The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-07
DOLLAR SAVED HIM
How Piece of Luck Kept Paretic
No. IA From Becoming a
Professional Hobo.
Trials Of Pool Shark-Starves Two
Days, but Leaves Town in
q Pullman.

That story of hard luck reminds me
OF a little experience of my own" said
Paretic No. H. shortly after the Parcsis
club convened for its weekly social ses-
sion.
Some years ago. went on No. IA. re-
minding the waiter with wave of his
hand that all the glasses were empty,
never mind how many years. but it was
when I was about is years DID, I drifted
into Chicago with a friend Of mine.
could play a pretty good game Of pool for
a kid, In fact the only money ! ever
earned in my life had been made In
''shar1ing'' around In the little towns
about my home In Wisconsin,. looked
younger than I was, and consequently had
little trouble In coming the local celebr-
ties, who weren't looking for a shark in
kid of my age. Anyway. when struck
Chicago had more than hundred dol
lars which had picked up in that way.
There Were Other Sharks.
''Well, the hundred didn't last long in
Chicago. I made some money now and
then but there were lot of native sharks
there who knew more about the game
than / did, and thinking it over now.
can see that I was lucky to break even.
Meanwhile I was distributing my hundred
about among various joints in Chicago at
q merry rate. ~. s..s
My pal was machirist, and soon
found work in the shops there. but not for
me to earn my living by the sweat of
my brow as long as my roll held out. But
the wad got smaller and smaller, until
woke up one. Monday morning with just IS
cents in my pocket. My pal had been at
me to go to work in the shops where he
was. saying that he could get me job
there for S12 week, and now I thought
! would have to come to it.
tWe1I T wandered ont into the country
a bit (n1y pal and / had been stopping
with some relatives of his on the South
Side) 1t was a beautiful morning in May,
the birds were singing, and the grass and
trees looked so fresh and green and the
more 1 thought about going to work, the
less l liked the idea. Presently a string
Of box cars came pikng along the rail-
road track. There was a pretty big bung,
and the way they we're eating up the track
l judged they were bound for some pretty
far distant port, so when ap open door
flashed past me, swung in, pulled. the
door shut so the brakeman wouldn't pipe
me- and lay down on the floor and went
to sleep.
when I woke up it was next morning,
in Emporia, Kan. ! used 60 Of my IS
cents for breakfast and dinner, and con
Guided to get along without supper until
the dough began coming in a little faster.
That night | Jumped another freight and
pulled away for somewhere. .efc didn'
q know my exact destination, and didn't
care. All wanted was to keep moving
and wait for something to turn up.
Strikes Jerkwater Town.
u lit the next morning in jerkwa tel
little town of about 800 people; just d
fyspeck on the map; a collection OF peo-
pie that had got stranded there some way
and didn't have money enough or Drains
enough to get out. I wouldn't have picked
out that particular spot to drop myself
but the brakeman helped to form de-
cision. ,@4...
1.-THE Is cents got me a sort of break
fast not what you would really call g
meal considering that I had only eater
twice the day before I skipped both din.
ner and supper that day. and slept in 6
hay NOV. The next day I skipped break
fast and dinner. By that time l was
pretty near hungry enough to sell my i'm
mortal soul for loaf Of bread. l hat
never begged in my life, but that day
concluded I would have to come to it
1 wandered around the. streets. and ever.
now and then would pick out some house
where thought ought to get handout
q but every time I got as far as the: bacl
gate. I lost my nerve and SHE'D again.
1.-TWO o clock in the afternoon found M
still wearing holes in the sidewalks. ant
finally said to myself, No use talking
you've got to brace up to- some house am
get a handout I was hot+and tired, am
rather dizzy from walking the hot SUI
with an empty stomach. But You know
how any one grabs at an excuse for put
ting off disagrecable necessity. J. sail
to myself I'll walk out about>a quartz
= OF a mile into the country and back AM
then hit the first house 1 come to-
Providence scomes to His AID.
srz. well, as I was hiking out, along come
a, wagon and passes me-, A little Wa
ahead there was a, spring. as l foun
when got there, and the driver stoppe
the wagon. and he and the other man i
the rig. who looked like drummer, &c
out and stopped down tesget a. drink. S
thought I would walk on as far1as til
spring, get a drink myself, and then wal
back and do the hobo stunt. Well, a
I stopped to scoop up some water in m
hands, I saw something bright lying 0
the bottom. AS I hope for mercy, it wa
q big bright. silver dollar. suppos
the drummer dropped 1t out of his YES
pocket as he stopped over to drink.
"Just at that time that dollar locke
as big as the Ferris wheel to me. du
&, down into the water after it without stor
ping to roll up my sleeve; would hay
gone after it if the spring had been thirt
feet deep. l hiked for the nearest eatln
house, and fortunately, being sma
town. it wasn't far. I ate and ate unit
had used up 40 cents OF the dollar
could have eaten the other so up, but
knew what I wanted to save that for.
On the Trail Of the Roornkeeper.
'.,rhen I pushed for the only hotel
IS the place, which also contained the on
billiard room in town. l sl1cked up 6
we'll as 1 could at the hotel, and the
strolled into the billiard room. Somethir
was on in town, guess. anyway there We
III no one there except the .roomkeeper.
well, I asked him to play a game
pool and then proposed to play for ha
a dollar. He looked at me pretty .shal
and said Amt you pretty young to
playing for money! But he took the be
I had got my nerve back with the mea
ia and wasn't afraid Of any country room
keeper beating me. WE'LL I skinned hi
out Of three or four dollars and then
resigned but while we We're playing, tt
proprietor Of the hotel came in, and no
he began to pump me about who I W;
and what I was doing. Just sharllir
around I told him. We'll, look here
said he. There's a travelling man com
= - OfBGy