The record-union., 1898-11-09
STRAPPED IN GALVESTON.
NEW YORK HIGH ROLLERS Elk.
PERIENCES THERE.
Made It Lively and Was Warmly
Received by the Commercial
Travellers.


l was swept by a wave of memory"
said member No. 8 of the Harlem Club
OF Former Alcoholic Degenerates. mot
that l ever put up there. That isn't it.
But l once saw the outside of that hotel
structure under such peculiar and 1
might almost say narrowing conditions
that"
Hold on there az minute" interrupted
member No. z, who is a stickler for
the carrying out of the clubs plans
Is there any hard luck in this as
result of alcoholic degeneracy?"
No. y regarded No. with an ag-
grieved gaze.
since the organization of the Harlem
sprung any Sunday-school ones about
the good little boy and the bad little
boy, or have I ever"
"Oh, well,'' replied No. Z, settling
back to his seat, IF you're going to
| conform to the club rules, of course, all
| right, go ahead. Only 1 couldn't quite
see the connection between the Beach
Hotel and
Shut up, Seven" said all of the mem
bers at once. Mine has got the deck.
| Nine, shoot it OUT
| 'On this occasion that I started to
speak about resumed No. 9, II re-
member regarding the rather handsome
exterior Of the Beach Hotel with such
bitter feeling of unjust disapproval
| that"
Rule No. 11,184 Don't begin a
yarn in the middle or at the end,'"
quoted No. Z.
/
| fore, l begin at the beginning Every
thing begins and ends here in New
York. This particular jag began here
| in New York in the month of August
let's see, in 1889, it was. Yes, 1 re-
member now. 1t was In 1889, the year
after the blizzard, on which occasion 1
slept under a seventeen foot bank of
snow over in Hackensack for two, days
"As you were saying, in August, 1889,
you''-again interrupted No. T.
| In August 1885," continued No. 9,
II had been sober for fully FIVE months.
Consequently had too much money
and too many good clothes. Moreover,
five months of straightaway work con-
tains SO many possibilities of monotonv
but need not dilate upon this. You
|
| tion an uninterrupted period of five
months work is bound to be- Then the
| 5000 that / had soaked away produced
| within me a. very tired feeling Now,
| If / had only remained here in New
York with that $6O0-well, 1 could ha'
had two months whirl easy, with
hospital money left besides for the
| finish. But on the very next morning
| hn q o. xuhu
a boat Say, die, ever wake up on a
boat after a night without knowing
! how you got, there? It's a queer feel
| ing. sure enough. Of course, I had the
head when I came to- and the first
thing did when 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 it swayed
good deal. sat up and looked around,
and thens burned if 1 didn't hear the
chug-chug OF the propeller. It's boat,
all right / thought, but what kind
| Of boat? I guess must ha' waded
aboard one of the lower bay fishing
steamers yesterday afternoon and got
| screwed up and they put me to bunk,
| Yet when I looked around again, the
| blamed stateroom didn't look like a
| fishing steamer stateroom. Moreover
| there was no sea in the lower bay like
the long swell this craft seemed to be
| plowing through. WELL 1 thought,
I'm. just taking little voyage to Eu-
| rope for my health. That must be it. ;
The mystery of the thing was worse
than the head, which was bad enough
| jumped out of the bunk and did the
old act-went through my clothes to see
IL had as much as 35 cents or SO left
I went through all the regular pockets
not a sou-marquee. This is NICE,
thought. L can't do the continent, if
that's where I'm bound, on my face
Moreover, I need drink pretty bad
right now. AS a last resort, I reached
into my inside vest pockt, where I had
never put money. My hand struck the
wad 1 pulled it out-brown and green
ones still there. I counted it. Five
hundred and eighty-four dollars!
Talk about your chaps getting pick
ed off life RATS in midocean! OF course,
I couldn't figure it out how I had hung
on to It, haven't figured it out yet.
Neither have I figured out how my
trunk happened to be underneath my
bunk I opened it up. 1t was all nicely
| packed and I had not left anything
behind. thought it was all a dream
and wondered why / didn't wake up.
1 saw button on the wall and 1 gave
1t a shove, just to see who'd show
up and to find out whittier bound, and
so on A darky with clean white
coat on answered the button. I yelled
at him to come in, and in he came I
asked him to tell me, on the level,
where happened to be.
| .'I know I'm on a boat said I, but
what boat?'
| "sYo' all sut'nly was cheeahful las
night, suh-sut'nly cheeahful,' said the
darky to me, grinning.
That's all right about the cheer
fulness, said I, but what I want to
know is, what kind of packet is this,
and where's she going?'
Why said the darky, dis yeah
steamuh's de Comal of de Mallory line,
an she's boun TO- Galveston. We dun
| got unduh way las evenin', suh--an'
yo' all was out on deck singin' ontil /
O'Clock dis mawnin'.'
! "'No; I'm damned If I was,' says I
to the darky, but / knew he was telling
the truth all the same, but wasn't go
/ ing to make any damaging admissions.
We'll, had the man bring me three
| high ones to sort O. get me around to
a deep water way of thinking. After
got the three high ones down / had
j things Strengthened out in my head.
] Why not the Comal? What was the
matter with the Comal? What was the
matter with Galveston? Might as well
be on my way to Galveston as any
other old place. So / touched the but