The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-02
STORIES FROM THE STREETS.
YOUNG MAN CHARGED WITH VA
GRANCY WHO HAS BEEN A SWELL.

| Sad story OF Ills DOWDfali-He was
Handsome and Had Many Love
AfairE-Other Gossip and Sketchy
Stories Caught Here and There.
There is a young man in Jail in Savan-
nah on a charge of vagrancy who has
seen better days. His feet have been cross
ed under the mahogany of some of the
most splendid dining rooms in the south.
| He was at one time one of the readiest
| young fellows at repartee to be found any
where. and with a jolly crowd of bright
young students at the University of Geor>
gia, he has many a time proved the shin
ing light, whether upon the polished floor
of ball room, around the festal board of
banquet hall or whether yet serenading
beneath the windows of the proverbial
maids of Athens" noted for their
beauty and their countless feminine
charms. This young man, as he appears
to-day, would make his former friends and
comrades shudder at the very sight of
him. His clothes are threadbare, his shoes
are more like sandals his hat has turned
ashen with the color of the dust it has
absorbed A stubby beard has grown over
cry young man in college, so handsome, so
clear cut in facial outline, as to have often
entitled him to the praises of the feminine
circles as though he might have been a
Greek god.
There are many young men in Saven-
nah, who know him well. There are those
here in the highest ranks of society who
have been in carriages with him many a
night going New Years calling, or es-
corting young ladies 10 germans and balls
young ladies who were scions of the
best established families in Georgia. There
are young men in Savannah to-day promi-
nent in the business, as well as the social
circle, who have stood side by side with
him when they were young men playing
their guitars or banjos and listening in
open-mouth wonder at his clear, sweet
rich tenor voice, which was the envy of all
the boys who formed the college glee
clubs. These same young men have lis
tened to his eloquent voice many a time
after dinner when he simply startled his
company with his eloquence and put to
flight the onslaughts of the wittiest of
wits
And yet this young man slept last night
on dingy jail blanket spread upon the
dusty floor of a prison, and the charge
was--no crime, no felony no diabolical
act, but simply vagrancy
What medley of life and light there is
here! What a strange mixture of sun
shine and shadow How jolly and bright
was his nature then-how clouded and
dark now How eager once were the fair
est of young women to claim his hand for
waltz on the most splendid ballroom
floors opened to jewellers anywhere! How
sweet were his songs when with the col
lege troubadours used to gather under the
Jessamine vines and the magnolia trees
and sing for the qualification of beautiful
young girls!
How did he fall? In the language of
Mr.. Kipling, that is another question"
Nobody knows, Rumor of love affairs
engagements, isappointments-that is all!
Who would dare go behind such rumors
knowing the parties involved?
This young man was arrested yesterday
on charge of vagrancy, and will be tried
before Judge Norwood. 1t has been sew
eral years since he was himself Since
that time he has been nothing better than
a tramp, begging his way in life, and yet
he has rich relatives. In Athens he has
a sister married to the president of a
bank, and the richest man in the town.
The other day he was given a ticket to
go to Athens, and he claims he went as
far as Guyton, when he got off the train
to go to a drug store to buy morphine,
to which drug he has become a victim
lost his train and came back to Savannah.
The next thing on the programme will be
his trial for Vagrancy. He Is not accused
of having committed any crime There is
no moral turpitude in the charge against
him-simply on the town. Surely it was
for such cases that old Bobbie Burns, the
great poet of the heart, wrote:
Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;
Though they may gang kennin' wrang,
To step aside is human"
There is another story of a young man
going wrong which was recorded on the
books of the police station yesterday
but that is a different case. This young
man-whose name has not been given in
the newspapers-has run back to Savan-
nah from another southern city with three
indictments in the courts against him in
that city. He is a young Savannah man.
That is to say, his parents live here This
is not the first sensation he has sprung
He has been in trouble before. This time
he was arrested under instructions from
the police officers of the city in question,
and he will be held under the charges
that are against him.
What is the story of his crime ?-money,
| of course.
why don't he marry the grip"
"Do you know" said a young man. on
| the corner of Bryan and Bull, yesterday,
81 have been thinking of that question in
reference TO certain folks in Savannah
lately. 1t is an old question, which long
ago was used in the advertisement of a
| jeweler who was trying to sell wedding
rings. He had a picture of a love scene
and under the picture of the couple he
had the question in big. heavy type: why,
don't he marry the girl? Well / can't
l,,t