The morning call., 1890-10-24
HER HUSBANDS EQUAL.
A Girl Who Wore Boys Clothes an
Did n Mnn,s " nrIr-

A Girl Who Wore Boys Clothes aud
Did Mans Work.
A girl, apparently not more than Is years
old, with cOmely face and Sparklin black
eyes and with her hair cut short, was taken
into the Central Police Station in Kansas
City, Mo-, a few days since She was dressed
in heavy flannel shirt, new pair of black
trousers, a vest and coat, and wore broad
brimmed white felt hat. Her little feet were
ipcased in a pair OF heavy shoes, about
foIs, and evidently two sizes too large for
her. Seen across the street she looked an
unusually bright ana handsome boy. With
her was companion about 50 years old. of
swarthy features, half hidden by heavy
growth of black whiskers. He was DRESSED
similarly TO his partner, except that lie wore
a black stiff hat. The pair were arrested on
Third street, between Main and Walnut, by
Officer Harris, whose attention had been
called to them by a person who knew the
gll. At the police station the man grew
Impudent and declared that lie and his com
panion were brothers, that their names were
Ben aud Arthur Claire, and that they came
here from Alma, Kans., last Wednesday,
beating their way in on a freight train In
addition to being warmly though plainly
clothed the man had S25. Since their ar
rival in the city they have been occupying a
room at Fourth and main streets, and eating
at FUurth-Street restaurant. Everywhere
they were regarded as brothers.
After the mans statement, the pair were
separated and the bOy-girl taken upstairs
to MatrOn Moore's room. To her she con-
fessed that she was a girl; that she was IS
years old, and was married tn Ben Claire.
She made the following statement MY
maiden name was Arthie cambridge. NV
father is dead, and my mother lives at Paris,
Tex. -Four years ago ran away and went
to Wolf City, Tex, where l cooked for a
gang Of fourteen men IN sectiOn-hOuse.
Ben Claire was one of them. Two years
agD we were married., and we afterward
tIave ed over Texas. We had hard work
getting along, for no one would give me
work, as | was woman. Last spring we
came to Alma, kanS., and then for the first
time, at my husbands suggestion, l put on
boys clothes. and Ben and L went into
Alma as brothers. lie got room near the
Commercial Hotel, ana | entered the hotel
and began work as porter. Ben worked in
Limrriek's stone quarry We stayed there
all summer, bit became dissatisfied, and
then we started out to do farm work
"Wednesday we came here, and have been
trying to get work ever since
Did no one ever suspect that you were a
grip was asked.
mo, not till this morning, when that col
ored policeman arrested us. think young
man | used to know in Texas, and who rec
ogn Zad me-, told him."
what made you put on mems clothes?"
"Because, as woman, | could get no
WORK. Then we Travelled easier. | mean we
had better chance of beating our way, and
when we did get work l did as much as a
man, and got mans pay"
The eir then recited, with a great deal Of
pride, how she cut corn in the heidS of Kan
sas side By side with her husband, and that
she did Is much work as he, and got the same
pay. She cut, she says, forty shocks of corn
every day at cents shock. They also
husked corn at so much bushel, and she
did as much as he, making the same pay, and
no one at all suspected her sex. AT the hotel
she handled biz, heavy trunks and did
mental work.
The police told Claire when they released
him and his wife (she still dressed as boy
that he had better provide proper garments
for her and a home, or he might expect to
get into serious trouble.-Globe-D Democrat