The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-21
GETTING TOGETHER.
Interesting Confession of a Former
Van Driver-''Patieneea and Aocumu-


| FROM the New Ofk Irlbune.
$50 you were van-man and moved
people in the springln said the kindly
visitor to the convict.
Yes, sir"
But did YOU not know that Won would
| get caught sooner or later! Being a van
man Is such a public crime-you must
have been constantly under the eye of the
! police"
II know it, answered the man. ssMy
mother often plead with me to stop But
! wasn't convicted for that. after all.
| Indirectly vanning brought me here, of
/ course, but that want the charge -
! Indeed" returned the visitor Would
| you mind telling me some of the secrets of
/ piano and furniture moving and the
| collateral crime of packing and shipping
| household goods2n
! mo objection at all, / mean to reform,
/ anyhow, when / get out. [ am learning
| the trade of plumber while I am here.n
| The visitor started. as it POSSIBLE that
in our very reformatory institutions that
but no natter go on with your confess
sionn
''All right" said the convict did
YOU ever wonder what becomes Of the lit
tie brace-biocks in furniture when you
mover"
''Those little blocks an inch square and
three or four inches long which are al
ways glued in every out-ofsight angle
and corner of all kinds of funiturel"
"Them's the thing specially in
booroos and dressing-cases and under the
dining-room tables"
Yes have often wondered what be-
comes of them; particularly when | have
been paying cabinet-man for sticking
others on after the furniture begins to
fall to pieces
They goes for the bosss kindling
wood" answered the man with a grin
And being dry as bones and soaked with
varnish and glue, it's red-hot fire they
make, too. Us drivers and handlers carry
a hammer specially to knock 'em off
with. Each man is supposed to gather a
bushel a day, or he hears from head
quarters. Some bosses that have enough
vans git more than they can use and string
it up into punches and start wood yard.
There are men that take knob off each
booroO, but it isn't considered hardly pro-
fessional, less you're gittin' together"
together"
Its volts called technical term.
Wen you're gittin togetDer you're just
gittin together, that's all Gittin' a
boOroo together, or a istension table
together or stove together. Van-men
have to have things like other folks, and
it's cheaper and handler to git 'em
together than to buy EN- "
But how do you do it2'
Chunk here and chunk thereof
course. Take cook-stove, FIR instance;
a very neat and desirable thing to git to-
gether, not so easy as some things, but
hard enough so Yan-man needn't be
ashamed of it, Leg here, leg there:
hearth to-day, oven door to-mOrrer; grid
die down town, gfiddle up town; j'nt o.
pipe from Smith, INT o. pipe from Jones
damper from party moving out, lid-lifter
from party moving in. Store 'em at home
and W en- it's got together set up your
stove and build your fire with your kind
ling-wood and the coal you've 'cumulated
while your wife sets on the pots and ket-
ties that have fell to you similarly. Same
with 'stenslon table-legs, leafs, braces
and such stuff; or a bedstead- casters,
Stats, sides, end-boards, mattress, sheets,
pliers and all them things. Everything
is made in little pieces when you come to
look at it close-a lamp, chair, set of
Shakespeare's books, anything. Every
thing except a dog-if you want dog
you've got to just steal him-whole dog or
nonei but which don't consider honest.p
But don't people accuse you of-er-
getting tOgetherf'
Bluff EN-. Tell 'em the thing was
broke when you took it, or all right wen
you left-Or both. Things will get lost
in moving and folks know it. Bluff is
the word. Patience and 'cumulate and
! Jun w NAA ut4Ny h1Chs anu Keep uUlGSb
and never take whole thing IS the Sc
cret of vanning
Would you mind telling me what is
the hardest thing to get togetherl'
"a palmer. Inever got but one pianner
together, and indirectly it's the cause of
me being here. The boss got it into his
head he must have a pianner for his
daughter. Git it together by May 10,
says he. All right, says |. That day l
got a rosewood leg. 'W'ere's me pianner
legp says the woman. 'Wot legl' says /.
The fourt' leg, says she. yah, says /,
it's one of these ere three-legged plan
ners She kicked some more, but / got
her bluffed at last Then for three DAYS
/ got a leg each day and that made
enough. Then | took me forceps and be-
gun pulling teeth, as we. call it-three
white ones. and two. blacks from each
pianner, and in a week | had the keys.
1t didn't take long to pick up tops
and sides aud such things, and then
started on the inside. That was hard
work, mainly 'causit there was so many
/, little things that most drove me crazy
telling wot I'd got and wot ! hadn't. l
prided myself on not gittin' any dupli-
Gates, and didn't. Generally got three
wires, with the little hammers and pads
and things, from each palmer, and a
handful of the miscellaneous fixings.
Once in while took piece of music,
and on the evening of May l walked
into the boss's house and sets down a
pianner-stool and a lamp and says |:
"Ther you be, and he was, too, as he
found out wen he come to set it up. No
excuse but a dollar to git il tuned.
1t was hard work, though, and ]
wouldn't try it again"
; ''But how didit bring You here"
|, 81 was telling my brother about it.
He's a hosscar driver and don't under
! stand wot they call the ethics of the van
, ming business. Says he: / WANT hon
/, est So brung him one on the jaw, he
being younger than me and family dis
; cerpein having to be maintained But
! somehow it broke his jaw and they give
; me two years for it. Wen | git out I'm
going into plumbing wire there won't be
no shadder of chance for nobody to
! pint the finger of scorn at me and say:
That man IS guilty of Irregularities in
his business. "
The Machine Gould Stand It.
} The stranger at the hotel approached the