The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1882-01-19
The Tricks of Mendicants.

ne nlOS5 prOlltaDle nelu III new 1 OK
for street beggars. and the one in which
they are most plenty, says the Sun is
from Fourteenth street to Twenty-third.
between Broadway and Sixth avenue.
This is the shopping district. and la
dies, who are the best game for expe-
rienced mendicants, are to be found
there in greater numbers than in any
other part of the city. As the leaders
in. every trade are apt to be found oc-
cupying the best places, SO the most
expert beggars of the city are to be
found in this district. Among those
who become expert in begging, some
have natural aptitude for it, but the
great majority have acquired their cum
ming by long apprenticeship.
On a recent afternoon reporter saw
fredericksburg man hobbling along
the east side of Sixth avenue, near
Twentieth street. He seemed to be
paralyzed on his left side. He turned
into Twentieth street, and as the report
er passed close to him he recognized the
beggar as man whom he had heard
telling the following story to an APP
parently less experienced mendicant in
the Fourth Ward:
"Well, as was sayin', I was
cook aboard the brig Cheshire, from
Lunnon to New York. On my last trip,
just as she was goin' to leave the dock
down here near Peck Slip, | thought
I'd slip out and get somethink to drink
afore we got away. To cut long yarn
short, | got drunk an was left. My
clothes an money was aboard. an l
didn't have but thruppence in my peck
ct. When it came night didn't have
nowhere to 60, an as / was wonderin'
wot I'd do about it, a young Teller with
spectacles came along. I stopped him
an told him I'd got lost in the streets,
an when l foun' my way to the dock
my ship was gone without me. l re-
member that young Teller well. He
asked me lot of questions which an
swered true, except about the drunk.
Then he gave me a half dollar and told
me to call at his rooms-somewhere on
Washington Square-the next day, an
he'd give me a job until | could find a
ship. When he went away | see in a
minute wot a payin' business it was; so
as soon as he got out of sight | tackled
the next Teller that came along. He
didn't wait to hear what said, but he
said he knew l was lynn anyhow, an
he gave me five cents to get a drink
with. did wot he told me, an then
started again, but only got seventeen
cents more the whole night till i turned
in-about eleven o'clock.
"That's how 1 got started; but about
three months after, when the sailor
dodge was gettin' wore out, got sick
with the smallpox. 1 was settin' in a
bar-room down in Water street, when l
first felt it comm on. First was cold
and then was hot, and l had fearful
pain in my back. After J. sat in the
bar-roOm about three hours, gettin
worse all the time, the barkeeper sen
for an ambulance, and l was carried off
to the hospital. When l came out of
that my face was marked like it is now,
and was SO weak that people could see
l had been sick. made S. day then
for over week, but when l began to
look better l didn't make but about a
dollar an half day. BY and by I
didn't make even this much, and then
SEEM man in Brooklyn one day max
ing lots of money because he was para
lyzed, i found out how to do it, and
I've been working that racket off an
on ever since as
How do You make your hand look
sop the listening mendicant asked. "a
"It's easy enough, you can do it your
self. Put your arm close to your side.
Now lift up your hand to a level with
your elbow and leave it hang loosely
from the wrist. Now press in your
thumb joint, and that's all there is
about it. Ifyou want the hand to trem-
BILE, press your arm against your side as
hard as ever you can. That's right. 1t
looks hard, but it amt, and nobody wot
didn't know the business would ever
think you could sham it. OF course
anybody could do the hobbling part