The record-union., 1899-07-23
A HAUNTED CABIN.


said Lobster Pete, as he sat down in
| front of the campfire on the Potomac
| flats and glared at his fellow hobos.
mo, sir, I've been in the order for
thirty years, and I've got the first
time to go through any hair-raisin' eA-
| periences. OF course, you may run
| across a brake who don't recognize
| the office when you give it to him, an
instead of gettin' a berth in a nice
warm box car, you've got to hit the
bumpers or trudge your weary way on
foot. Then you may get the merry
/ 'ha- -ha' when you expect a handout;
but what's the difference? A man that
can't accustom hisself to eatin' snow
balls and wrappin' himself up in the
north wind amt got no business in
| the order. Let Cornmeal Ike tell his
adventures, if that's what you want;
but I know what tramp life is, and
there amt no romance about it.
Il did have a kinder peculiar time
once. I own up to bein' scared, but
there wasn't any reason fur it. 1t
happened this way: 1 was goin' to Hot
Springs, North Caroliny, fur my health
I'd been wanderin' around Tennessee
| till l got malary in my system, an /
| thought a course Of baths would get
it out. 1 hit the blind baggage on the
Southern from Knoxville up to Norris
town. I knowed Morristown was the
worst place along the road cause it
was a junction of the old East Tennes-
see, Virginia an Georgy, that the
Southern gobbled up. But the boys
came there on every train, some goin'
in one direction an some in another.
| The people of Morristown was mighty
hard on hobos. They wouldn't help
nobody. They'd give you the high
handshake an the marble heart
an set the dawgs on you. Maybe
you'd be lucky to get thirty days, but
even that wasn't comm in winter
time. I tell you those Tennessee folks
is foxy.
Il met some fellers on the way, an
they told me to give Morristown the
jump. But as luck would have it,
got throwed out of the car the minute
we pulled into the yards. Then I
walked just as fast as 1 could till l
got beyond what 1 thought was the
city limits. I had a little coffee in my
pocket, an 1 gets my lobster can out,
an starts to maxim coffee with the
little fire I built. Pretty soon I hears
a crackin' in the brush an here comes
a cop. I sizes Johnny Law up for an
easy mark an gives him the office, an
asks him to have a little coffee.
You're in the city limits, he says,
as he looks at the fire.
Am T.? says I. III move on out,
if you say So
| Never mind he says, lookin' at me
rather sharp like. Say, have you seen
a couple of fellers go by here just
little while ago?'
| NO says I, just as innocent as
can be. 1 had seen em, a Jew an a
Dutchman that I had met in Knoxville
! but I wasn't goin' to squeal on 'em to
no Johnny Law.
Well he says, never mind. They
done some crooked work down in
Knoxville, an we wanted to get 'em
if we could. If I was in your place,
wouldn't stay around here any longer
than I had to- I thanked him an he
went off.
Il drank my coffee and lit out down
the road on foot I wanted to get to
some farmers where I could find a
nice warm barn to sleep in It was in
|
Portable as you might like when night
| came on. l met one of those poor
white trash while / was walkin' down
the track, an I asked him if he knowed
of a farmhouse where I could pass the
night in comfort. He told me that
there was a vacant house about four
miles farther on where I could have
the whole shebang to myself. He said
it was pretty good shack, but they
hadn't nobody lived there for a right
smart while. I thanked him, an went
on. Nothin' like thankin people when
you're on the road.
Z went on till 1 came to a nigger's
shanty at what seemed to me about
four miles since 1 seen this cracker
| feller. I went up an asked if they
knowed of any such place as an empty
house in these parts. The niger who
came to the door said he did. 1 noticed
he looked at me sorter queer, but I
didn't take pertickler notice at the
time. He told me it was about a mile
further on, an it was a little ways up
| the mountain. 1 asked him if there
was any wood that could build a fire
with around there, an he said I could
find all 1 wanted in the way of old
chicken houses an such like. I thanked
him an went on. I picked up a rock.
an knocked over one of his chickens
| that l seen out in the brush. / need
ed somethin' a little more substantial
| than coffee. 1t began to grow dark,
an it looked like it was goin' to rain,
so I got hump on myself.
'.I saw the house the niger spoke of
| IN the side of the mountain There
was creek between it an the rail-
road, an 1 fell into it an got soakin'
wet. When I got to the house I was
mad enough to fight. The only thing
that saved me was that I hadn't
spoiled my matches. The house had
only three rooms, but one of them
was big one, with great stone fire
place in it. I went out an smashed
up some of the houses. The
wood was wet, so 1 tore up some of
the front porch for kindlin'. I went
down to the creek for some water. I
| had found an old stewpan SO rusty
that it looked as if it hadn't been used
for more than a century. got the
water to boilin', an dressed the chick
en-. 1 roasted it over the fire, an had
the best meal 1 ever ate in my life
l had a little tobacco, so I lit my pipe
and lay down before the fire to dry out
an enjoy myself. 1t got to be kinder
lonesome about the house, cause it
was such a tumble-down affair." after
all. You know how a feller gets to
thinkin' when he's by hisself an hain't
got nobody to talk to-
Il heaped more wood on the fire an
Law down tO pet a LITTLE Sleep The