El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-18
The Story of
The Famous
Beau Hickman

Washington Cor. Atlanta Constitution

6O~OO ONSE
Beau Hickman was known as the
prince of American bummers and was
often likened to George Brummel, the
renowned bum of England. Both were
each preferred a life of prodigal gen.
Utility sustained by an ungrateful
abuse of gratuities. In their declining
years tickle fortune rewarded their I'M
meritorious lives with bitter penury
and want, whilst they languished the
miserable remnants OF their useless
lives, suffering just modification at
the failure OF the experiment OF q
questionable profession.
Beau Hickman, or as he called him
self, Robert s. Hickman, was native
of Maryland, and born in the year 1913.
Hickman was not his right name, he
having family pride sufficient to as
sumo that name when he left home in
early life, after having been guilty of
upright and chaste society. His par
ents were we'll off and lndulged him in
almost every whim. and this proved
the means of changing the entire ten :
or of his after life. The young fellow
had scarcely reached his majority be-
fore he was given his share of his
patrimony and started from his home
and friends prodigal wanderer, locat-
ing in Washington, where it did not
take many months for him to success
fully squander about $4,000. His ad.
| vent in Washington was in the good
old days of the republic, before Sec
tionailsm had engendered such deadly
antipathies; when Washington was the
gay metropolis of representative ar
istocracy, and the statesman and
sportsman and beauty and chivalry
ho11 {oh n nj + n iaf
sional terms, and geutility had not yet
coined the hunky term of
shoddy, when this young man, 9
strsngersand wanderer, first stepped
out upon the social boards, where he
afterward won for himself, as beau
and hummer, renOwn as famous as
those statesmen of his day who indulg-
ed the humor of his bum innings, or So
cially enjoyed the non-chalance of his
grotesque gentiliLy. After Beau's in
trcduction he proceeded to travel all
the gaits and associated with the re-
preventative and sporting classes. He
was admitted into the most exclusive
society; he dressed in the most ap-
proved elegance of the mode, and as
gentleman of elegant leisure and
fashion he ranked first. With social
functions and the race course his
money was soon gone and he became
q beggared bankrupt. He had deter
mined upon q life of easy idleness and
was constant to his purpose, adopting
a sort of vsgabOndish bohemian life.
Possessing q remarkable memory OF
faces and names. he knew all the pub
lie men of his time. and would meet
them Familiarity and greet them by
name. He was tolerated by many of
the statesmen, who enjoyed his jokes
and lodges, and often introduced him
to their friends from the states. His
annual revenue amounted to con-
siderable sum, and for several years he
lived in fairly good style, but people
became tired of his frequent
grow seedy and what would snow be
called back number. His turf friends
and other sporting acquain tances were
the last to desert him. His effective
manner of story telling was sure me-
thod of acquiring reward, for there
was always q wealthy class of gentle
men residing at the capital who were
ed touches" for the amusement he af-
forded. Usually at the conclusion of q
story he would make strike, and was
generally successful. Beau's habit
was to assess the members of congress
and other officials with a regular and
specific amount, which he would col
lect In the most businesslike manner.
His knowledge OF human nature was of
great service in suggesting the proper
time and place for presenting his bills,
which would generally be at some
public place where the pseudo debtor
was surrounded by colleagues and
friends, whilst engaged in Rood-humor-
ed hilarity. At one time not to be pa
tronized by Beau was considered q
slight, and to refuse to humor bis
beatings was thought to be wanting in
iberality.
From about the year 1858 Beau COM
menced to slide at a rapid rate down
ward. His early dissipation told |
heavily on his physical constitution,
and the leathery features began to
grow in his facial appearance, and the
bunions and corns increased and en-
lareed on his pedal extremeties uctil
hobbling ina his gait, his fashionable
life of dissipation and his peculiar
mode of living having worn out life
that might otherwise have lasted a
a score of years longer. Beau Hick-
man was never q drupkard, and during
the last three years of his life, when
asked to drink by his friends, he would
step up to the bar and claim either
cigar or 10 cents, the cost of q drink,
which would always be cheerfully
handed him. He had force sof will
enough to keep rom being a common
prunkard, and he possessed ,other ad-
traits of character. He des-
pissed liar, and, although he
practiced many questionable lodges,
yet he was never known to wilfully tell
a lie or make a promise which he
would not perform. After the close of
the war Beau began to decline rapidly,
and could be seen hobbling around the
hotels with scanned and leathery face,
anxious to ply his profession, but he
had outlived his time. He had already