St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1897-08-21
7HE.
..... UBIQUITOUS.
III mn w THE eOPES AND WAS
ALWAYS COOL.
,<&Se &GsG@s<
" OF never met Dobson,t the globe

Ou never met Dobson, the globe.
trotter, did you?" said the gray
haired, young-looking man, and as no.
body had he went on talking Il used
to meet him so often, in such unex-
pectcd places, that it got to be habit
OF mine to look around for him when
ever found myself in a strange town,
and 1T was surprising how often found
Y him. For long time / couldn't un-
derstand why he went when he did,
for he didn't seem to be interest6H
very much in anything he saw, but
learned afterward that it was merely
his habit to seem Indifferent. AS a
matter of fact he spent his entire time
going about theworld observing things.
My meetings with him were when was
travelling around this country on busi-
ness, and when he was doing the
states.
Il think he was an Eng1ishman,
though I wasn't certain, and he never
talked of himself, SO he gave me no
clew. Certainly he was the coolest
man in difficulty that I ever met,
and have seen him in trouble many
times, or at least under circumstances
that would lead an average man to be-
lieye himself in trouble.
made his acquaintance on the
fourth night of the draft riots in 1862
If you remember, New York suffered
from yeritable reign of terror for
six days and nights. Houses were
looted, men were kiIledin thestreets, and
NIL II
trated by Tnobs as fierce as those of
the French revolution. The full his
tory of it was never told, and never
can be told, for hundreds of minor
crimes We're never even reported, and
scores of others were never punished.
Being al devoid Of sense as was to
be expected of a youngster, I used to
go about town that week as a. locker
on, and saw much OF the trouble, and on
more than one occasion came near get
ting into it myself. The nearest was
on the night mentioned, when [ start
ed up town--it was up town then-to
see some fires fhatFwere burning in
the neighborhood of Forty-seventh
street. l had just turned into Fifth
avenue from that street when I saw a
man running toward me, followed by
a gang of perhaps 90. I knew instant
ly that if they caught him it would be
all up with him, for robbery and MUIR
der went together, and IlSnew also that
the crowd was just as likely to leave
him and set upon me, SO / turned and
ran with him.
1 1--WE hadn't gone more than half
block when he turned his head and 4
said: I don't like running as a general
thing. Suppose we stand'
81 didn't like the idea, for had seen
too many men struck down, and l
said: But / have no weapon Neither
have L. said he, but we can face around
and pretend to draw pistols And
without waiting for my answer he
stopped and wheeled, at the same time
putting his hand in his pocket and then
leveling an imaginary revolver straight
at our pursuers. On the i6,pulse Of the
moment / followed his example, and
the bluff worked. The crowd was made
up of toughs, bent on plunder only,
and did not care to fight. Accordingly
they stopped and went off in search of
less combative victims
"I thoHght so.' said Dobson, as he
told me his name. was af6erward.
That kind of "a mob is easily bfuffed.'
And he really seemed to be as little ex-
cited as if he had thrown a stone at
barking dog and the eur had run away.
We chatted togetherfora q long time that |
night. oyeriya cdld bottle that really
seemed to,hesd. but beyond learning his
name and finding that he was an edu-
Gated gentleman, I didn't feel that had |
progressed far in acquaintance with
him.
THAT was as-far as I got, though.
And yet came to feel that I knew him
well, because T could tell just about
what he would do in an emergency.
'It may have been a year after our
first meeting, that Twas crossing the
ferry from Williamsburg an hour or
two after midnight. There weren't
very many passengers on board in
spite of the fact that the boats only
ran once an hour, | sat doWn in the
smoking cabin and was figuring on
how much sleep would get before
having to sha3 up at the Office, when
saw five young lcafers coming
through from the other end of the
boat and amusing themselves as they
came by stepping on the toes of the
passengers who sat in the cabin.
81 am not ashamed TO say that see
ing all this before they came to where
] was sitting, I got up and quietly
walked out on the forward deck. Then
I stepped back few feet into the
shadow in the carriageway. Fighting,
excepting for good cause when it cam
not well. be avoided, was never a favor
tie amusement of mine. and saw no
reason for getting tnto row with FIVE
men who had enough liquor in them to
be ugly. 1
Il noticed man standing by one Of
the posts near the bow of the boat. He
was leaning against the post smoking e
and apparently studying astronomy.
he was studying he was deep
1y enough engrossed in. his thoughts
to pay NO attention, seemingly, TO the
gang that approached him,
after having terrorized the cabin.
'They lurched along roughly till 1;
they came to where he was. when one
of them bumped against him violently
enough to have knocked him down il
be had not been very quick in recover
ing himself He said nothing, and to
LII appearances was unraff7ed All he
lid was to step over to another post and