The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-08


entrance and Chatham square, which is
supported by the fake beggars. Outside
patrons are froWned upon. both by the
regulars and the proprietor The latter
has good thing in catering to the wants
OF lis peculiar customers, and he fosters
II carefully.
This saloon is really the beggars' ex-
change To them il serves the same pur
pose that the stock exchange does TO the
nnanelers OF Wall street, or the produce
exchange 10 the grain and flour mer-
chants 1t is also their club, and they
nave happy faculty OF minghng pleas
ure and business. They handle heavy
financial problems and get drunk at the
same time. They have their cOmpeu-
tons and rivalries like other solid busi-
graft he guards it carefully, so that the
others will not interfere. If one has
more "graft' than he can handle he
gives a tip 10 a particular chum and en-
joys a rake-on in the profits But if a
certain neighborhOod becomes dangerous
by reason of the vigilance of the officers
OF regular charity organizations, the news
is sent broadcast and all the members or
the exchange warned.
The busiest hour of the exchange is ar
ter II O'Clock at night BY that time the
theater crowds have gone home and there
is no need Of displaying deaf and dumb
or blind signs. Many of them knock of
work at O'Clock and spend the night
pleasantly at the exchange, which. by the
way, is called the Retreat. The ones
who knock of at work the business dis
trlcts curing the Gay ana the uptown
shopping streets. Few of them are ava
ricious. Fifty cents a day means unlim-
tied pleasure, and not many Of them work
after this sum has been collected.
Five-cent whisky is sold in the Retreat,
and one dose of il is enough to knock the
average man into stupor. With SO
cents the merry beggar can spend 30 cents
on whisky or beer at the rate of cents
per schooner Those who are in haste to
seek forgetfulness use combination of
the two beverages, and the work is speed
lily done. Ten cents pays for a place TO
sleep.
of the saloon, as they are particular about
privacy, and as one of them put it: 1T
would hurt the 'perfesh if a stranger
went in there and saw two Help the
Blind men playing checkers, or the Deaf
and Dumb guy at the boss telephone. II
don't look nice"
There have. been SO many arrests lately
among the old beggars that they have
been forced to adopt unusual methods to
throw off suspicion. A little dog and a
pair of goggles were in the old days suf-
ficient to carry out the blind dodge. Now,
the blind" men take a hypodermic injec-
ton of some drug which gives the eyes
the CLASSY look peculiar e, the sightless.
The manned workman" is also fixed up
scientifically, and the man with the in
jured spine is similarly treated. one OF the
regular visitors at the Retreat and by far
the most important man in the place is
clever rogue who knows something about
drugs and surgery. He is known as Doc,
and he is getting rich. He fixes up brok-
en- arm for 81 a broken leg for 50, sprain-
ed wrist for Is cents. dtslocated
shoulder for $50, a spralned ankle for 81,
blindness for So, rheumatism Tor ~ ana
The paralyzed man looks down upon the
blind man, and it is the same through the
scale to the sprained wrist man, who is
at the bottom of the beggar ladder.
The paralyzed man if he is hard
worker can make IS TO $40 a day, but
it is quite expensive to keep the dodge
up, as he must hand over s. to the doc
tor every two days for treatment, Doe
gives the applicant an injection in both
arms. They quickly become hfeless,, con-
troll over the muscles is lost and the
skin loses it's color, and becomes shriv-
elled. There is no pain, and the. Doc"
says there are no detrimental after eff
fects The nails become blue, and the
The doc" is a past master at making
fake wounds, and he knows how to fix
them so that they have peculiarly
CHASTITY look. He is something of an
adept in the makeup line, and in
short time can transform a very tough
looking tramp into quite a respectable
appearing workingman suffering from a
bad accident to his arm, leg or back: The
Docs" income amounts to almost 500
week, as he has monopoly IN MS own
particular line.
Very few of the patrons of the retreat
are downright crooks, not from conscien-
tious scruples, but because they value
their easy-going liberty. They give
crook who tries to mix with them the
cold Misunderstanding him drunk and then
beating the life almost out of him and
pitching him into the street.
one OF the star men OF the street IS
now serving a long term because he was
found out. He was the champion fit
thrower of the city. He used to wander
through the millionaire district and have
a fit where he was sure to attract lots
of sympathy. He was making much
money that he became reckless. He would
walk up the front stoop of some million
aires house, ring the bell, and when the
butler came to the door he would throw
one of his best fits and roll right into
the hallway. When the fit was over he
would tell some piuful tale. and usually
got on his track, and when he was sent
up to hard labor fit-throwing went out
of fashion.