The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-21
THE "RED-HOT" MAN.
A Standby With the ALL
the AL
With
NigFter.

and after all it is much a matter of
taste. But the smell of fish haunts the
air where the cooking stand holds
forth-fish of all kinds with mullet in
the lead, and coming down the stretch
at 2:10 clip.
1t is in the neighborhood of the de-
pots that the cook-man is TO be found
in greatest numbers. Where the fes-
tive excursionist hangs out he finds his
greatest patronage and there he stands
from early dark until past the mid
night hour, handing out roll here, a
big piece of fish there, to all corners.
The men over the gasoline stove are
as curious as the viands they deal out,
and of as diverse quality. People of
foreign type and negroes, are in the
ma jority, but the sight of cracker
face is not a rarity. Out of bunch of
five in view at one time near the union
sta ton last night four were foreign and
the fifth was a negro.
Money in 1t.
And they make good money, too.
Having the advantage of resembling
Mahomet in that, if trade won't come
to them, they go to the trade, they
are enabled to be always in the thick
of the throngs. A negro in talking
of the traffic said that some days a
stand" takes in as much as $40, and
rarely below SO. Hefhad stand once,
he said, and had another negro run it
for him. When his hired hand only
brought in $3.50 one night he grew
suspicious and put watch on the
suspect He found out that he was
simply furnishing the food, stand, gas
olene, etc, in order to let the assist
ant knock down half of the amount
taken in. Yes, SIR" he concluded,
there sho' be money in cook stand,
but you have to run it yourself Eve'y
niger you get IL sho'ly cheat you"
Whether this is true or not of the
white dealers, the fact remains that
in nearly every case the man who
serves the cart is at least part owner
thereof.
Made Good Soldiers.
The patriotic impulses of some of
these dispensers of doubtful nourish-
ment are not the least interesting and
peculiar attributes of their varied ma
ture When the Savannah battalion of
the Second Georgia Regiment marched
away during the Spanish American
war the rosters of more than one of
the companies contained the names of
ed-hot men, names so difficult to pro-
nounce that during their martial ca
reer they bore some such unobtrusive
appellation as Jerry" or Smith
They made god soldiers, too, taking
their military duties with a cumber-
some solemnity that seemed to indi-
cate the fixed retention of the idea that
the enemy was likely to make their
appearance at any moment and keep
ing watch and guard with a vigilant
alertness that was the admiration of
their officers and the subject of good
natured chatting from their fellow SOL
diers.
A Savannah man who held a warrant
in one of the companies, some time
after the conclusion of hostihties and
the muster out of the regiment, had
occasion to make a purchase of the
merchant of the corner. He noticed
that the red-hot man seemed to be TAX
ing an unusual amount of care in the
preparation of the delicacy, but was
not the less surprised when a cheer,
How do we do corporal" came from
the lips of him on the other side of
the stand. The ex-corporal looked up to
recognize a former soldier of the regi-
ment, with whom at Tampa he had
stood more than one disagreeable turn
of duty.