Evening star., 1899-01-28

the street to the stand he is surrounded
by about dozen of them, and all of them
proceed to knock the others.
Doan yo' hev nuthin t do wit desc
mgguhs, boss" one of them, getting up
close to the bewildered man who wants his
trunk meved, will say earnestly. "Dey all
II ovuh,chahge yo' all, sub, tell yo' won't
know wheah all yo's at"
Il got d on'y clippuh hoss in de line,
suh,' another of them will say; "an | kin
do yo wuk twict as lively as desc yeah
ole coons. Wheah all did yo' say dat trunk
was be taken, subj
They all look at each other with eX-
tremely baleful glances while all of this
is going on. but when the man who wants
a trunk moved finally picks out man
they resume their good nature instantly,
and in no time they disappear behind or
inside their wagons again.
The Cab Service
The colored proprietors of independent
vehicles for passenger-carrying hereabouts
are no less interesting than the express
men. They, too, are rapidly disappearing.
Improved cab services have taken such a
crimp in their business that it will not be
long before they VIII be forced entirely out
of the picture A few of the black hack
drivers still stick to stands, but most of
them drive about continuously in search
of trade. Their vehicles are of all sorts
and descriptions, and among them are
many reVerstons to the style of convey
dECeS employed by our lOreIat nerS. JHty
somehow or other contrive to hang to-
gether, but they do not look convincingly
safe. a very heavy Washingtonian who
took ride in one of them not long ago
for the novelty of the thing said after
ward that before the thing had gone half
block he thought he'd have to run home
meaning that he feared the bottom was
going TO drop out his barouche. There was
a time when the black hackman was the
only public passenger carrier in Washing
ton, but there were no rubber-tired cabs
then. The black hackmen seem even to
have been largely forced out of the night
liner business. which still remains as prof
liable as of yore. White men at the pres
ent time appear to have monopoly in the
carrying home of "drunks' in the small
hours probably for the reason that the
white night-lners have got the better
looking rigs, and the man who is enjoying
elephantiosis of the imagination superin-
duced by stimulants wants the best that is
procurable for money.
Rely on Transient Trade.
The black hackmen rely chiefly upon visi-
tors in Washington for what custom they
get They jog their horses around in parts
of the city where visitors are most apt to
be found, and pick up passengers in this
way Almost any citizen who passes oc-
casionally through the Smithsonian
grounds for instance, is familiar with the
appearance of these humorOuSly diSreputa-
bic. ramshackle old vehicles, with the grim
ming old colored men on top of them, rigged
out m parodies on coachmen's liveries. One
of these old hackmen will drive up along
side any strollfnS man or woman who looks
like stranger in the city. out for a look at
the sights, and, executing a most respect
full salute with his frayed whip, say some
thing like this:
"Doan yo' all want t tex uh nice drive
all ovuh re points o intuh'st 70 seventy-f'
cents?'
When he is told that his outfit is not
wanted, he comes entreatingly down to 80
cents, and, finally, with patheticaly COM
pact story about hard times. he offers to
furnish i pretty siZable ride in his rig for a
quarter. There is a law in the District
against hacknen tLuS soliciting trade. but
the authorities have compassion upon these
poor old colored men who have no other
means of earning livelihood and the law
Is not enforced to the letter. The old
black hackmen are freqUe ntly successful in
catching visiting brides and grooms for all
day jogs around. Young couples of the sort
who come to Washington for their honey
moon trips are always too much in love to
care anything about such paitry externals
as the vehicles in which they drive around
and so they don't pay much attention to the
ramshackle conveyance into which they are
craftily gathered in Washington 1t Is al
ways amusing to observe the gaze of deep
lnscrutable contempt with which a gor-
geously gotten-up young black coachman
driving magnificent private outfit, regards
these tumbledoWn vehicles of his older
brothers of the reins. For their part. the
old black hackmen, when they are idling
on their stands, take it out in criticising in
cisively the horsemanship of the waller
COON private coachmen who rattle by and
these young bucks are generally credited
with knowing about much about horses
as the old hackmens old blind dogs at
home.
They Enjoy Life.
For people who enjoy hearty laughter on
the part of other people It is good to live
close ISrly a,,'c
stands. There is one Of them on Thomas
Circle. The turnouts there by the way, are
by no means as ramsh3ckle or aged as
those al most of the other stands and the
drivers of the rigs at that stand are
younger men than the majority of black
hackmen Of Washington. The drivers con-
gregate together in little groups on the
pavement around the circle and just laugh
from morning until night. Their laughter
can be heard for good block. They don't
laugh all at once, but separately. One of
them sees or hears something that strikes
MIN as funny, and he lets out a series of
roars. Then he clasps his hands to his
sides and shouts for ten minutes II is the
most infectious laughter In the world. and
1t ought to do any invalid good 10 hear
such hearty music.
When they are not laughing most of
these black hackmen seem to be eating A
colored man, with a very clean
white apron almost completely enveloping
him, has practically all-day job of 1t at
each of the black hackmens stands feeding
the occupants thereof. He has all the par
aphernalia of a restaurant kitchen and an
within his big box on wheels. and he does
most of his cooking in the open air. Many
a white passer-by has been made to feel
hungry by the odor of the viands this
rood purveyor serves up to the hackmen
at ridiculolsly small prices. For instance,
he fries thinly shaven bits of bacon in a
pan over an oil stove, claps these bits of
bacon between fiaky white biscuits and
charges only a cent for two of the biscuits
He produces anything asked for from Irish
stew to mince pie.