Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-07-13

American youth who calls himself
Alfred SchOltZ, and who has travelled
across the continent on a capital of
15 cents, a good deal Of shrewdness
and unlimited cheek, woke up at the
Wayrarers lodge, Nineteenth and Lom-
bard streets, yesterday morning in good
spirits and with a tremendous appe-
tite. Because of his tender age the
superintendent did not require him
to chop wood for his breakfast, and
the extraordinary lad put in his time
by recountng to a lot of amazed "way-
farers'' such Of his experiences as he
could summon up to memory on short
notice.
A reporter dropped into the place
Just in time to hear an unaffected syn
opsis Of his trip, which the youngster
does not seem to regard as in any
degree unusual. He is not quite Is
years old and is Of about middle SIZE
He has very shreWd brown eyes, but
talks with a boyish animation, and
when embarrassed by the enthusiastic
remark of one of the unfortunateS
there manifested a strong inclination
to slide down in his chair and blush
His clothing was not any the better
for his long journey, but when his
red cheeks had been polished into an
unusual state of cleanliness by a liber-
al application of soap and water he
was good to look upon.
According to his tale, his father,
about four years ago left Allentown to
accept a position as brewmaster with
the Denver Brewing company, at Den
yer. Col. There young Alfred went to
school until about a year ago, when
he went to work as a messenger in
the employ of the Postal Telegraph
company. His grandfather had a farm
some miles out of Allentown, and the
boy, remembering his experiences
there, decided that farming was better
than either school or carrying mes
sages, so he told his parents, but they
said he would have to stay in Denver.
The rest of his experiences are as fol
lows:
Il had some money one day last
month, so / bought an excursion ticket
for Leadville. When | came back
mother asked me where [ had been.
and | told her She said: Son, you are
good traveller and I said that could
travel to Allentown if she would let
me. She laughed and said, All right,
but hurry along and don't get lost
That wasn't square, was it, to laugh
at me? [ didn't think so, so I went
outside and blew off all the gang to
peanuts and ice cream for a good bye
feed and kept fifteen cents.
II was wondering whether to go to
Allentown or California. Some guy
told me that I could make a lot of
money out there and [ sort of wanted
to get rich. SO ] went down to the
railroad ard pretty soon a cattle train
came along. | asked a man where it
was going and he said to Salt Lake.
1t took me about two minutes to board
it and get fixed snug when it began
to run fast, and it kept on running fast
too. I was pretty hungry by the first
stop and when it came I jumped off,
got a square meal at a farm house and
was aboard an empty car before it
started again. That's just the way
did all the time until we reached Salt
Lake.
WAS l on the train all the way?
Oh, no. Sometimes | couldn't get my
meals quick enough to get back and
sometimes the crews put me off. But
I'd lay around and catch the next one.
At one Of the stations | stopped off at,
woman told me it was going to be
cold and so she gave me another coat.
What she don't know about the
weather would fill big book. Why,
it began to get hot and hotter, so by
the time / reached Salt Lake I was
nearly dead. ! didn't stay there long,
but caught a train, and as we passed
through Ogden | threw the extra coat
away. I didn't miss the coat, but 1
had two pen-knives in the pockets, and
one was a good one. / got served
right for being so fresh, for about one
hundred miles further on I got fired
off myself.
when I reached Oakland-that' is
just across the bay from San Francisco,
you know-I was stuck. 1t is all right
to catch freight trains on the land,
and even if you can't you can walk.
But I can't swim, and there was a
man that took up tickets before he
would let you on one of the ferryboats
that carry people over to Frisco. I
had my fifteen cents, but didn't want
to spend it, so I laid around the ferry
house and watched. Pretty soon an old
lady got off boat and she had her
return ticket in her hand. A horse
came near running over her and she
dropped it and couldn't find it, but ]
had my eye on it and it took me over
the bay.
''San Francisco is no good. 1 expect
ed to make a lot of money there, but
it is no better than any other place.
/ found that out in five hours. l got
there at 5 in the afternoon, made
twenty cents by carrying grips from
the ferry, crossed the bay at 10 o'clock
and took frst-class passage for the
east
mo, I didn't pay for it, but found
out a few things, and instead Of get
ting on a cattle car, got on a passen-
ger coach. Then I would give some
kind old man line of talk, and he'd
hide me under his seat when the con-
ductor would pass through. I worked
that scheme as far as Marshalltown,
Iowa, and there I got into trouble. 1
was arrested. They kept me over
night, gave me good breakfast and
turned me loose. I made a break Tor