The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-03-05
ST. LOUIS HOODOO BROKEN.
,pVENTURE OF Ex-TATK NO. 3 WTTH
sTRADIVARIUS VIOLIN.

-. Uoodoo's Succession OF Victorles-The
violin Bought at n Casual Visit to q
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Evoked by the
yiolin-Triumphant Exit from 81. Louis.
"Now. st. Louis was my hoodoo town" said
v,.Tank No. 9 OF the Harlem Club OF Former
Ilcoholic Degenerates. unconsciously dlsobey-
,r ono OF the club rules by making rings on
,bs table with the bottom Of his glass OF vichy
nd milk. During the progress OF ak tumul-
,nops years I never hit st. Louis that II didn't
sat ma down and out before l so much as had a
sS,nce to take n look at Shaw's Gardens. It
STIna make any difference whether I struck
c, louis wearing spurs. sombrero bells and
.tsInmps. coming from the West. or whether I
-, into II with n silker. studs and patent
,.,bers. travelling from the East, that insid-
,ons town always took a-hold OF me during
those six pipe-dreamed years and counted
Va among the also-rans before / had n show
~ md out where l was at. It fairly makes me
,che to think OF the number Of times 1 walked
under the steely. glittering stars that hang
over 81. Louis. wondering how 1 could get Just
one hooter to make me feel that life would be
worth living i've or ten minutes longer. And I
want to go on record as saying that, hard IA
the proposition was on each and all OF these
occasions. | always got the hooter. But. as I
,,r. I had TO walk long distances under stars
that Inst winked me the laugh before 1 thought
,hs thing out. and l generally had to take my
vast 10 n secondhand store at the finish. at that.
"But, fellow Ex-Tanks. there never vas n
hnodoo yet that couldn't be broken. l smashed
that hoodoo the last time l covered st. Louis.
Tho last time l covered st. Louis I got out Of
ton the vanished cars. and not or q side-door
pullman. and l had q front and all colors OF It
IN my clothes. This thing OF getting out Of st.
louis as a deckhand on q freight boat bound
for Nemphis-but. as I say. ST. Louis doesn't
owe me anything now. A stradlvarius violin is
great thing. anyhow"
Then No. 3 gazed into his glass OF vichy and
milk ~dreamily. Ex-Tanks Nos. 9 and 0 called
MIN 10 order at once.
What the dickens" they both Inquired to-
sether. has getting out Of 81. Louis with So
and a railroad ticket got to do with a Strad
Hddle2"
The Chief Ex-Tank perceived the reason
abieness OF this question and requested No. 8
to~reirain from drifting.
Well" continued No. 3. this Stradivarius
fiddle was the thing that enabled me to rip out
the works OF that st. Louis hoodoo and look
'em in the face. II 1t hadn't been for that
nddle-but it wasn't a fiddle; It was a violin.
There's Just as much difference between a
fiddle and a violin as there is between Hickory
jim and George Dewey. and -
Atthis point No. 3 was again called to order
BY several Ex-Tanks for roping in extraneous
matter in connection with a recital Of an al
legged win-out. as they put 1t.
Il wouldn't ha' gone to st. Louis at all that
last time" proceeded No. 3. after this round
up. IF l hadn't been pushed over there by ac-
cident. made a finish OF a Chicago spiel no
further away than in Dayton. o. 1 don't re-
member getting to Dayton. but I remember
getting away all right. 1 got a shave and a
shine and a haircut and a ffteen-cent collar in
Dayton when l came to. and hit up some people
there for a Job. Thought they might give me
something to do In the sweep-out line. Just to
enable me TO buy q ticket for some place or
other after a couple Of weeks work: but they
didn't. Derned IL they didn't take hold OF me
at the right end. some way or another-prob-
ably because I shot a good line OF talk
into 'em-and undertake to teach me
the business and how to sell their goods.
Never got handled so white in my life
as l was handled In Dayton by those people.
After I'd hung around the works there for q
month or so they told me to stand by to 60 on
the road to sell goods. 1 stood by with a whole
lot OF a broad grin. I want to say. for the fell
lows who were then selling their goods on the
road were making money by hatfuls. When they
finally told me. however. that my first trip was
to be to st. Louis 1 was ready to do a lay-down.
] did better than that. though. I up and told
the man who was handling me all about It
what a hoodoo st. Louis had always been to
me. and that If he sent me to st. Louis to sell
goods I'd probably draw on him for a thousand
dollars before I'd been there twenty-four
hours. and then he wouldn't hear any more OF
me or my samples.
THAT'S all right said he. st. Louis Is the
only vacant territory I've got Just now. and
that's ahsS Ta sc { vent yS1,re 70 g0 stsl LoSIs ;6 SELF RlaG Ho 99;'
siSoa day yHe Clean, that's ali. 0F For the sHef frs. 1--WE Week
afraid the Dayton folks couldn't make 'em fast
enough to DELIVER, and | wired the firm about
t Could dn sHd T I star %s back "a fd 70 do sell Il. a F Rlt5i2 hoo i !
q lpck in my lifs: Ny 81 a day room at the
days, and so l got a suite. 50 I could pay more
money for my accommodations. Then 1 fell to
ffeiftt .compun Hctk about ,taEinHs; ali the
money IL, st. Louis for myself and my firm.
faf Groa ths n and foSEed at 4 ' Sen fuG out c6 to ths
lose at that game. either: Picked Ave out OF
six il On the card every day for siK days running.
EIetter ! %c?pi3nyt staRd il. Il ! had any more
ssnEEfias too e 5G mue s2l mone SF out IT, 2 ' %hic iha / d a%
] lust got nibbling at the ~stuff-same old way
nun hOllIB uolutS az IIlc LII INK = cLb
right on selling goods and nibbling at the red
eye, and making the coin to give away. l
couldn't see any finish to IT,.
One afternoon. after I'd been In st. Louis
for nearly q. month, l happened to pass by a
pawnshop that looked familiar to me. The
annual sale OF unredeemed, pledges was going
on at the time. and that's how l happened to
notice the Joint: | got to thinking about II and
Remembered that two years before. when l was
ting the worst Of the falls. ! had put in two
good ,snaTkers there-a ring and a pin. won
dered If ] had any show TO get them at this
sale. ana so | went in to find out about 1t. haV-
ttg,g a! colnrs Of stun n my clothes to redeem
them II they were still there. They were still
here. | looked them over and wanted them.
The pawnshop people saw that / wanted them.
And SO they told me / had no more claim on
them. NOT having paid the interest. than the
general puhlic-that they were going to put the
ring and the pin up to be suetioned off that
zane afternoon. so stayed to watch the bid
ding on them, l had a few OF the st. Louis
brand OF drinks under my vest at the time. and
iieIt pretty good. l had to wait for the auc.
uon"er duck to come to my ring and pin. and l
Watch"d the other stun being put up without
much interest until the fellow down below
handed up an old leather violin, case. That
made me sort o WOODY. | rech He'd that when
! was, a kid my father had tried for
several years to drum some violin music into
men,using II fence picket for the purpose. gen
orally. on account OF my disinclination to do
HfN FLA Atn --I Y 49, - Aana Chat