The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-06-14
THE EARNINGS OF BEGGARS.
The Professionals Of London and Paris
Pick up a Good Living
They Assume The Characters Of Crippled Soldiers and b
50 Doing Create Sympathy Among the People

The professional beggar is not mod
ern innovation by any means. Readers
may recall Scarecrow, the famous Lon
don beggar, who, having disabled him
self in his right leg, asked aims all day
in order to get a warm supper at night
According to John limbs, the Ruff1ers,
of whom we often find mention in the
literature of the seventeenth century,
were troops of idle Migrants who infest-
ed Lincoln's inn fields.
They assumed the characters of
MANNED soldiers who had suffered in the
great rebellion and found a ready prey
In the people of fashion and quality who
drove by. Indeed it is made clear by
contemporary allusion in comedies that
this square was the regular haunt of bo-
gus cripples who lived by mendicancy
which they carried on in the most bare
faced and even intimidating manner. 1t
is related that George ", when prince of
Wales, once attended beggars' carnival
in London incognito. He had not been
there long when the chairman, address
ing the company and pointing to the
prince, said:
81 call upon that ere gemman with a
shirt for a song" The prince, as well as
he could, got excused, upon friend, who
accompanied him, promising to sing in
stead, which the latter did amid great
applause. The health of the prince and
his friend having been drunk and duly
responded to, they departed in order to
afford the company an opportunity to
fix their different routes for the ensuing
days business, for at that time the pro-
fessional beggars of London used to have
a general meeting several times during
the year, at which they were divided
into companies, each company having
its particular walk.
In those days their earnings varied,
some getting as much as 5 shillings a
day. Most of the professional beggars
in London today-and their name is le-
gion-emanate from two or three COM
mon lodging houses. The most populous
of these, which is known as The Dis
pensary, supports an individual known
as "scriver," who earns a living by
manufacturing the pathetic signboards
which the sham cripples and the bogus
blind men carry round their necks. In
Paris, as is we'll known, the professional
beggars hold regular weekly meetings,
at which the routes to be followed by
the members of the guild are mapped
out by standing committee.
They have an organ of their own,
called The Journal DIES Mendicants,
which appears twice week. From a
recent issue the following advertisement
is taken: "Wanted-To engage cripple
for seaside resort. Good references and
a small deposit required"
This queer announcement is explained
by the fact that the proprietors of hotels
and boarding houses of fashionable
French watering places assume that Wis
itors would be disposed to give aims if
an opportunity were afforded them, and
as they cannot very we'll do the begging
themselves they engage professional beg
gars to whom they grant permission to
solicit aims on their premises, and the
beggars in return pay them one-half of
their daily receipts.-North American
| Review.