The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-12-12
PROSPEROUS FAKIRS OF GOTH
AM CAREFULLY SUPPORT
AND ENCOURAGE THEM.
HOW THEY ARE DOCTORED FOR WORK
MANNED Workmen' are Made SO by a
Doctor" Who is Growing Rich
by His Practice-How and
Where They Live.


manage to live pretty comfortably until
spring comes along.
There are two classes of beggars in
town, the really needy and the fakirs.
The legitimate beggars have hard time,
while the fakirs enjoy life. Every one
knows more or less about the former, but
the latter are a mystery. In summer
time they haunt the country districts,
dering Willie DUSTY Rhodes, ""Weary
Waggles'' and Rusty Raggles.' The
fake beggars of the winter season in
New York are lazy, healthy tramps dur
ing the warmer months.
They have to do something during the
cold season to be comfortable in their
a own way, and begging is the pleasantest
4 occupation to their mind. A few of them
regard this as too arduous, and to secure
a warm sleeping place and enough to eat
a they heave n brick through store win
II dow, are arrested and sent to Blackwell's
3 island for three or six months. The dis
cipline and the systematic mode of life
on the island is repugnant to the ma
jority, however, although they acknow-
4 edge that life there has compensating adj
vantages.
There is grimy and dirty saloon on
Park row. half way between the bridge
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 his peculiar customers, and he fosters
it carefully.
This saloon is really the beggars eX-
change 70 them it serves the same pur-
pose that the stock exchange does to the
tlnanciers of Wall street, or the produce
exchange. to the grain and flour mer-
chants. 1t is also their club, and they
have happy faculty of mingling pleas
financial problems and get drunk at the
same time. They have their competi-
tons and rivalries like other solid bust
ness men. When one strikes a "rich
gift he guards it carefully, so that the
others will not interfere If one has
more graft than he can handle he
gives tip to a particular chum and en-
joys a rake-off in the profits. But if
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 of
the exchange warned
The busiest hour of the exchange is af-
ter | o'clock at night. By that time the
theatre crowds have gone home and there
is no need of displaying deaf and dumb
or blind signs. Many of them knock off
work at 6 o'clock and spend the night
pleasantly at the exchange, which by the
way, is called the Retreat. The ones
who knock off at 6 work the business dis
tIicts during the day and the uptown
shopping streets. Few of them are ava
rcious. 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 it is enough to knock the
q n
cents the merry beggar can spend 40
cents on whisky or beer at the rate of 3
cents per schooner. Those who are in
haste to seek fOrgetfulness use cOmbi-
nation of the two beverages and the work
is speedily done. Ten cents pays for
place to sleep.
The beggars all meet in Y room back
of the saloon as they are part. Nular about
privacy, and as one of them put it: 1T
would hurt the 'profesh" if a stranger
went in there and saw two Help the
Blind men playing checkers or the Deaf
and Dumb guy the boss telephone. 1t
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. \ little dog and
pair of goggles were ip the old days suf-
ticient to carry out the blind dodge. Now
the blind" men take a hypodermic in
lection of some drug which gives the eyes
the CLASSY look peculiar to the sightless.
The manned workman is also fixed
up scientifically. and the man with the
injured spine is similarly treated. One of
the regular visitors at the Retreat and
by far the most important man in the
place is a clever rogue who knows some
thing about drugs and surgery. He is
known as Doc" and he is getting rich.
q tIyp1 II n hrnlsnn for a
leg for So, sprained wrist for % cents,
dislOcated shoulder for S1.50, a
sprained ankle for 81, blindness for So,
rheumatism for SO and paralysis for 50.
The paralyzed man looks down on the
blind man, and it is the same through
the scale to the sprained wrist man,
who is at the bottom of the beggar lad
der.
The paralyzed man if he is hard
worker can make So and $40 a day, but
it is quite expensive to keep the dodge
up. as he must hand over So to the doc
= tor every two days for treatment. Doc
gives the applicant an injection i'll both
arms They quickly become lifeless. con-
troll over the muscles is lost and the
skin loses its color, and becomes shriy,--
elled. There is no pain. and the DOC"
says there are 10 detrimental after eff
fects. The nails become blue, and the
hands look dead.
The Doc" is a past master at making
fake wounds, and he knows how to fix
them so that they have a peculiarly
CHASTITY look. He is something of an
adept in the makeup line, and i'll a
short time can transform Il very though
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
5000 a week. as he has monopoly in his
own particular line.
Very few of the patrons of the re-
treat are downright crooks, not from
conscientious scruples, but because they
value their easy-going liberty. They
give crook who tries to mix with them
the cold shoulder-getting him drunk
and then beating the life almost out of
nm and pitching him into the street.
One of the star men of the Retreat is
now serving long term because he was
found out. He was the champion hit
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 so much
money that he became reckless. He
would walk up the front stop of some
mllionaire's 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
MT was over he would tell some pitiful
Iaie, and usually depart with flyer.
IN tune the police got on his track, and
Ia nF1 lob.