The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-07

I
hit the grit We fled out. The others
went I'd the track TO the roundhortse.
but had seen a campfire forty or fifty
/ rods away. and walked over to where
half dozen fellows lay or sat in var
/ ious attitudes around blazing pile Of
ties. l could see at a glance they were
genuine tramps- 1 took seat a little
outside of the circle as modestly be-
came a gay cat' or "ding-bat," as
the latter term is (for the tramp patter
| is the most mutable of all languageS).
Now, "gay-eat' bears about the same
relation TO the stiff" as tramp proper
as an apprentice does to journeyman.
AS an amateur he is an object of pro-
found contempt TO the professional, and
the latter loses no opportunity of re-
minding him of his conspicuous I'M
worth Being duly conscious of my in
feriority, l was quite content, as j have
said, to occupy a rear seat. A tall fell
low, who, as I afterwards learned. is
known among his confreres as Utah
Slim, was telling a story of tramp adj
venture. AS it is a pretty fair sample
of tramp yarns, 1 give it in his own
words:
DO any of youse people know Mich
! igan Frank" he was saying as l came
up. Two or three of the others ac-
knowledged an acquaintance with the
gentleman in question. DE last time
L see Michigan resumed Slim. was
at Kalama on de n. p. Did L ever tell
youse what we done TO him up dere?
No? Well, were was a tribe of us
goin' down to Cal for de winter. Dere
was me and Mia Curley. and Chi Fat
ty and Chi Red and de Ky Kid"
What sort OF a looking punk is dis
Ky Kid?" interjected one of the lis
teners.
..nop't x-O,, l-,o,,- a. r. r-:lo n
was wild Ohio Shorty last year up in
Butte ''Oh, YES. 1 did see him up
dere." well. as 1 was saying, we all
met at Kalama, and we stopped off
dere to boil up. Me and Stiffey goes up
and gets the makings of a mulligan
and de rest of de push digs into de pas
senger train. One mark takes a liking
to de Kids mug and gives him a dol
lar. De rest of 'em gets few pennies
and we sends up for a quart of de
white stuff. Well. after we had
scofbed we was sitting dere stopping
up de white line when who should we
see coming down de line but Michigan
Frank. He was logged up fit to kill
too. He had on a new suit of rags
and white shirt. and everything
You'd fought he wuz millionaire
Well, he comes down and we sends up
for another Mickey and another and
keeps her goin' until Curley was poll
luted. so he goes up under de bridge
and hopS and de rest of us gets after
FRANK TO peddle de new coat and vest
But he had enough in him to make
him contrary. and he wouldn't stand
for it. So we draws straws to see who
would pick a scrap wild him. Well. it
falls to me. Now, ! always liked Frank.
l never had a word with the man in
my life, but we wuz bound TO have
another Michael so pretty soon. when
he wuz chewin' away about somethin'
ups and says: Michigan, tink you're
dirty stinker.' He didn't know what
to make of it for a minnit, and den he
tried to pass it off. But l wouldn't
have 1T dat way. OATS what 1 tink,'
and II you're any part of a man you'll
get up and scrap Well den, he gets
hostile and jumps up and trows off his
coat and vest. No sooner had il touched
de grOun' dan Red glawms it and
makes of in de jungles. Den we all
gives Michigan de ha-ha When he sees
what was up he wuZ the maddest man
you ever see. At first he wuz goin' to
lick de whole tribe, but he comes round |
pretty soon an goes up wild US to ped |
die de coat. We gifts tree dollars from |
de Chink for de rags and wuZ hoarey-
eyed for two days when de bulls mopes
down and pinches de works. We wuz /
too sloppy to make a lam an de next |
morning we wuz all dom ninety" And |
be Jasus that's the way it sinerally |
ends, said an IriShman who sat oppo- |
site the narrator. My own experience |
this opinion. 1 was too sleepy
to listen to any more anecdotes, so I /
stretched myself by the fire and slept
soundly until morning. After begging
a breakfast l caught another train and
rode into Ogden. 1 had been informed
Z q
my stay in that city was of short du-
ration. Il rooted in on the STEM TO
the extent of securing So cents, and
then took my departure.
Saved By Bulldog.
On the first night of my arrival in
Salt Lake had an amusing experience
with the guardians of the law. l had
come down from ogden alone After
4 protracted struggle with the train
crew during which l was 'ditched" half
4 dozen times, | slid off the gunwales
IF freight car in the Oregon Short
Line yards about IL o'clock at night.
It was too late to go on the street and
solicit the price" of bed, so | started
out to look for a place to kip"
made my way TO the race track on the
of the city. Here 1 found a
stall half-hlled with hay, into which |
,rept. Burrowing down until l was
covered. put my coat over
ny head and congratulating myself on
ny luck, prepared to sleep soundly. I
had lain but a few minutes when L
heard a noise and partially removing
ny coat from my head 1 looked up and
saw large bulldog standing over me.
he had come in through a door which
opened into the next stall. He shifted
at me. but as l did not
move ne seemed TO conclude there vas
nothing wrong, for he lay down in the
,orner of the stall without signifying
my further ill-will. 1t was almost dav-
light when l was awakened by the adj
-ent of the coppers. ;
l could hear them opening and shut ;
ing the doors along the line of stalls. ;
The dog heard them. too. for he arose |
md stationed himself at the door OF
ny stall. The officers came on and
ne of them caught hold of the latch to
pen the door. / Kissed softly to the |
ull-dog. He began to growl-a low but !
minous growl-the kind of a growl a {
'ull-dog affects when he means bust
less. The officer drew back There's
bulldog in there" he said TO his
viii he bite" asked the s
ther, Il don't know, you go in and
ee." Il guess there amt no buns in {
here" was the reply and they gave up '
he search and walked away. changed {