Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-17
THE BEGGARs OF MEMPHIS.
Their Number and VINO
They Are.
Begging as n Business-How
a Pays.


aud widely varying humanity, both OF
two classes-its poor and its beggars.
In thus mentioning the two together. we
would not be misunderstood as confound'
ing them as identical or at all the same.
Our purpose 10 to demonstrate the con-
trary. The poor are not necessarily
beggars, the beggar is not necessarily
poor. Poverty is calamity, an acct
dent; begging a profession, fine art
Poverty embraces every shade Of intel
lect, morality and respectability; beg
gary is more restricted, requires much
Of shrewdness, less Of morality, and
altogether dispenses with respectability.
The one ranges from the bottom to the
top Of the social scale-the other is only
at the bottom. There are the poorest
who would suffer-would perish ere they
would beg-there are beggars who would
suffer sooner than not to beg. The
INDECENT and needy are fit objects Of
charity-the professional solicitor Of
charity is an object of mistrust and con-
tempt. Drawing this distinction between
the honest poor and those who assume
the mask of poverty for dishonest pur-
poses, we desire, then, to be thoroughly
understood in venturing chapter on
the professional beggars of Memphis.
THEIR NUMBERS.
While afflicted with rascality and vag-
Alcoholism in every other conceivable
shape, Memphis is probably quite as free
from beggars as any city of equal size on
the continent That she should be alto
gether exempt, however, could not be ex-
pected. After taking some pains to
inform ourselves on the subject, we think
without varying far from the fact we can
place the number Of beggars by'profes-
sion in the city at about tbirty-fve, or
from that to forty. Ofthis number about
one-half are males, the other half wo.
meanwhile they are all white. Stealing
rather than begging seems to be the nat
ural bent of the negro mind, and hence
we find few or none of that race follow
ing the latter profession. There may be
other reasons also why begging has never
occurred to Cuffy as happy and easy
method of making a subsistence. Before
being freed he was never brought to such
necessity, and since his emancipation this
is one of the tricks of the pale faces that,
with all his wonderful faculty elimination,
he does not seem to have picked up.
Possibly Sambo comprehends that there
is lack of expression in his counte-
nance and rotundity Of features that
would be insurmountable difficulties to
be overcome in the make up of beg
gar In brief, without the loss of a limb
or his eyes (which are the very best stock
in trade with beggardum), he has very
unfortunate physique for the profession.
But to return to the thirty-fve or forty
whites who follow the business.
WHO ARE THRY2
Their names and much of their history
are, in the majority of cases, known to
the police. So close are the relations,
indeed, of professional beggary to ac-
tual crime and vagrancy that we are
forced in our inquiries after them to ad-
dress the same party of whom we would
ask after the thief, the pickpocket and
the confidence man. The names we
withhold, though many of them are
already known to the reader. In
their histories their is but little to in
terest or instruct. But one of the num-
Der is blind, and he has the distinction of
being, probably, the Oldest and most sue
cessful beggar in the city. His counte-
nance is quite familiar to those, who dur
ing the past several years, have passad up
or down Main street in the vicinity of
the old Planters Bank. Happening to
get into the calaboose about year ago,
he necessarily suspended business for a
short time, but, by paying a lawyer a
handsome fee, soon recovered from this
embarrassment, and has since been doing
as well as ever. If any are curious as to
how he has managed to make begging
pay, they can gain some insight into his
transactions in real estate by examining
the books in the registers Office, and the
tax lists of the current year. How
much he is worth is not pre-
cisely known to the writer, but
that he lives in his own house
and is regarded as cash customer by
his butcher and baker the writer does
know. Nor is be alone in this respect
Out of the thirty-fve or forty of his pro-
fession above mentioned, there are three
who pay taxes on real estate in the city
of Memphis. We have only selected him
as being better known, perhaps, than any
of his associates, from the infirmity which
he placards on his person.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE.
When not professionally engaged, that
is after business hours, the beggar casts
aside his mask like any actor, and then
it is that we first discover he has been
masked. He is no longer the pitiable
object he was, but suddenly metamor-
phosed int quite as jolly fellow as one
might wish to meet BE has his little
designations and sociabilities, passes the