The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-04-23
Renu H1okmnn.-.a "Deed Beat"

Beau HIckman.-.A 'Dead Beat.''
"Gris" writes as follows from Wash.
ington:
Hanging about the front of the Me
trouolitan every day, and sometimes
peerinp in the doorway, for notice has
been served upon him to keep out OIL
| the hotel. is gray-ha1red, broken
down old man, nopnllng painfully
along with a cane, for he has the govt
besides several kinds of rheumatism,
who has been as we'll known in Wash~
| inpton for thirty years past as the most
distinpuished statesman in the land
This is the famous "Beau Hickman y
or what there is left OF him. His eccen-
tricities have furnished columns OF
paragraphs for newspapers all over the
country, though to see him now one
would naturally wonder how he ever
came to get national notoriety. He
couldn't have done 1t anywhere but in
Washington.
Take him anywhere else in the world
and he would simply be considered a
common nuisance and treated accord
ingly. He belongs to some rare old
Virginia family (tradition says) and
gained the title beau" some thirty
years ago, when he had money. by the
style he used to effect at the Virginia
springs and other places of public re-
sort. He boasts of having been on
"
Calhoun, Benton, and the rest who
figured at the capital when the Beau
was in his prime, and no doubt they
did tolerate and patronizs him. II he
had any wit in these days, or was in
the least manner entertaining, there is
not the slightest indication OF it re-
naming. He wears a seedy, half mill
tary cloak over his shoulders all the
time; his hat is of a defunct style, but
neatly brushed, always, and an eve
glass bangles in front of him from
ribbon. There are several little points
about him that show the dilapidated
dandy.
His custom for years was to collect a
dollar apiece from all Congressman and
those who had secured Government po-
sitions in Washington, on their first ar
rival at the capital. He only asks for
quarter now, and is ready to take
anything that is offered, even a three
cent piece. He mourns over the degen-
Grated republic, says there are no men
of brains at Washington any more. He
leans against pillar of the hotel, and
smiles scornfully on our great Ameri-
can statesmen as they pass, Eggles-
ton, Strader and the rest, and mutters
words OF gloom and bitterness. Poor
old Beau Hickman! He ought to be
pensioned and laid away, for he is about
the only link that connects Washington
present with Washington past.
Speaking OF the class to which the
Beau belongs, "dead beat" did
pretty good thing at the Metropolitan
Hotel bar the other day. He came Ia
and called for a gin-cocktail. 1t was
produced and drank. Immediately he
said "That was bully, just make me
another and then I'll be ready"
"Ready for what ?" asked the bar
tender.
Never you mind what, just do as 1
tell you"
The second drink was then COM
pounded after the most skillful method
for destroying the coating of the human
stomach, impairing the vital force and
prematurely breaking down the consti.
tuition. The man drank 1t and then
said with tone Of mingled satisfaction
and relief-"there, now I'm ready"
"Ready for what2" again inquired
the bartender.
"Why, ready to be kicked out of
doors, OF COURSE" was the reply, ~
haven't got cent"
He permitted himself to be kicked
out of doors with serene composure,
content in the possession of a brace OF
cocktails.