The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-10-19
CHAPTER NUMBER TWO
A Second InStalIment Of the Adventures Of
Selt-Made VagahOnd.
some TO FIGHT FOR CUBA LIBRE
Alter Several Months or'Rou9h Riding
With BniIhlo mrs Aggcsration-
UP Against 1t In the City OF Broth
eriy hove..Makcs tho Acquaintance
Ofn Quecr CharaCter.

Some months ago The VirginIan prb.
l.shed under the head of ~ Self Made
FaSabond' the story of MIR. w. B. Graf
ION, clever young newspaper man who
hau LETT him home IN Kansas City, Mo-,
ana had spent several months I'm t,amD
ING over the country seeking material
LOT series Of articles on actual tramp
lie us seen by a. man who has been
initiated into their ways and means
"hen MT. Grafton struck Norfolk he
looked SO much like the species he was
engaged In studying that IL was hard
to tell that he was not really one Of
their number. But there were unmis-
taxable signs of the gentleman abou.
him, and the carnlarks of Il newspaper
man. When he LEFT here he was bound
for New York (by freighD, and expected
from there TO make his way back to
his Missouri home.
Friday morning, some hours after
Buffalo bits aggregation struck town.
tall, strapplnE, athletic fellow wearing
the uniform OF an English cavalrynnn
walked into The Vlrginian office. 1t
was Grafton. He dropped in TO renew
his acquaintance with the staff, and re-
manned only few minutes. The show
broke up In Richmond Saturday, and
Grafton came back to Norfolk Sunday
He left yesterday for a Southern port
under secret instructions to join an OK
pedtion for the relief OF the Cuban
patriots.
Grafton, who Is u bright and inteli-
gent chap, talked very entertainingly
Of his adventures. He says that after
he left here he went to Philadelphia,
where he was pulled a. n vagrant. and
sentenced to ten days by IA magistrate
who was himself an eX-newspaper man,
bui: who. 50 far from taking any stock
~ IA CT rri- I,f, l,n 10
and told him that he WIS 4 disgrace to
the profession. This practically broke
Grafton's heart. He said he might he Il
disgrace to the profession, but he did not
like 10 be told so by a Philadelphia mag
istratc. He got out OF hook after five
days service, and on his way to Beth
lchem met UP with Il curious criminal
character in the person OF a forger who
was on his way TO New York to put
some spurious paper on the market.
This man claimed TO be closely con-
ncctcd with an eX-Lieutcnant Governor
of Texas. and told his companion the
story of his life. which, SO far as the
moral goes, would make a good book for
Sunday school library. II began to
rain III Philadelphia and kept 1t up all
the way to New York. BY the time the
two reached the metropolis, the forger
was In n very respondent mood, and
when Grafton left him co go up town to
look up n friend who would help him
out of the rain he went to n police sta
ton and gave himself up, saying he
wanted to sec his wife and family.
Grafton's friend gave him note to
Johnny Baker Colonel Cody's crack
shot, and al. Troy he met the show. II
happened that one OF the Engl.Ehmcn
had left the show. and a man was
needed to take his place. Grafton had
served FIVE months I'm the English caval-
ry. and besides. was n good rider, and
had other experience which made him
JUS. the man for the job and he got It.
He says that all the rest of the dctach-
ment are bona fide BritIshcrs, and that
there is no fake about any pare of the
show. The life with Buffalo Bill. while
1t had tts attractions was n rough one
and did not pay n fortune. Grafton
soon got tired of It, bl:r he stuck 1t out
until the 9aaSon was over, and is now
under contact to join the Cuban forces
as n private. He Is not especially en-
thus.astic over II, hri. IS determined.
saying 1t will he a new experience, and
that is what he is looking for. That ne
will find il. there is no doubt. and Ee;
enough of il. too, perhaps. If he does
ne: make too intimate an acquaintance
with the mache:e or Spanish bullet,
or the yellow fever, he will drop In
again some day with n new chapter To
his adventurous career. AS n parting
gift The Vir-inian man gave him she
address OF Captain Rudolph Emil Leo
pold Metz who IL now killing Spania.ds
somewhere down there. If the rednubt-
able Captain doesn't give Grafton Ill the
new experiences" he Is looking fo:
those who know him Qhe CaptainD will
be very much mistaken