The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-10-12
From New York to San Francisco for
Two Dollars.

a r~eQ-heaueu, ullapldaJeQ OOKlng lei
low, with a tuft of carroty hair sticking
through a hole in his twenty-fyelcent
straw hat, came walking down California
Street yesterday and attracted general
attention by his ragged and comical APP
p%earance.
He saw 1 was watching him, and,
pointing to the seat of his trousers which
was carefully stuck together by. a score
or more of pins, said with a jolly smile,
s.you are wondering why l appear in
such a plight. 1t is very simple when
you come to look at it. My breeche.
have just been severely kicked at thai
point."
His good humor surprised me. sYou
are very jolly oyer your kicking; teSeae
about it Let's go in this lunch room
where we can talk / saw the poor
fellow was hungry.
Ordering him a plate of soup and a
good solid meal, I invited him to begin.
Three weeks ago. his story ran, II
was in New York setting type in the San
Office. have set type in every large.
city in the United States. except San
Francisco, and three weeks ago the idea
occurred to me that l was getting old
and had better hurry if 1 wanted to put
Frisco on my list. 1 had just two dol
lars. Laying in a supplyof peanuts and
crackers and cheese, l started down to
the Pavonia Street ferry and crossed over
to the Erie freight yards, in Jersey City.
That same night, by good fortune, I dis
covered a flat car with a wheat thrash
ing engine on it labeled through to the
West, and l lost no time fixing my bed
in the boiler of the engine. The first
two or three days 1 felt like 1 was buried
alive, but that soon passed off, and I
actually began to feel comfortable in my
snug little retreat. The boiler was Just
long enough to let me stretch outin and
1 kept my provisions slowed away near
my head, AtSt. Louis we stopped about
ten hours, and I got out to lap up some
more peanuts and get another can of
water. 1 bought a dime novel there, too,
and had a splendid trip after that"
"You don't mean to say you remained
in that cramped position the whole
journeyp"
'.Of course I got put now and then to
stretch myself. Every night when we
stopped at stations or to change engines
/ would get out and walk about a bit.
When we were les Omaha I had a ter
rible scare. The engine broke. down
and was delayed a day and a half. My
provisions had given out the day before.
and 1 had expected to fill up again at
Omaha. 1t was a pretty bad fix. You
see if 1 got out the train men would
have seen me and put an end to my
game"
''How did you make out thenr" I
asked.
81 waited until late that night when.
all the hands were forward working.
with the engine and then slipping around
a half a mile or so, came in from the
front as if l was tramping the other way.
They were willing enough to give me
grub for the work / did, and when at
last they started off they thought { was
on the way to st. Louis. i slipped.
around and crawled into my boiler and
had no more trouble for two or. three
days. Then I was starved out again
and got off at a little town, at which we
stopped, to get another supply of crack
ers and fill my jug. I spent my last
cent here and when / came back to the
depot was knocked weaker than a kitten
to find the train gone and with it my
bed and boiler. For ten minutes j could
hardly move; then l pitched out and did
some tall walking. l caught up with
that tram before it had gone twenty
miles," and he helped himself to a
chunk of beef with an air of pride at the
recollection.
Its a ,fact,'' he continued, the
measly old thing had stopped to do some
switching and I crawled into my boiler
as slick as a woodchuck. L got along
all right as long as the crackers lasted,
but sleepingi in a boiler makes a fellow
terribly hungry and 1 had to get out and
forage the next time a stop was made. I.
really wasn't very rich but l was as
proud as a millionaire, and so when /
walked up the front yard of a house I
took off my hat and said:
T" Madam, I'm hungry, but 1 don't
come here to beg, l only desire permits
sion to Craze. She slammed the door in
my face and l stood around the front
yard feeling pretty blue when l heard the
cook calling me. Irushed around think
ing she had a Philadelphia pie, orsome-
thing of that sort.
"Are you the man that wanted to
grazeP'' she said. II Ls
Yes"
We'll, l. just thought I'd call you
around here; the grass is higher" and
she waltsed away quicker than a man
with a wooden leg.
81 was awfully disguised with that
town, but managed to lay in enough
provisions to put me through and I got
here to-day with a bag of crackers left
over. They kicked me pretty lively
down at the freight yard, but it only
limberedme up and I'll soon be, as sound
as a dollar. I'm going down to the
Chronicle Office now to see if I cae.get a
job. I'm a splendid ~type-setter and can
put up twenty thousand ems a day as
easy as .not,"-Sam Francisco Cor
MerriWether. Weekly.