The record-union., 1893-05-27


TO Oban, and return, and never upon the
road by day. or underneath the tent or
the van-roof and the stars at night, be
outside the comforting protection of
watchful British law.
But the British gypsy is something
more than "vagrom" trader. His kind
are encroaching upon, or making for
themselves, many other profitable pur-
suits and vocations. l have always held
that in this would be found the real evo-
luton OF the gypsy, and that in just the
degree he became like other men-not in
religion, because you can no more reach
gypsy with Christian missionary
schemes than you can secure any eX-
preston of belief from any other form of
Agnostlc-in vocation and the betterment
10 nllnseIf ana family in material living,
in like degree would the so-called "black
arts" of gypsydom disappear. 1 have
from time to time shown this to be true
among American gypsies. 1t is gratify-
ing to find 1t true among British gypsies.
l do not regard them as having chosen
the most elegant of Yocations, nor as a
class can they be said to sustain enviable
relations TO society. But they are doing
something, making money, finding them
selves possessed Of inherent industrial
power, and their acquisition and posses
sion OF means are making them better
race of men.
In one of the large London Travelling
GOODS" concerns, previously referred to,
the largest shareholder is a gypsy who is
reported to be worth $4,000, l know OF
many shooting galleries in London. con-
Quoted by gypsies. They are not only
successful with these, but, in associative
form, just as they are beginning to own
most of the money making Punch
and Juddy shows Of the metropolis, con-
troll many like privileges at noted places
ofhoIday resort, near London, from which
unusual profit is derived. One of the
most thriving vegetable boothmen OF
CoVent Garden Market is a gypsy, who
is in great favor with, and is brought
much trade by, the countless costers OF
the neighborhood.
Near the Royal Albert Docks is a pub
hc house owned and conducted by q
gypsy, and this property is worth more
than &Z,OUO Precisely, as in some Of the
leading American cities, where import
ant horse sales-stables are owned by
gypsies who are thought to be of an
other race, l found in London and its
enVlrons thlrty-one similar establish
ments wholly controlled by gypsies,
They are credited with an extraordinary
amount OF trade, not only in horses but in
donkeys, Shetland and Cushendal ponies
and goats. Commission dealings are un-
known. Every transaction is made for
StboLli anu Al ~ u tuCSe DIaCGS Iile lease
nold, nttIngs and stock of animals al
ways on hand must require the pos
session Of capital of from $4,000 to
O,00O.
An odd and profitable business in Lon
don Is that OF purVeyor of carts and dom
Keys to the coStermongers. There are
thousands upon thousands of these cost
ers ia the metropolis. Many are notori-
ously improvident. TO start in business
requires hand-barrow or cart, and a
coster of recognized standing must pos
sess both cart and donkey. There are
many places where from 80 to 500 carts
are hired out by the day, week or month,
and where cCsterS may purchase bar
rows, carts and donkeys on the partial
payment plan. Those controlling this
manner OF business are said to secure a
protit of 500 to 200 per cent. They are
usually graduate costers, but three OF
those engaged i'll the traffic | know to be
gypsies, who are becoming very rich.
They are supposed to be retired costers.
with whom London gypsies nave many
points OF common resemblance, charac-
ter and interest.
The most surprising discovery of this
sort l ever made in London was in the
acquaintance OF dramatic agent, near the
corner OF York and Waterloo roads, on
the Surrey side, while making INQUIRIES
regarding the haunts and ways Of Lon
don muSlc-hau performers, among the
many agents of this city. The man is
one of the richest and most powerful of
this numerous tribe. Those who daily
deal with him believe him to be a He
brew. but l had indubitable evidence.
aside from his own admission, that this
man, whom hundreds Of the "prossers"
faWned upon and feared for his favor and
influence in booking" their London
and provincial musIc-hall engagements,
was none other than one of the outcast
Romany race. He had in former times
been ION the road" with ''vagrom'' tray
cling shows, some of which he still con-
trolls, and had, gradually and without at
tracing attention to his early gypsy as
sociations, become a leading dramatic
agent in this famous Poverty Junction.
region.
l know in Edinburgh. Glasgow, Liver
pool, Manchester, Bristol, Plymouth and
London of many gypsies who are Chin
ney-sweeps, and who, by hiring others
and doing "contract' work, have secured
Independence and comfort. At Brighton.
Southport, Scarborough and other i'm
portant English seaside resorts are hun
dreds of donkeys upon which "outers"
and all children are given bone-breaking
rides along the beaches. Nearly all the
owners of these are gypsies, some of
whom not only have respectable bank
DIODbIIleS.
In and about Nuneaton and Coventry
are many gypsy property owners. A
few are farmers, but most own properties
at the outskirts of these cities, such as
places Tor staDllng, sales stables and old
inns which still have attraction for the
farmers, and make dickering in horses
and other livestock possible and profita-
BILE. Probably the richest OF all British
gypsies, one Smith, lives at Nuneaton.
lie owns nearly all the houses and land
in one entire street, has money in consid-
erable sums loaned to speculative travel
ing gypsies, and is also the owner of
bank stock and blocks of shares in the
London and Northwestern Railway Al
together his holdings are computed to ex-
ceed quarter of a million OF dollars.
On one occasion while visiting the old
cathedral city of Gloucester, England,
and wandering in st. GATHERINGS street
where the Sunday-schOol was first es-
tablshed by Robert Raikes, l came. at
the head of the street, to little old inn
much frequented by farmers. | entered
and sat down to rest. A half-dozen
country folk were just closing some sort
of commercial transaction, and one of the
men had counted out e30O in gold sover-
eigns. He took a receipt and shortly left
| asked the barmaid ii that was not an
odd place Tor so much money, and she
replied that it was not, for "Oilcloth
Dick" and such as he frequented the
place, and ''gypsies seemed to have all
the ready money in England these days.n
HIS van is just over there" she added
''and it's worth seeing" Repairing to
the lane indicated L found "Oilcloth
Dick" his van, and some half-dozen
gypsy families. The latter had for wears
peddled oilcloth, which they secure from
Yorkshire factories, throughout England,
Scotland and Wales. They are several
hundred in number. Their vans are
beautiful specimens OF wagon-making.
In no city in the world can be found
finer draught horses than in Liverpool.
The floats, or four-wheeeled trucks, are
Il IL aLl..-.s---. Il -