Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-18
PENSIONERS FROM AFFAIR
A Glimpse at the Temporary Home on
Missouri Avenue.
Yarns Spun by the Veterans They
Come From All Places to Get
Their Money.

One evening last week a Star reporter
visited a modest, ;old-fashioned house on
Missouri avenue, in front of which, on
the carriage steps and along the iron rail-
| ing, as well asr or the porch, were gath
| cred groups of men idly talking OF the
coming day and what 1t would bring to
them. The building was the temporary
home for soldiers and sailors, which is
! conducted by the G. A. r. posts, and the
event to which the men looked forward
was the quarterly pension day. This had
been the cause of their visit to Washing
| ton, and some of them had Come several
hundred miles. OF course. they could
have been paid by mall but there is a
| class Of rovers who prefer always to be
paid in person, and what is more, they
| want their money as soon after o'clock
am. as the clerks in the pension agency
can hand it out to them. This is the class
| who meet for a few days every three
months at the temporary home. Nearly
| every section of the country from Florida
| and Louisiana in the south to Maine and
| Minnesota in the north was represented.
| Some had Travelled part of the way as
| bona fide passengers on railway trains.
| many of them had ''freighted II" but the
| majority had used the means of transporta-
| ton so prudently provided by nature.
| But now it mattered rot how they came,
| they were here and quite ready to trans
| act the important business which had
| brought them here. The intervening time
| they employed to advantage by relating
| accounts of their adventures to their COM
| rades. Up in the room which had served
| as parlor when No. 3O5 Missouri avenue
| was private residence, a man from
| Michigan had the floor and was telling
| what he thought. would be the outcome
of the political conventions next summer.
On politics and pensions these men can
talk indefinitely, and as one story led to
fhor hn inf
| audience grew.
All Wanted Bigger Pensions.
| On the pension question. of course. there
was great unanimity of belief, and moro
than half Of those present were at that
| very time vigorously prosecuting an appii-
| cation for an increase. One man had left
steady work In Minnesota last January to
come here to personally follow up his
| claim, and he announced that he would
stay here until either his pension was in
creased or his claim was rejected beyond
| appeal.
Finally the talk drifted into short
! sketches Of their lives, and for an hour or
| so the men snapped stories of their tramps
| over the country. and of the different oc-
equations that had held them for short
| seasons In various localities. The first
speaker was an aged man, who. to all APP
pearances. was consumptive. He told
| new he had come to Washington last June
from Frederick, Md. to collect his pension.
He had fallen in with tough companion,
! and two days after he had Endorsed his
| check for SOL he was tramping the coun-
| try without cent to his name. He had
tramped continuously since that time, and
seemed ct that moment to have bad case
of chills and fever.
| "4Iatt's" Yarn.
His story was similar in many respects
to that told by an Irishman from New
| York His comrades greeted him as
Matt" and he seemed to have an ac-
| quaintance with nearly every one in the IN
| stitution. For several years he has been
| regular inmate of the home for a few DAYS
preceding each pension day. Last June he
| proposed spending few days at the capt
| tal after he had fitted himself out with
rev suit of clothes. Accordingly, he had
| registered at one of the low-rate hotels,
and was starting in to have a good time
! The first night. however. another guest of
! the house invited him to his room, and
when he left his money was missing. He
| footed, it back to New York, and in the
| same manner he Travelled to Washington
| this quarter. The freights, he said were
| too fast, aud, as he wanted to kill time
| he followed the road. The reporter asked
| him how long SIS usually lasted him, and
| ne replied that, with good luck, 1t held out
for month, and, to use his own language,
the rest o the quarter buns it."
Seated together on one side of the room
We're couple of chaps who in days gone
| by had been actively connected with news
paper work. One-a tall. well-formed Cam
| adian-had edited a nautical sheet on the
| Pacific coast. With a sailors love for
| travel. he had sold out and invested in
| Florida orange land. The frosts had killed
| his fruit and he had then gone to Portland,
| Me-, and from Portland to Boston in search
| OF employment such as he preferred From
| the hub he had come to Washington and
| as soon as he drew his pension he expected
| to resume his travels in another section of
| the country.
A Sort of Mark Tapley.
| did not seem to let adverse circumstances
| affect him in the least. He talked inter-
| estingly of his experiences in the west as
| travelling correspondent for one of the
principal Chicago dailies, and held the close
attention of his audience as he described an
occasion when he was present to report a
hanging in Indiana and was suddenly depu-
| tized to assist weakened sheriff.
| Finally he took himself off to bed and
| gradually the crowd dispersed. Some went
| upstairs to the sleeping rooms, where cots
had been arranged along the side of each
wall ana IN convenient hooks in the hall
ways. By 10 O'Clock all the men who were
| going to sleep at the home were expected
| to be in. Lights out" simply meant the
| extinguishing of one small jet in each room
and from the time the call was sounded
silence reigned. AS early as O'Clock the
| march down stairs would begin, and from
| that time a steady tramp might be heard
| as the men started out, sometimes alone,
but more frequently in groups of two and
three, to join the line which had formed
| agency. 1t was then matter of but an
! hour or so before their hands would close
| on some of Uncle Sans cash. and the cues
ton whether or not life is worth living