Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-03
An Interesting Chapter on p Familiar
Capital Contingent
HOTEL HANGERS-ON ATMOSPHERE
The Ante-BeIIum and Up-to-Date
Specimens.
rs PATHETIC SIDE, TOO

Written for The Evening Star.
In proportion to its population there are
probably more men who contrive to live
| on nothing a year in Washington than in
any other American city. The non-producer
who. as natural consequence. Is a nom
earner-is everywhere In Washington He
is mostly in mysterious evidence as a
hanger-around in hotel lobbies-in all of the
hotel lobbies. high class or low grade. He
to1eth not, neither does he spin-and he
generally shows 1t. Few Of the Washing
ton chaps. young or old. who contrive to
I'VE on nothing year, have mastered the
art or living well on that Intangible in
come In New York, Chicago, San Fran
clsco-plenty of the other big commercial
cit1es-there are hordes of well-fed, we'll
groomed, complaisant-looking chaps who
hfe sumptuously, year in and year out,
without any visible means of support but
the Washington gang who manage to exc
out existeDces on zero incomes are in gen.
eral shabby lot. OF course there are
plenty OF smooth, mysterious, handed
gentlemen here whose precise sources of
income are enwrapped in mystery; but one
DOESN'T have to stick many pins in these
to ascertain that they have inst a leeflc
indirect interest in certain matters of leg
lslation; SO that II the exact sources of
their incomes are not known it is at least
wen understood that they have incomes
from somewhere or another; wherefore this
particular class of men without visible
means OF support can't properly be punched
in under the heading of men who live on
nothing per annum.
WI hence these latter come, and whittier
they go, are equally impenetrable myste-
iies. How they live, as well as where they
i've. are bothersome matters to study out.
HOW they manage to carry, some of them
not alone creditably, but a very few of
them even flowingiy. that elusive slanyful.
YET very necessary. very important outward
aspect known as a front" is surely a
est In difficult puzzle to the student
OF washington life When Augustus Thorn
as, the dramatist, spent several months in
washington number Of years ago for the
purpose OF picking up characters and abb
sIsning a'mosphere" for a Washington
play, which he contemplated writing, he was
nightly interested in the capitals UNIQUE
collection Of hotel hangers-around.
Ihey certainly walk patiently, even no.
t yhbnely;; under the dome of heaven, don't
tneyI ne inquired, musingly. Il wonder
II they ever think? And If so, what they
think? believe should like to be a cast
away upon the shore Of Time In the shape
about twenty minutes-count them, twenty
just to find out how 1t feels / should
imagine 1t to be an inexpressibly gloomy
Illuminating existence; and yet. observe,
many OF the chaps appear to be positively
cheerful. How these marooned fellows
contrive to perennlally provide themselves
with shelter, food, raiment moderately
ciean linen, even an occasional smoke, is
subject that fascnates me- because 1t
looks too craggy for calculation. OF course
In the matter OF whisky, that is an easy
one. ANY man wearing a clean collar
even If his shoes be shined with stove nolish
can get whisky. He can get whisky when
ne can't get a mOuthful to eat. OF all the
free commodities in this world whisky is
the freest. But how. where and when they
eat-how some Of EN- even manage to keep
their trousers creased-how they square
themselves with themselves for being lust
hangers-around-I want to know, as they
put it in Boston town"
Some Local Experience.
A well-known Washington hotel man was
talking about the hangers around and
chair-warmers of the hostelries the other
afternoon.
DO you know, believe they're the bene-
ficiaries Of a special Providence?' said the
bon!face. There's one Of them now, hold
ing down the best leather-covered chair in
the lobby. across the way. Now, 1 got
control of this hotel about a dozen years
ago, and I've been around II ever since. So
has he. The difference between us Is that
I've been working for living all that time
and he has simply watched me work. He
likes to Watch hotel men work. In no hos
telry I'm Washington has he ever been
known to expend sou marque, yet there
he is, not particularly good to look upon,
1t is true but fat, healthy looking and
with probably enough drinks beneath his
wastband at the present moment to give
him that Woody feeling. Notice his make
up-the long. bushy hair, the fairly good
gray cutaway coat. trousers little loose,
but not frayed boots with shine on 'em,
moderately clean shirt, collar and cuffs and
round SLOUGH hat. Well, it seems to me
that he's been logged out IN exactly the
same way-if not, indeed. in the self-same
rig-ever since l first clapped an eye on
him. over a dozen years ago. And I'm per-
fectly certain that there has not been a
single day. Including Sundays and holidays.
since I've been here that he hasn't drifted
In dozen times a day, hung about for
while and then f1oated out again. 1t took
me five years to get on nodding terms with
him, and I've never exchanged word with
him-smply the nod on his first noat In IN
the morning, and that's all. He doesn't
appear to know anybody. never see him
speak with anybody. He just walks IN,
switching the same cheap-iooking STICK
that he had when first saw him. prowls
around the writing room. looks in at the
billiard room and the bar, and then prowls
out, engulfed in mystery. How and where
does he live? Ask me an easy one.
But there are numerous types OF these
hangers around in the Hobbies. Some Of
them are decidedly Objectionable, but any
Washington hotel man will tell you how
crowd or freeze them out. They're as Inn
pervious to hints as they are to plain
words. or as they probably would be to
even more severe treatment There is
in the Hobbies OF Washington hotels They
get themselves up in accordance with the
-bellum standard, and number Of
them are voluble in the extreme-annoy-
ingly So They've a habit Of picking ac-
quaintance with guests for purely financial
alcoholic benefits in prospect. II you
study EN-. you will observe that the limps
OF these limpng nuisances of the Hobbies
are generally linps of either the right Or left
foot and that they lean heavily upon canes
ostentauously to proclaim. suppose. their
sufferings resulting from their alleged part
in the war between the states. I've had
the curiosity to put friends to whom war
records are accessible onto q number Of
these limping nuisances. and IN every case
I've found that the heroic yarns they've re-
lated here and around other hotels about
their tremendous adventures by field and
food during the civil war were pure efforts
OF the imagination-tfat none OF 'em about
whom inquired took part In the war on
either side.
Working the Path9s.
1T always feel bit sorry for the chaps
who get into the dismal habit Of hanging
around the hotel Hobbies after unsuccessful
efforts to nail Jobs under the government.
They're rather a pathetic lot. They con-