The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-09
STRAPPED IN GALVESTON.
NEW YORK HIGH RoLLERs h1-
a nFRTEyCES IN THAT TOWN.

~ Ss.mber No. o OF the Harlem Club OF
.,sr Alcoholic DeEenerates ntthe Club
.wh.r read a few weeks ago that the
uo,oI a few miles outside Of Galveston.
pes"h Srrnsd to the ground. 1 was swept by q
nNu ~ memory" said member No. q OF the
VA rluh OF Former Alcoholic Degenerates.
ma, that | ever put up there. That Isn't 1t.
Nv once saw the outside OF that hotel struc-
,"ro under such peculiar and 1 might almost
W, narrowing conditions that
"uold on there a minute" interrupted mem
nor No. I. who Is a stickler Tor the carrying out
.,,ho c,,b's plans. is there any hard luck In
az. . A result OF alcoholic degeneracy1 p
=, q regarded No. Z with an aggrieved gaze.
"u,ve / ever yet" he inquired. since the
Mutation Of the Harlem Club OF Former
,T,oboIic Degenerates. sprung any Sunday
49, ones about the good little boy and the
Rad little boy. or have ever
"oh we'll" replied No. Z. settling back In his
LAT, ~ you're going to conform TO the club
r,os OF course. all right. go ahead. Only l
ao,ldn't quite see the connection between the
Beach Hotel and =
"shpt m, Seven" said all Of the members at
.,oo Nine has now got the deck. Nine.
shoot It out"
"On this occasion that I started to speak
about" resumed No. 8. Il remember regard
Inc the rather handsome exterior Of the Beach
Hotel with such a bitter feeling OF unjust dis
approval that y
rule No. 1.1s4. Don't begin q yarn in the
middle or at the end" quoted No. 4.
"Icorrect myself" said No. o. Therefore.
Ibeein at the beginning. Everything begins
and ends here in New York. This particular
lac began here in New York In the month Of
Lnpust-let's see, in 1889. It was. Yes. l re-
memher now. It was In 1889. the year after
IN. blizzard, on which occasion 1 slept under
a seventeen-foot bank Of snow over In Hack
ensack for two days.
As you we're saying. In August, 1889. you"
again interrupted No. Z.
"Tn August. 1899" continued No. 6. "I had
been sober for fully Ave months. Consequently
had too much money and too many good
clothes. Moreover. Eve months Of straight
away work contains so many possibilities Of
monotony-but I need not dilate upon this.
You all know how damaging to the inspiration
An uninterrupted period OF Ave months work
Is bound to be. Then the 1900 that 1 had
soaked away produced within me a very tired
feeling. Now. II I had only remained here in
New York with that $600-well. l could ha' had
n two months whirl easy. with hospital money
left besides for the finish. But on the very next
morning afterthe jag ~began-why. woke up on
n DOAt. Say, u 10 ever "hko up Ou u UOdJ
after a night without knowing how you got
there9 It's a queer feeling. sure enough. or
course. | had the head when l came to. and the
first thing I did when l woke up was to look
around for a button to push. 1t struck me then
that the room l was In was pretty small: also.
that II swayed a good deal. l sat up and looked
around. and then. burned IL 1 didn't hear the
chug OF the propeller. It's a boat. all
right | thought. but what kind OF a boat2
Iguess l must ha' waded aboard one Of the
lower bay fishing steamers yesterday after
noon and got screwed UP and they put me to
bunk Yet. when I looked around again. the
blamed stateroom didn't look like a fish
ing steamer stateroom. Moreover. there was
no sea in the lower bay like the long swell this
craft seemed to be ploughing through. Well
Thought. I'm Just taking a little voyage to
Europe for my health. That must be it, The
mystery OF the thing was worse than the head,
which was bad enough. l jumped out Of the
bunk and did the old ct-went through my
clothes to see II l had as much as IS cents or
solicit. went through all the regular pockets
not a O u-marquee. This is nice. I thought.
'Ican't do the Continent. If that's where Pm
bound. on my face. Moreover. l need a drink
pretty bad right now. As a last resort. 1
reached into my inside vest pocket. where |
had, never put money; My hand struck the
WItl, / IullPl II Out-DrOWn ana green ones
still! there, counted it. Five hundred and
eighty. four dollars!
Talk about your CHAPS, getting picked Off
figure it out how | had hung on to 1t: ! haven't
figured it out yet. Neither. have l figured it
out how my trunk happened to be underneath
my bunk, but there IL was. l kicked it acct
IDENTIFY. and when looked down. there was the
trunk iopened it up; 1t was AL nicely packed
It was all a dream and | wondered why | didn't
wake up. | saw a button on the wall and |
gave il a shove. Just to soc who'd show up and
with q clean white coat on answered the but
ton, | yelled at him TO come in. and in he
came. ! asked him to tell me. on the level.
~ know I'm on a boat said I. but what
70 all sut'nly was cheeahful las night.
suh-sutnTy cheeahful.' said the darky to me.
E%rdnning.
ola racket is this. and where's she going?'
why, said the darky. dis yeah steamrh's
Galveston, We dun goi unduh way las )evenin',
suhI,an 70 all was out on de deck singin' ontil
No; lin damned IL 1 was says 1 to the
,akarSy, but knew he was telling the truth all
NE same But wasn't going to make any
We'll. had the man bring me three high
U ne 70 s2rt q, get me ne around to a deep-water
head, Why not the ComalT, What, was the
mater with the Comal2 What was the matter
WIN Galveston Might as well be on my way
20 galveston as any other old place. So I
oplched the button again. had the barber come
anu shave me in my bunk. dressed. took three
more nigh ones. and got out of the stateroom.
Say, there were about three dozen fellows
Louhglng around the decks. and dinged IL every
one OF EN- didn't say to me when ] showed up
81 deck: Hello, there pail or How are you.
d Or How're you making it this morning.
chum z or something like that. l didn't know
q one OF EN- from my aunt In Maine that /
never saw, but they were thicker'n thieves with
mi Ana II appeared that l had been the sam
WIth Them the night before in the card room
anu around decks. Funny game that, funny
same They were, all. pretty nice chaps, too
host OF EN- New York drummers setting out
.L tnelr ta!!, campaigns in the Southwestern
SerTltory, We had three high ones. the whole
vunHh, rlRht OH. and the voyage down to Gal
;eest on began 10 strike me as q heap OF a good
~ Along toward afternoon | took it into my
nsaut0 clint the foremast rope ladder, leading
sihothe main yard. | climbed 1t. and started
sWlng Ioyously from the yard by my hands.
Itgfre was a big swell on. and the Comal was
hhs.hE over about thirty-three degrees to star
IL nHid and TO port in the swell, and when I
hUkel down TO the deck | saw all hands look
thhs up with white mugs. / decided to descend
rHst, AM! when | got down | found the skipper
WI PAIR OF irons in his hand,
I'm = you try that on again. said he to me.
-! ElaI these on TO your wrists
md Roht take II to heart So says / to him,
com 81 men ! went and had a few moro with the