The times., 1899-09-10

in the Mother Goose" ballad. and the
visitor took chair next to him. 4 want
your life." the newcomer remarked.
so savage as all that?" said Manager
Herman.
We'll. not quite" the interviewer ad-
mitted, for l won't take it unless you
give it to me-"
Evidently struck with this display OF gen.
erosity, 'Hughey'. Herman pushed the bills
before him over to Treasurer Waller and
signaied for the reporter to get out pencil
and paper. You'd best keep tabs on me,
he said 'I'm rather rusty as regards
dates and some of my statements may con-
fiict il I'm not continually reminded OF
them. To begin at the beginning, l was
born in Baltimore something like-severaI
years ago. My parents could not be said to
have been theatrical people, and whatever
early inspiration / may have gotten for this
profession must have been imbibed with the
air that circulated about our block Our home
stood in Exeter Street, and few hundred
feet to either side of US lived John Sleeper
Clark and John Wilkes Booth. Edwin
Booth, then almost young man, was one of
the habitants of his fathers house. and we
saw a great deal of each other. The lad
who was some day to become America 5
most famous actor showed his genius clearly
even as child In barn ON what was
known as Lovely Lane he and | gave a
number of performances that | remember
as having been really creditable, all things
considered. The price of admission to these
entertainments was invariably payable in
pins, and many a neighboring cushion was
devastated that its contents might be trans
ferred to our pockets.
'John Wilkes ROoth ar that fima wac
an exceedingly hard drinker. / have heard
il said of him that on one occasion in Bal
| timore, being thirsty and penniless he
| visited the shop OF friendly pawnbroker
Benjamins by name and there pledged him
| self for the wherewithal for a few glasses of
| toddy. Having partaken of these he sent a
| note to his manager in which the condi-
| tion of affairs was set forth vividly. and
| the parsonage in question had no choice
but to release his star before the hour for
| ringing up that night. John Clark spent
many of his spare moments with Edwin
Booth, a fact later accounted for by his
marriage to the youths sister.
MY own share in the events of the
world was not allotted me until along in
/ 1S49 or 1850, when l engaged with the
! firm of Hooper & Cheesebury still well
| known in Maryland, to go to sea in one
of their ships. The initial voyage carried
me around Cape Horn and to California,
where l remained about two years At the
! expiration of that period I took to the
mast again and sailed for China in the
Helen A. Miller. The bark Annapolis was
my next vessel and my trips with her were
made notable by several exciting expert
ences Toward the end of our first jour-
ney, for example, we struck a terrific
| typhoon. The boat careened terribly and
soon became all but unmanageable. In
this plight she was blown ashore at Hoo
song, a town some five miles from Shang-
hal and we only got her off at the expense
of her keel. We We're obliged to wait for
| tide after tide in order to work up to
Shanghai. Nor were there any dry docks
in that city when we arrived In default
of better means of repairing, the crew was
obliged to dig a place in the earth for the
craft and, after Bleaching her, to construct
a new keel in exchange for that left at
sea. A good seven months was spent in
getting ready for return and no set OF
men was ever happier than were we when
the Annapolis left the port laden with
tea and spices, for her half years sail back
to New York Our defined route took us
home by the Cape of Good Hope and con-
sequently when next l reached Baltimore
| | had practically been around the world
though hardly in eighty days or twice that
number.
After a few weeks in the Monumental
City / began work again for my old en-
ployers and put in three years on the
Liverpool packet ship Cumberland. The
primary voyages were made before the
mast and then l was given the Office OF
second mate. In 1857 l went with Captain
Duncan on the Deiewarian to Rio, return
ing TO revisit that town a second and a
third time Captain Duncan was also in
charge of the brig West Indies, on which
| made four or five rough, uncomfortable
trips Particularly unpleasant was the last
of these The winter of 1857 was the worst
| have ever seen, excepting only that OF
1898. All along the coast the weather was
abominable, and when, homeward bound
we struck the Chesapeake Bay, we found
the water there frozen solid. The bay was
sighted on December Is and We did not
reach Baltimore until March 1. A more
disagreeable experience l have never had
and / am not longing to break that record
Perhaps the most interesting event OF