The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-23
THE BLIND BEoaAR's BANQUET.
A Strange Story OF the Superstition
of Devotees OF the Race Couree.

of Devotees OF the Race Course.
! From the Chicago Tribune
An incident OF Washington park It oc-
CURED one day Of the week just gone
There was the usual fever on the stretch
where men scramble and climb and watch
the horses go round. and as the horses pass
under the wire the same men tumble from
the fence and make a scramble for the book
makers.
| Before the bets were made there was a by
scene which the casual observer didn't see.
A man IN the character of "A mendicant.
| with a box about his neck and "A sign ON the
box, turned up his sightless eyes 20 the sky.
The sign was a brief legend of his msfor-
tune. IL recounted his blindness with "A
| brief account OF the cause. Just before the
bets were placed by the regular sports on the
stretch such as had surplus quarter of
dollar passed over TO the blind man. dropped
the quarter in his box, and then went away
and bet
The race is over. An "Ahi-ahr' swells
up from the sports on the stretch, and Is
prolonged until 1t seems TO have threaded its
way through the multitude, and then it
breaks into a shout
The lucky ones come back to the blind
man and pat him on the back and give him
an extra quarter, and attribute to him their
good luck The men who were losers are
SUN superstltious, and they drop their quar-
tiers as before into the blind mans box, 90
on TO the bookmakers, make their bets,
Chamber to the fence, watch and get off
And so it goes from the frs race to the last.
The losing horse is censured. The ockey is
damned. Bad luck is cursed, but the man
who has lost his bet never gives up his faith
| in the blind man. He returns to him and
| talks to him in the same spirit that sends
the worshiper to bis idol
V.,zk h-E..
| equiDage is driven to the stretch. There is
everything about this equipage which is
| necessary - make a swell turnout The
silver plating on the hubs show the Partisan
| makers name. Tnere are footman and
coachman.
Two men take the blind beggar from the
rough seat and carry him to this four
| wheeler and put him on the cushioned seat
| bis box is taken from his neck and put be-
side him. May be half a dozen men gather
around the rig. and as the horses turn and
the equlpage disappears. these half-dozen
men, dressed in the hight of the season.
Jeweled and well fed, tip their hats as they
would to women, and a low murmur Of ap-
plause follows.
What follows has in it some of the ele-
| ments of romance, and carries one back to
descriptions Of the ragpickers' ball. But
the informer vouches to the writer for the
truth in every statement made.
| Ihe equlpage drives to an ordinary-look-
| ing mouse, and woman comes down from
the door and assists the blind man to the
house. The swell turnout disappears. At
8 o'clock in the evening it comes back. A
| man is piloted from the door to the carriage
and seated. The door bangs, a figure in
the dark says, "All right" and away the
turnout rolls TO hall. 1t is not in central
| locality, and there is nothing without to in
| dicate anything within which would entice.
The man In the carriage is taken out and
disappears. The hall is in the rear of the
building. When it is reached it is lighted.
There are long tables filed with cut glass,
perfumed by flowers, and white under
clusters of incandescent globes.
There is music from some source, and its
leader has the bad taste TO play 'See, the
| Conquering Hero Comes" The conuuering
| hero can't see, but he can hear He is seated
In high chair, and a hundred men in eve
ming suits get up, and as they eli k their
glasses they roar: "For he is jolly good
fellow
The man on the elevated chair has a
crown put on his forehead, and all of the
vlntages of the world seem to be around
him.
The affair does not run into the small
hours. There are a few stag dances, for
only mon are present There are a banquet.
cigars, coffee and brandy, hand-gather-
| A,A5i aiANA huIu Lang Oyne." Inc room Is
| Qark before midnight. The ligh are out
The gayly caparisoned steeds and the i'm
pressive carriage are at the door. The man
who came to the feast in this same turnout
is put into it perhaps trif1e more uncere-
moniously than he was lifted out He is
taken home, and the same woman comes
out and pilots him In who came out and
plioted him in after the race in the after
| noon.
Another of the series of the "Blind Beg
gar's Banquet" has taken place. The gods
have been propitiated by the sports of
Washington park.
Next day the blind man is at his post as
usual, in beggarly attire, and the gamblers
are pouring the quarters into his tin box.
Inc contributions on tie day succeeding
The banquet amounted to more than SIS.