The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-31
Beggars And Their Tricks.

when the deed is done by exhibiting the
results, but in the sight of everybody
who chooses to look on, and lust to
draw contributions by the oddlty of the
performance. This is one of the Oldest
and most widespread of mendicant
tricks, only in other days and in dis
tant lands the beggar tried and still
tries to dignity the practice by attach
ing to it high religious motive and
meaning. Anybody walking along the
towing-path of the Isis, between Folly
Bridge and Iffiey, on any of the summer
days which idle Oxford devotes to row.
ing matches during the university va
cation, will notice in all directions
young mendicants fiinging themselves
headlong into the water, clothes and
all, for the sake of few coppers. Co.
ing round the public houses of the same
city he will observe abundance of tor
ture of stomach and nerve by extraor-
binary feats of drinking. A fellow will
walk into one of these taverns, when it
is full, and make an offer, which is sell
dom refused, to gulp down at single
draught pot of ale every ten minutes,
for an hour or even longer-the pay be-
ing shilling or two and the ale-often
for the ale alone; and second, who
does not care for ale, will undertake to
deposit pint of strong spirits in his
stomach, at the rate of glass every
five minutes, at q similar price. More
over, all these swillers are prepared to
repeat the performance after sleeping a
couple of hours in haylot. There used
to be Oxford taverns each of which
retained one of these extraordinary
beer and spirit bibbsrs as q spe-
cial attraction. Such people come
to premature end. and often in
form to attract public attention, as
when some unaccustomed performance
in their special line Stays them on the
spot. Akin to the drinking beggars
are those who gorge enormous quanti-
ties of food-often raw and occasion
ally of strange sort-at a moments no.
tice and for stipulated sum. Not long
ago fellow Of this kind was main
tanned by the landlord of way side
tavern III Bucks sheerly on account of
his inordinate voracity, which drew
customers from all sides to witness it
in action. This devourer would make
nothing of eating dozen dinners in
succession, and as fast as they could be
prepared and only for the sake of the
food, which was paid for by the sight
seer. I have met with fellows who
made point of eating portion of
every meal taken in public raw, and
one in particular in the outskirts of
Birmingham-an abominable scoundrel
who used to delight the low-liyed
brutes of his neighborhood by Gaping
every gorging performance with what
he called +" chawing up" a live fowl or
rabbit.
The strangest of all these people,
however, are those who haunt the water
side taverns of large seaports in order
to astonish Jack by swallowing such
&c unconsidered trlfes'' as the shanks
of claypipes, horn buttons and even
small nails properly blunted. l have
known swallower of this kind who,
in seeking to Guido himself, actually
bolted" clasp knife and lived to
boast of the achievement. Other men
dicants make living by showing how
much pain they can infict on them
selves, or undergo at the hands of 9TH
ers, without wincing. And a great
amount of cruelty is perpetrated on
these wretches by the fellows whom
they seek to interest. One of this class
of beggars that l saw had the tips of
his ears scared away by frequent touch
es of the tap-room poker heated red
hot; another would bare his calves and
run half dozen pins into them to the
heads; third would strike his knuckles
with all his force against the wall;
a fourth would give to suspending him
self in a halter by the chin for a minute
at a time, and there were those who
would bear to be half roasted, doubled
up into excruciating positions, or to
have nauseous drugs poured down their
Threats. And all this was done and
suffered, and with an appearance of
jollity too, for the sake of the drinks
and the coppers that were to follow. 1
have even met with fellow in Lancas-
hire who was always ready to lay his
head face downwards on the road, and
let the wheel of light cart run over it
for small consideration. There was
spice of trickery in the act, indeed,
but still it was perilous enough. He
used to lay his skull between two loose
bricks or paving stones, and thus escape
the first shock of the wheel and good
deal of the pressure; and the head be-
ing an uncommonly thick one, the rest
mattered little. Still l have seen that
same head strapped up in all directions
in consequence of wounds received in
the performance of its owners special
feat.
BY far the most exceptional beggar 1
ever encountered-the only ore, indeed
claiming to be really wonderful-is to
be seen-as for eight or nine years past,
about eleven miles from where write.
l have heard of several such during the
last thirty-five years as the Irish fasting
man, Bernard Cavanagh, and the
Welsh fasting girl, but never had the
fortune to meet any but her. Still l
ought to be satisfied, for much more is
claimed for her than was claimed for
either of the two just mentioned. 1t
is asserted that not only has she
spent great portion of her life in
one long unbroken trance, but
that not single morsel of solid
food has passed her lips during the
whole of that time. In addition, the
imposture has remained undetected for