St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-22

worded signs on his back, calling atten-
ton to the coming production of "Monte
CrlSto" at the Lyceum theater.
In these characters about town who
pick up ''odd jobs" for a living one
often meets a genius in his way. A
GLOBE reporter, with the old adage
ringing in his ears. something about
''clothes not always making the man,"
pushed his way through the crowd of
idlers that has been constantly sur
rounding the shabby genteel' who
music that has been drawing
public attention to the coming produc-
ton of '.Monle Cristo" at the Lyceum
through the agency of the inspiring
white Wings" and gradually engaged
the musician in conversation. Il
suppose a man kicking about from one
thing to another. as you constantly are.
meets with many experiences?" que
ried the news gatherer. swell chat
depends on what a coYe like you calls
simply calls living, a bloody swell might
call it as the newspapers print it, hair
breadth escapes The hardest ex-
p~erience l find is 10 skoff regular"
''SkOff, what's SkOff?"
why digging up chuck. eating
three square meals a day. If l do work
for some buck and lie gives me the dish
on my pay, things sometimes come hard.
n l make a frost on meals" 4.
Il suppose that nov you are adyer-
Using for the Lyceum you consider yonr-
sion, do you not?" asked the GLOBE
a
"Oh!Im no Stage-Struck gawk Pm out
for stuff; n can't turn a cart wheel
any easier than piping out white
Wings" wild this haIhadasher, although
l been OIL the stage in my time, and
trod the historic boards with the best of
'em. remember once in Philadelphia
when Forrest wanted to get the coves
plaud for him, the manager hired a
gang from Chestnut street to work up
enthusiasm at a DOLBY a night. Well,
when it came to the scene l stamped
my peddles and whistled for all the
wind [ lad; but | made mistake in the
scene, and the peeler in the cockloft
grabbed me by my choker aud pitched
Inc down stairs. The manager hadn't put
the peeler on, and as he said l give de
whole snap away wouldn't pay me my
stuff. l was suping at the Park theater
in New York the night she burned. l
had a 'long engagement" there, as
some bum actors say, and needed the
money bad, as l had been in the hos
pital for six weeks from getting plunked
in a light down in the docks, and had
spent every indian l had saved IN a sea
voyage"
Then you've be en- to sea, have you?!'
asked the GLOBE man.
Sea? guess l have. | put in two
straight years on a whaling voyage. and
before that | was in India in the Eng
| lSh n1VU unrp tho rod nnot for tIvp
years, Uu got stuck on America, where
people cal breathe and not ask 'aroyal
blood Since Pve been in this country
I've chuncked wild a dead hard gang"
"Are you pleased with our beautiful
city, its large mills, and retrenchment
and reform ;dmin i%StratiOn?" the re-
porter asked.
''lt's good enough; faint DO New
York. though. OF late years the gem
uine toughs of the metropolis have been
mostly dug up from the streets. The
hundreds OF ragged and dirty guys who
hang about the City Hall park and the
docks learn thieving young, and gTadu-
ate into the higher de greeS of the pro-
flesh. Some of the blOkeS are t AIKEN hold
of somewhere In early life by the swellS
of society and brought UP to be
straight people; but hundreds who do
not get a start in this way become idle
and vicious mugs, loafing about the
streets in the daytime and attending
the cheap lodging house schools of burg
larlzing at night. They pick up things
from unguarded store fronts, rob drunk
en- men, snatch women's purses, and
when these fail terrify peaceable citi-
Zens into paying them petty tribute.
They do not often commit serious
crimes because they are too great
towards to run the risk. They are
generally poorly developed specimens,
pale and slim, and if they do not die
young generally become tramps-go on
the road, as they call it. They do not
In fact, they make me sick and | quit
them and came West. l don't know
many of the gang here yet, but | hopes
to. You'll excuse me for getting a little
off occasionally on grammar. l don't
have TO do it If l stops to think, for l
went to Oxford once. The old man sent
me there. but | soon skipped"
Where do toughs hang out mostly in
New York;"
There has been a great change since
the old days. The toughest part OF the
city was downtown. about Chatham
street and Five Points. Now trade has
driven them out of these sections, and
they are found only at a few scattered
points in the lower part of the city.
Great factories and charitable inSt1tu-
tiOns frOwn down from every side on
what used to be Five Points, and the
streets around, once reeking with crime
of the lowest sort. are now given over
to Cinnamon, Italians and the peaceable
Hebrew. Chatham street has lost even
its name. Along the East river docks
there are still a good many mugs, but
few who merit the distinction of being
classed among the toughs. You see,"
said the hand-organ grinder, proudly.
81 can fling a pretty select vocabulary
myself, if l wants o."
Nov that you have gotten back in
the show business. do you intend to
follow the proiession?" asked the re-
porter.
"Well, I can't say. This grinding
organ business is a new business to me.
Tve carried a sandwich many a
time, but l never was a musician be-
fore. Don't say anything in the papers
about my being in the theatrical bust
ness, though, will you?"
"Why? Don't you want the public
to know you are On the Stage?"
"Yes, that's all right; but you see
there's an awful lot of diamond steal
ing going on in the sho w business now,
and Pm askeered l might lose my jew
els"
So saying, "White Wings wound up
his last sonata and shuffied off to some
| soup house to dinner.