The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-03-26
OLD BEAU HICKMAN.
A Celebrity Of -Ys oldsn Time"
How He Held Sway ON the Social High
way by His Wits-The Only Debt
He Ever Paid-L0afiux Re-
duced 10 q Science.
washington Post.l


crammed from floor to ceiling with the oddi-
ties of human nature. 1t can not very well
help being. Owing to the peculiar political
and social life of the place, 1t is the paradise
of specialists. Sometimes these people want
sympathy, sometimes they want advice,
sometimes they want the social stimulus of
the life here, not unusually they want an
appropriation from Congress. AS rule,
they get into an outside eddy OF the mael-
strom and drift out again, but sometimes,
from pure inertia, they remain and become
permanent institutions of the place.
Among the social bric-a-brac of the Capital
city there has been no more unique speci-
men of humanity than Beau Hickman,
who. if he did not achieve fame, achieved
notorlety which caused him to be pointed
out to strangers as one of the celebrities OF
the town. A man who lived by wit instead
of work; who never paid debt in his life
till he paid the debt of nature; who kept
his books with the world by that severely
single entry system in which the entries are
exclusively on one side. One would call
him prince of Bohemia, but for respect for
those good Bohemians who pay their debts
and keep most of the ten commandments,
and who might decline the doubtful honor
of allegiance like pretender. A man who
foated on a summer sea of success till he
was dragged down at last by the undertow
of death. Too proud to work and too hon.
est to steal, he betook himself to the social
highway, and by pure address and an 49,
carat impudence, ON which there was no
discount, he held his right of way. There
must have been something of the eclat OF
royal pronunciamento to 'stand and de-
liver with which he made his "assess-
ments +" for we are told that In the heyday
of his fortunes not to be palronized by him
was considered q slight, and to refuse to pay
the dues which he demanded was to be mig.
gardly. He was Beau Brummel's American
cousin, and there is a strong family resem-
blance IN their two lives. Both were born
of respectable parents, were possessed OF
| moderate education, had inventive genius
and executive ability, which, otherwise ap-
| piled, might have led to brilliant res ults;
both had their share of the roses and cham
payne of life, and both died at last in penury
and disgrace. There was this difference
Beau Brummel practiced his arts and aired
| his elegances in titled drawing-rooms, car
| pet knight without fear and without re-
proach in his toilets sensitive soul, to
| whom a discord IN the color of glove was
positive pain; while Beau Hickman, cast il
a s1erner mold, and IN q republican society,
made himself popular by his good humor
and courteous manners. and was the hero of
| saloons and hotel corridors, where he won
| his victories. But both belonged to the ge.
nus dead beat, and, barring the local color,
! the recording angel must have found an aw-
| full monotony in the record of their two
| lives.
Robert s. Hickman began life with $40 900
and the misunderstood as they were-of
| Virgins gentleman. He ran through the
| him as long as he lived. 1t was by virtue of
them, no doubt, that to the last he retained
something that commanded the liking of
many people, that he never broke promise,
never told lie, and with feeling of delic-
| acy that did honor, never alluded to his fam
lily, who felt themselves disgraced by his
career. There is something pathetic about
this phase in his life which reminds one of
Hale's MAN Without Country" He came
to Washington in 1888, when about 81 years
! of age. Washington was the gay metropolis
in those days. and he found himself welcome
in its best circles, fiattered and feted, attrac-
tive alike to woman and to man. He had
all the elements of social success-good looks
fortune and the talent of pleasing. After
ward, when his money was gone, the problem
| of life stared him in the face, and found him
absolutely without resources. Then he made
up his mind. He deliberately went to work
to reduce loafng to a science, and dignity it
by adopting it as a proft ssion. He used to
live, whenever it was possible, at hotels,
finding there good field for his
experiments of human nature. His diagno-
| sis of the disease of craftsmanship is so accu-
rate and so equally adapted to the congress
man of to day thatit will bear repetition.
| A young man from the country was COM
| planning of the mistreatment he had re-
ceived from his member" and Beau Hick.
man gave him soothing syrup as follows:
| my dear sir, Washington is a new world to
representatives. AS soon as they reach the
/ capital they feed on Caesar meat. That Is
Why they are grown SO great. The obesity
| of their political importance becomes
| wheezy. The air here seems to be impreg-
mated with q kind of gold dust which makes
them asthmatic. Why, bless you, sir as a
rule, they are all light weights, or they
wouldn't have run 80 well. Did you ever
i hint to your representative that you were well
acquainted with his people at home, and ask
him to take a drink. Try it, and-well,
| thank you, / do sometimes indulge" Beau
| Hickman never was politician. He pro-
! fessed to belong to the East Virginia school
| of Wings, but he never allowed his political
prejudices to stand in the way OF business,
and never hesitated to assess" man be-
cause he Happened to be Democrat. With
a zeal worthy of better cause he devoted
himself to his profession
Many of the most noted men in the pro-
fession contributed regularly to his de-
mands, and those who would not have en-
couraged any other form OF dealing paid
their assessments without remonstrauce.
Perhaps they thought as he did, that they
owed it to him pension for services rem
dered in his PALMER days. For he never
presented his 'bills for qusrterage" in a
begging manner, but as though 1t was just
due and entitled to instant consideration.
To wealthy Southern member. who, at one
time, mplained that the bill was exces-
sive, my dear sir" he replied, "your assess
ment is strictly In proportion to your
means; and sir, knowing that am no id
Hebrew, you should not expect me to com.
promise myself by entertaining such I'M
businesslike propositions of compromise.
Why, sir, if l reduce the ratio of your as
sessments that id stickler from the other
side of the House would refuse to pay one