed from, replied. "Canada, your worship." Well." said th Judge. "Great Britain helped us in th Spanish-American war with her sympathy, and I guesa I don't feel ao badly towarda Canadian aa I ud to. Tou can go; get out of town." It wa hard to tell whl-h waa th moat amusing, th espresslv ' wink of th ludg or th downcast countenance of the trams. Tn five mlnutee th latter wa hack. "Wher did you get that fellow, Cael- Till: OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL. PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 21, t H V -4 idr?' asked the Judge of th policeman who had brought bim InT , I Juat let him so." .-. .- .. ..-. .... 'Sure, Judge," said Caaaldy, "he Just fired a stons through a window of the saloon acrosa the street"... . "Sixty days.", said the judge. , Tbe tramp had won'. " - , - . Th pauper that glvea the authoritlea th greajcat amount of trouble la the professional pauper the' man who la a pauper in order to make a livelihood. Thcs fellow a re usually th most vi cious of their claaa. and will seldom h"ltftt at crime. . About nine montha of the year they' beg, and steal the Other three they recuperate their bodies and their wit in some convenient alms house, jail or penitentiary. A opposed to these are the professional beggar, who are different only tn - that they eccnp th real pauper Class by never going to an almshouse, and by being generally honeeu-if getting alma by rowans of trumped-up storlea and fake injuries can be called honest. While making a study of th pauper and beggar question I- had occasion to watch a street man "working hi gag" at th ' Intersection of two big thor oughfare In a large city. A each man earn along he would slide up to him and in a wheedling ton ask for 4 quarter for a bed. On man gave htm a nickel. "Well, you'r a cheap guy, an tight," he commented, but kept th coin. Anxious to learn whether he belonged to th criminal pauper or only the beg gar class, X approached him.. II be gan to elide tip to me, but-1 beat him to It, a th saying goea. and before he had a chance to begin hi appeal I said in my -moat Insinuating tone: ,"Olv u a dim for bed. Cut" "H slsed m up with a sidelong glance, and . my makeup muat have lacked aome characteristic of th beg gar maonry, . . "Too think you're a pretty smart guy, don't you?" he aald. ."And maybe you think I ain't got th price or a bed to glv you. Put your peepers, on this." Suiting hi action to Vie word, he pn'led from hi pocket a handful of coin that would hav don credit to a atreet car conductor's ehang bag. -1 grabbed. 1 got om Of th monev, but his free hand caught my wrlat - It wna an Interesting moment. In one hand ho held nearly a pint of small silver piece. With th other he grasped the wrlat of . my hand . that had th rest of th coin. "Drop that dough," h eaid. adding a few choice epithet by way of empha sis, "or III kick your head off.? "Let go of me or I'll smash you one good punch with my free band. If it's the last thing I do, and then turn you over to that cop acrosa th street" waa my reply. lie dropped my wrist aa if It had been a live coal, thus confirming my auapt elon that h was of th criminal class, afraid of a policeman; and I got safely away before he discovered that there wasn't a patrolman in sight I counted up my bootyand found that X had made 11.10. ' , . , I had th satisfaction of aeelng my friend arraigned In polio court a few days later charged with picking pockets. All larg cities r afflicted with th beggar plague, and most of them prove fertile field for the men who live on th labor of others. New York haa been termed th "Beggars' Paradise," and Chicago la said by aom member of th fraternity to b th easiest alt In th t i -a , ; w I 5 ' i t !! 1 4 world in which to live without wofk.' It would surprise you to know, per haps, that the average professional tag gar la a very close reader of tha papera. He ha to be. Competition I keen and progress rapid in the underwalk of life, well aa in the upper realma of busi ness, and th man with th newest yarn and the most plausible tale 1 tha man who brings In th biggest pll at night The old, stories about losing a wife and child by pneumonia ar worn threadbar and will hardly bring th uaer in enough for a bed. To be a good beggar a man muat be more up to date than hi fel lowcraftaman. Thus it waa that after th Chicago beef -packing scandals th country wa flooded with men who lost th use of on or two or several limb a the result of abuse and Injurie suffered in th Chicago packing houses. Then It was the San Francisco earth quake, and survivors were blowing Into eastern cltlea asking for help three montha after the terrible disaster. Every big railroad wreck gives some en terprising hobo a chance to work th ympathetio housewives In th neigh boring towns, and a powder mill explo sion, m which every man wlthtn 10 yard ara killed, furnished no leaa than 24 eurvtvor. ' . : 1 The neweat racket I th automobile gag. A duaty end tattered individual ataggers tnto a farm yard and tells a heart-rending tal about being run down by an automobillat who never oven atopped to inquire how badly he had been hurt The farmera' well konwn anti pathy to the city automobillat I relied upon to help In th succeeg of th gag. ft usually doea, and th bogus victim frequently gets several meala,.a night's lodging, aom aerviceabla cast-off cloth ing and a chance to work -which lat ter he usually ducks. - Closely allied with th great begging profession are tbe men who may be I termed "purveyor to th fakrs." Thy Iknak a business of supplying beggars If with the articles needed to ply their trade, such a artificial sore to counter, felt Injury or disease, bandagea that will glv th appearance of any desired deformity, crutches, canes, etc., etc. There la in "London at least on in dividual who make a good living rent ing out appliances. A pair of green goggle, a tin cup and a lgn "I am blind." for instance, ' will be loaned to enterprising Individuals who desire to enter the trade aor a small percentage of th daily receipt. It would seem that th owner of these chattels had little aecutity for their return, and no assurance that he would get his proper portion of th proceed. Such 1 not th case, however. . In big cities and In London especially the various local ities ar divided up Into beata, and nn man la allowed to trespass on his broth er's territory. When th new Individual la let Into the business he I assigned to soma certain corner or territory, and If he one played -fla th great free maaonry of beggardnm would see that he never begged again. To such a eel en ce has th business been reduced that one of these purveyors ran tell, atmoat to a hapenny, how much any corner will bring at a certain hour of th day for a certain kind of begging. Panhandling, for Instance, generslly yields 10 per cent more than "blind" begging, but then, too, It ia much harder work and require more skill ana activity. - Instructors In begging, too, ar known to exist, though to my knowledge, th police of no big otty hav ever knowing ly run down and held one of these dan gerous cltiiene. For a at a ted sum they i; II vx . ; v V- ITT lt ,:i I ?i ill will supply th "panhandler" with a tale ulted to hi peculiar physical makeup, and will tall him juat where to put th whin to make his plea successful. In Justice to th majority of this clasa, however, it must be said that the man who ha to learn hi atory never make a first-class beggar. - Those who . excel are those who orlglnat their own yarn and tell them themaelvea ' Everybody perhaps Is familiar with th great "boiler explosion" swindle that wept th country recently. A degen erate German painter In New Tort ground out lurid and weird picture of a bursting boiler. . with a legend under neath aaklng aid for the bearer, who had lost his eyesight In th explosion at a chemical works In a place sufficiently distant to make investigation difficult An Italian sold th picture to profes sional beggars for 110 each, and thou sands were placed on th market Not a city in th oountry but that was visited by two or three of these sign bearers, and both th German painter and his Italian partner waxed rich, it la said. Not long ago th police of a weatern city unearthed a similar schema, probably a revival of th old on, and killed in th bud what would have proven an equally profitable busi ness based on th San Francisco aarth quake. . Perhaps soma readera with a fondneaa for splitting hairs will tak exception to a classing of professional beggar with pauper. But there la no reason why they should; both clssaes ar supported by th public. . Irt the eas of th beg. gar, th individual contribute direct while In th case of th pauper he does it indirectly through th tax he. pays th state. I ones heard of a beggar who did his work methodically and carefully, working th public) from JO o'clock each morning until midnight In thl way he averaged IIS a week and kept hi wife and two children in oomfort, if not in luxury. Before the days of th telephone or telegraph many beggars would oarry about a letter that purported to be Igned by th mayor or some leading cltiien of a nearby city, recommending th bearer aa worthy of charity. In these, day It would b aa eaay matter to verify th claim by wire, and this method has been discarded a danger ous. In Its place th fak union card. however, doe a good business. . Th panhandler 1 comparatively saf in hi calling, - too. Whn he Is tn the Ohio pottery towns, w will say, he beg on a union card iaaued by aa Ironmolders union in Pittsburg. How are th pot ter to know It la a fak card? They don t and usually aubscrlbe to help a anion that along to Chicago, where he expects to get work. There ar many panhandlera especially among th printer who have genuine union card. They have learned th trade and have gone on th "bum" later. There 1 no question that they ar genuine union men, but they are as little deserving of sympathy as th fakers. Religion la a fertile field for th pau per professional and otherwise. Many individuals, and even families, join vari ous churches In different localities snd get all th "help" they can before leav ing for newer and greener fields. Th slum mission la a great graft for a oe re tain branch of this ilk. Th bum visits on of th revival meetings and gets re ligion. Great tears course down Ms cheeks and hi whole body sobs with suppressed emotion. Th minister no tices him and asks him to corns forward. After aeveral unsuccessful - effort a kind brother finally alda him. and h Join th throng of thoa who hav found salvation. After the eervlo he tell hi story. H haa been a tramp and drinker all his life, but from now on he will follow a narrower and better path. He 1 broke and hungry and really came into th mlaslon to get warm but he ba taken hi last drop of liquor. H will walk th atreeta aU night and look for work In th morning. Th kind brother I touched and offer him half a dollar. He refuses. The other Inslata and he accept. . Th next night h is there In a front et and enter heartily Into th eerrloe. 1C07. ,i . V:: ' 7 "Welt my man, did you get Work?" asks th minister, kindly. ' He shakes tls head sadly. "My clothes ar too poor," he say. "No body would glv a bum looking like me work." And again th tears. There la a conference between the minister and a few of the brothers, - He gets a quarter and a aUp of paper with an addresa on it and is told that if he calls at th nun.ber he will get clothes. Asauranoea that b will gat work ar also given him. He want th clothes, but 'not. the work, and so he goes th - next day, gets them, and then disappears.' only to boo up serenely at soma otber mis slon and work the gam again. . The pauper In tbe almshouse 1 not a picturesque aa the beggar in the atreet Nor as interesting. There are in a certain almshouse in an eaatorn state, however,' two brother John and Mike who hav been Inmates for SO years. They ar twins. 94 years old. ana in paiernai aire tnat John as sumes because h beat Mike Into ."Jie world by IS minute ar langhaMe. A visit to any almshouse will reveal a wealth of human Interest that would stir tee aluglah blood of. almost any body. Tha atorlea that could be told by the Inmates could well be woven into tn rat.no of many a drama and maae tn plot of many a atory.. Th bureau or cenaua com time no om. pie ted figures that ahow that during ' year coverea in tne report 163, 1TI person were admitted to the alms houses of th United States. Of this total. Xll.tlJ were males and S1.J5 fe males. Tn figures just quoted relate only to tbe poor In the almshouse, and " an to tn great floating popula lion or dependent Door and tha army of beggar who liv in th shady ruv oi ma, existing oy money gained by questionable methods. There seems no reliable way of taking a census of thl great body of the under world, and it Is not likely that on will ever he devised. A great student of t".l poor in a recent srtlcl said that . for every nine men who live hy the aweat of their brows there was on who lived by begging. If these figures hold good It means that In addition to all th real. aenia or a city one tenth of the popu lation must be added for the uncounted oeggara wno seldom see th light of aay. piying their trad at night and sleeping when th un I up. .. . Th number of pauper enumerated In th almshouses In 1880 waa 46,208 and In 1890 7J.045. It la Interesting in this connection to not that though the almshouse population has kept on in creasing right along the Increase haa not kept pace with the growth of the population of the country, and conse quently the ratio of almshouse pauper ism Is decreaalng. In 1880 It was ItJ to very 100,000 of population and about 114 to every 100,000 in 1890. In 1901 tt had been still farther reduced to 101 In very 100,000, and incomplete figures at hand Indicate that it Is even lees now. . . . Her Is an Interesting thing: there are far leas female than male paupera. That thla I o I strange. Men are generally regarded as th strona-er sex. ! snd many a father haa said. "Well. I'm I glad my child is a boy; if anvthlnr happens to me he will be better able to I take care of himself than If he were a girt." Tbe cenaua bureau pauper figures seem to disprove thl theory, however I Women, It is argued, have more nri,i than men snd, therefore, hesitate more before taking advantage of th state's offer to aid. Women, too, it is aald, ar more resourceful than men. more cour ageous when beset by difficulties. Wom en, too. it snouia d remembered, fre quently hav husbanda to take car of them. But whatever the cause, the fact remain that there are twice many mal paupers as female ones. Although pauperism Is more prevalent among the males, the chief distinction between th two x seems to be that in remaies, once having entered the almahouse, atay there, while men are, aa a rule, only winter boarder. Car. tul Investigation showed that during one year a majority of the paupera were aeasoned inmatea. .This seems to sup port th theory that almshouse paupera. like beggars, ar often professionals at the game. Of the total number of pau per in th almshouse, however, tt wa found that .4 per cent were in aome measure defective and really unfit for work.- ' -1 " -" '" -. Aw. occasional glimpse at the under world doea one good. A study of tha pauper question make it easier for those of us who are able to earn our own living to bear cheerfully the bur den that hav fallen on our shoulders. DUEL IN THE DARK ' Result of Strang ' Encounter IV- tween Two Scouts. - v , Springfield -correspondence St Louis ' . ., ., Globe-Democrat. , . A. T. Lawrence of Bt Lou I a has been spending aeveral days in Springfield, going over .battlefield in this riclnity, with which he was quit familiar dur ing tha civil war. Lawrence wore the blue during th war and participated In th' battle of Springfield.. He was 1th hi company in th old stockade on Campbell street and he tells many Interesting stories Of Incidents that occurred during that battle. " "We wanted aome on to go out from , th 'stockade, said Mr. Law rence,, "to : do some reoonnoiterlng. There was a telegraph operator with us named Brlggs, and he was th first man to volunteer. Brlggs tol out from th stockade, and to within S4 yards of what was then known aa the city cemetery. : "A Con fed e rat scout was hidden be hind a tombstone- and took a shot st Brlggs Just as he ducked behind a tree. It waa along toward evening and the two men exchanged possibly to shots at each other in th duel in th dark ness that followed. (About t o'clock in th morning a truce waa agreed to bv the opposing force in order to care for' the 'wounded on both aides. "We found th body of Brlgg lying at th Toot of th tree. A bullet from the squirrel rifle of the Confederate scout bad penetrated his brain through the eye. - The body of th Confederate was found In th cemetery in a sitting posture. His back waa against a tomb stone and he had one foot againat an other headstone, and waa In the act of pulling on his boot when a Union bullet pierced his heart. His fingers ' were still in the boot straps and he appeared as if he had fallen asleep while pulling on hla boot and wa killed while asleep. V TIi First Oil WeH. 'From the Philadelphia Record. With the death of James P, Smith of . Tituaville laat week there paaeed th last of the group of nien who er- peare in the famous Drake well picture. taken In the autumn or isei by joi A. Mather, the noted oil region photo rapher. The group In the picture In cluded Colonel Edwin L. Irnke, 1 -man who drilled the well; William i James P. Smith, practical drlllor. w assisted with the work; Peter WIN Tltuvllle merchant and ete.f. friend of Colonel Drake, and AUm Locke. The. five mm ar dead, 'i picture adorna the offlrea of nundf Of oil operators and refiners and N i only photograph of th flret oil Th only person now llvlnar conn' ' with the plctur Is John A. M.,ti:r. t photographer. Mark I,rV In I n from the VeKmlmi.r ' At the Ut nieetlus of lh 1 flr' rhih lhr- eimfl- f nere exhibited M.-ti kail V tnr-d In lh' enentrv. The are th flt rnr-i- Oreet Brlinln end wr t-r. VftN etrMWrtiMr - '1 the bird-. Tli -rrl- at hears ef-fng .(,.rft. i 1 r- kr UlSi !! til Rinl - omer, wearing a lh-r tt 1 le errnr4 ilnrlr. the emails ay tJft I. I , ,
