Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-01-24
STORY OF TWO TRA11Ps.

One Proved Honest and Indus
triOus, and the Other Was a Beat.
I have two experiences to relate in re-
gard to tramps, which se5 me even on
the question of discovering honesty and
dishonesty among them, says a st.
Louis police captain in the St. Louis
Globe-DemOcrat One morning I 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. I went out, however, to see
what specimen of a beggar was there,
and I found an inteIligent-appearin
young fellow, dressed tOlerably we'll in
clean, though threadbaIe clothes. He
assured me that he had tried in vain to
secure work until he was heartily dis
cOuraged, and, as a last resort, was COM
PEELED to wound his pride by begging.
eff you'll prove your willingness TO
work by saving up that pile OF stove
wood, you can have breakfast, SAID i.
''Well. I'll work, 3" GhCerfully responded
the young man, and he threw off his
coat and pushed a bucksaW with an alac-
rity born Of hunger and desperation. L
gave him good breakfast-the best my
table afforded. In conversation 1 found
him bright. He was a bOOkkeeper, he
said. I took an interest," in him and Sc
cured him q position IN the Missouri
Pacific freight Office, after persuading
friend in charge to give him trial. The
Young man proved one OF the finest
penmen in the Office, and after a trial of
three or four months at $40 month, he
was given a fine position in an Office
with the same line IN Arkansas.
The other experience with tramp
was with 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 ac fuaintance OF mine there.
He accOsted me one cold winter night
and said he had been sleeping out for
| two nights and had not eaten enything
for two days. / gave him a meal ticket
and paid his hotel bill for week, and
/ took him down to see the same man at
/ the Missouri Pacific Office, which, / was
inclined to believe, was becoming an
| asylum for unfortunate fellows who we've
/ 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 bcaced up and worked
/ steady, and / stood good for his board in
/ the meantime. On 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 $500
/ for his bills. wrote the man in
/ LeavenWorth, who had so highly recon-
mended him to me for honesty, that
/ thought he ought to reimburse me. He
/ replied that it was fsmy own lookout;
/ he wasn't paying tramps' bills / hap
pened to hear that he was fishing after
an important government appointment
/ at Washington. That was pie for me.
wrote him to gay thai $50 in thirty days
/ or I would nail him to the cross by getting
q certain United States Senator, who was
/ a staneh friend of mine, to fight him.
! Well, that $50 came up smiling by the
next mail. But the fact was, I was not
acquainted with the United States Sen
atOr alluded to, and wouldn't know him
/ If / saw him. But the LeayeuWorth
man wanted Office, and knew I could
scare him into doing what was nothing
more than right.