Thomas County cat., 1889-11-07
TWO EXPERIENCES.
4 ST. Louis Police Captain Airs His OplA'
ions About TrampG

4 81. Louis Police Captain Airs His Opla.
ions About Tramp6
/ have two experiences to relate in
regard to tramps. which set me even
on the question of discovering honesty
and dishonesty among them. One
morning l was sitting in the dining
room at home when a poor fellow
came up to the kitchen door and asked
my wife for breakfast, stating that he
was hungry. could get no work and
was actually starving. l went out,
however, to see what specimen of q
beggar was there. and found an in
telligent-appearing young fellow,
dressed tolerably well in clean, though
threadbare. clothes He assured me
that he had tried in vain to secure
work until he was heartily discour-
aged, and as a last resort was COM
PEELED to wound his pride by begging.
':If you'll prove your willingness to
work by saving up that pile of stove
wood, you can have breakfast" said
!. We'll. I'll work." cheerfully re-
sponded the young man, as he threw
off his coat and pushed bucksaw
with an alacrity born of hunger and
desperation. l gave him good break
fast-the best my table afforded. In
conversation l found him bright. He
was a book-keeper, he said. took
an interest in him and secured him a
position in the Missouri Pacific freight
offices, after persuading a friend in
charge to give him a trial. The
young man proved one of the finest
penmen in the Office. and after a trial
of three or four months at forty dol
lars month he was given a fine
position in an Office with the same line
in Arkansas. The other experience
with a tramp was with a young
fellow who had got down
in the world, but came to
this city from Leavenworth. Kan,
with letter of introduction he had
formerly received from an acquaint-
ance of mine there. He accosted me
one cold winters night and said he
had been sleeping out for two nights
and had not eaten any thing for two
days. l gave him meal ticket and
paid his hotel bill for week. and took
him down to see the same man at the
Missouri Pacific offices, which, was
inclined to believe, was becoming an
asylum for unfortunate fellows who
were gaining my sympathies. The
manager didn't like the appearance of
this young man, but he gave him a
trial. The wages were not to be paid
for a month. The young man braced
up and worked steady. and l stood
good for his board in the meantime.
One pay night he drew all his months
salary, and that was the last ever
heard of him. He skipped. I was
''in the soup" to the depth of fifty dol
lars for his bills. l wrote the man in
Leavenworth. who had so highly rec
commended him to me for honesty. that
/ thought he ought to reimburse me.
He replied that it was my own look
out; he wasn't paying tramps' bills"
| happened to hear that he was fish
ing after an important Government
appointment at Washington. That
was pie for me. l wrote him to pay
that fifty dollars in thirty days. or l
would nail him to the cross by getting
a certain United States Senator, who
was Stanch friend of mine, to fight
him. Well. that fifty dollars came up
smiling by the next mail. But the fact
was l was not acquainted with the
United States Senator alluded to. and
wouldn't know him if saw him. But
the Leavenworth man wanted office.
and knew l could scare him into do
ing what was nothing more than
right Louis Globe-Democrat