The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-13
JOHNNY TRAvERs ONE OF THEM
TWENTY YEARS HE WAS IN
NEW YORK. OUT OF A JOB.
He Became N Street Fakir and Has
Since Continued i'm the Business
& Talk with Him.

There are a good many street fakirs in In
dianapolis at the present time ON account
of the succession of carnivals, fairs and
other public shows and exhibitions that are
rapidly following each other in the Hoo
sier capital. The modern "fakir,'' vender,
! peddler or street man-whatever you may
wish to call hints a peculiar sort of in
dividual, and, when once drawn into con-
vessation. it will usually be found that he
possesses a fund of interesting information.
The tradesmen who stand on the curbstone
and in the public ways and places have new
er been held in very high estimation by So
ciety. but they sometimes deserve more
than the ordinary attention which is paid
their craft.
For the last fortnight there has been a
fakir in town whose travels and expert
ences would make an interesting story if he
were able to set them down in writing. He
has been all over the United States and
Canada during the last two years, and
turned up in Indianapolis to sell his wares
on the street during the recent carnival, de-
Gliding to remain here for awhile when he
found that the State fair and the annual
horse show were coming events of the near
future. His name is Johnny Travers, he
| says, and he halls originally from the Gull
tured city of Boston.
About twenty years ago Travers found
himself in New York city and out of a
job. He was then a young man of eighteen
and was unable to do manual labor on ac-
count of a broken arm. He happened to run
across an auction sale that was taking place
at a hardwar store and there he purchased
with his last two dollars a pocketful of
Chpan nppkniyeS He went IN tho CORNER
of Wall and Nassau streets, and as the
crowds of pedestrians passed by held up his
knives for inspection, calling out that he
had good knives to sell for almost nothing
at ALL His voice was musical and could
be heard above the roar OF traffic. A num-
Der of men and boys gathered about him
and his knives were soon being disposed of
at a pretty good profit. The presence of the
crowd encouraged the young man to make a
few fresh remarks. as he now calls them,
and to tell a number of jokes that he had
heard at a minstrel show on the Bowery,
made his audience laugh. BY nightfall he
had sold his entire stock.
BASKETFUL OF ~PENKNIVES.
"And that was how / cam to be a street
fakir." said Johnny Travers, in telling the
story, and he laughed as he recalled his
start In business. 1.-THE next day / showed
up at the same corner with a whole basket
full of penknives, for 1 nae taken a trip
down on Third avenue to a second-class
cutlery establishment and had bought up
all the knives the proprietor lad in stock.
My business increased rapidly, for in those
days 1 had the field pretty much to myself
in New York's business district. Sometimes
L made az m1ch nc sc a dau nc II ont NJ
wares for about a third as much as sold
'em for. Nobody realized the money there
was in it for a year or two. and then grad
TALLY more street vendors of knives and
other things put in an appearance, and L
began to seek new fields.
''Well, the selling of pocketknives became
too common a thing. and 1 looked about for
something else with which to attract the
public, and finally discovered some jumping
jacks-little gaudily painted wooden figures
that were ready to tumble over the top of
a stick when you pulled the string. The
shopkeeper who had them on sale hadn't
been able to get rid of them to advantage,
and so 1 bought every one that he had. taxi
ing chances, of course, on selling them on
the streets. L got them for very little
money. and then L went to one of the parks
and sat down on a bench to think up a good
line of talk. You know, the fakir who
can't make his crowd laugh will never sue
coed in the wide world. Well, / bought a
comic paper of a magazine seller and
learned all of its jokes by heart. / went
about committing my line of talk to MEM
DRY, just as the monologue mar in a vaude-
Vile show studies his stories and gags low
adays-and 1 might say that L took more
pride in my work, too, for l managed to get
up something new every month or so. L
still do, for that matter. l had no trouble
in selling those foolish little toys. and I'm
sure it was my gagging and storytelling
that made them a go with the public.
81 used to lie awake at night thinking up