.
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 , ,