Mexico weekly ledger., 1880-01-15
Travelling TOurists--"Rumming Grub"

I'AJ SA tisAih
Weliye ike royal Turks,
When We have luck, a bummin' our chuck,
No help for the man that work.
The time of year for the festive
tramp draws nigh-as the weather
softens their cheek hardens. The
prospect for the spring crop is good,
unless our city takes measures to rid
the city of this noisome nuisance.
W. will either have to increase the
supply or cut off the demand. That
is, we will have to enlarge the Hotel
de Parks. OR do away with it alto
gether. The inside of the engine
house presents quite a iudicrous APP
pearance during these cool nights.
As long as the city furnishes a place
for tramps to sleep, u citizens will
have to feed all of them and furnish
some of them with clothes, jewelry,
&C., &c. They will take anything
they can get their hands on, and
some of them will eat anything they
can bite.
The other night we dropped in to
see how the ''gang'' spent the even
ing. During the day they ''bum
grub" At night they ''crack
cribs and rob clothes lines. This
is not the case with all of them-any
man is liable to get out of money and
friends in this world, but Mexico is
the headquarters of a good many
professional tramps and for the
on that they here find a fire and a
place to sleep. We found quite a
motley crowd in the engine house.
Landlord Parks was out gathering
Them in from the highways and
hedges. There were twenty in the
fold already. They seemed to be
very happy. Parks told them he was
out of coal. The next night they
came and brought their coal. Where
did they get it? Go ask the breeze
that gently stole up the alleys and
passed them as they stove open some
mans already nearly empty coal
house. Parks let them in to the
stove and they furnished their own
coal and even made their own fire.
As it was rather late and we did
not furnish a reference In the way OF
a new supply of coal, We were looked
on with suspicion by the untrammell'
ed tourists. They were all dirty
all of them looked hungry; some OF
them looked like they would not work
if opportunity afforded it; every one
of them looked able to work.
Right here we want TO tell old mar
Bailey that we did not take him FOL
a tramp. Now, Bailey is not a very
big man, but he might be a very
troublesome one if he attacked a maj
in the fashionable way. W. did no
see Bailey at first WI were asking
) the boys questions.
Billie Mulligan said he was from
I Leadville !; had two wives and clever
i children out there, all as hungry ant
ugly as he was.
Pock-marked Jake said he wa
from California and that only a weel
ago he was worth $4,000, but ha'
not had a mouthful to eat for amonth
I You see, he was not a very good liar
t did not get his dates right.
Three-fingered Mike said that b
u had lost all his money in the fall c
e the st. Charles bridge and that he ha
daily tried to work-his way on hi
G cheek. He said he had been an OIL
r phan since he was an infant; had ha
nothing to eat for a week, except
small piece of I've soap.
l. One well preserved specimen I
g the genius tramp said he had lost h
e all in the Chicago fire.
$ Another lost his health; had tt
n yellow fever in Memphis; locke
e like he had the yellow jaundice nov
I. One of the boys who had to lea
II up against the fre-engine in order I
stand, and who dared not take h
/. clothes off for fear he would fall I
pieces, said he was waiting for none
from home; he had started to Il
6. b. Convention at Washington, b,
# was out of sugar (Soap too, v
thought We referred him to Il
q proper man for him, who we kno
- will cheerfully assist him We hay
J., not room for half we were told NJ
for all we believed. In the far corn
on a section of the fire-engine hou
, We saw WhaJ We LOOK LOT Il Stlltll VI
- sleeping and were about to avail
-, him up to find out when he lost h
money and if he was an orphan, &
We drew closer to him; he sic
N soundly and still he looked hungr
r. He was too small for a man, too o
tn for a boy not too fat, but too got
looking to be a tramp. We start'
~ again to awake him, when We So
i, %protruding from his vest pocket
t.. dangerous weapon in the shape of
r pistol, which mast have been at lea
Re one inch long. What, a soldi
h sleeping ON his arms? But he was n
a soldier, for he snored in his slee
ey He moaned; he murmured in
in sleep Gas a man would that had min
re pie on his stomach or pork on h
brain..) Yes, murmured: "Whe
are you going with those hogs? p
o your bill before you take them o