The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-09-15
WHEN WEARY WILLIE
IS FORCED TO RETIRE
How tho Hobo Exists When
Compelled by Accident to
Quit the Road.
o 70 MANY TRICKS
HE Intimate Knowledge Of Human
Nature Makes 1t Easy to Gain
Livelihood with. Little
Exsrtion.
From the Washington star.

From the Washington Star.
In a recent article In the Star the
hobo was described as a man who is
always going about the country looking
for work and praying that he won't
and 1t. Well, there comes a time in
many a hobo's life when he quits look
Ing for work-retires. That happens
when he tries to ride the o. OF a.
freight car some day when he has too
big a swallow aboard. and m~iscalculates
the speed Of the moving train and falls
under the a wheels and wakes up
later III a hospital to ind thai a leg or
an arm Is missing.
The following story relative to the
pastime Of the retired" hobo was re-
lated to the writer by one of the clan:
IT retired when I got my leg cut of
Jersey City; since then I've been taking
life easy. It's mighty hard work go
ing about forever looking for work,
and it's just like sliding off a park
bench when you're dead asleep to live
in retirement. like the rich fellers
Only they live off what they say is
their own money when they retire,
while we retired hoboes live OFF other
peoples money are honest encsgh
to say so. And say. that's the easiest
thing to do that I know anything
about.
"A Fortunate Accident.
after my stump had healed up all
right Inc the hospital had given me a
wooden peg, I took a room with a
young Teller on the Bowery-I had a
little money l hadn't swallowed as yet.
We'd been there about a week when
I fell down stairs n lighted on the
back OF my head, and the next thing 1
knew I was in Bellevue hospital, with
a half 6nZon 6nctnrS hanijnC 0vcr mo
and saying Wonderful! Broken neck,
and living, too!' n such things. In a
little while I found out what all the
fuss was about-my neck was swollen
twice it's natural size, and my head
was hanging down on my chest, and I
couldn't hold 1t up when I tried.
We'll, they held one clinic after an
other over me. Al the time the doc
tors-they're young fellers in Bellyview,
just out of ~college-kept saying my
neck was broken. and jabbered away
about ver-vertebray fit to kill. But all
the time h pain was leaving me. and
so was the stiffness, and I knew hat
my neck wasn't broken any more than
theirs. I was getting a clean bed and
all the food I could eat for nothing; I
wasn't going to kill a good thing until
! had to, SO 1 kept right on letting my
head fall on my chest after I was able
to hold it up in good style. And every
W wv ANO4A up 11J 1lSdo
and I'd let it flop down, he'd b. more
dead certain than ever that my neck
was broken, n 1 was a living won
der.
Things went on this way for about
eight weeks, with clinics every day or
so. Then n day the doctor put a
makeshift brace on my head and gave
me a letter and told me to show it at
the hospital for ruptured and Grip
pied, and the doctors there would At
me with a sure thing in the brace line.
For a minute or two I thought my
graft was at an end sure; then 4
thought of my friend, Joe Schmidt, who
Keeps a saloon and stakes hoboes when
they want to play the 'phony' jewelry
game. I went to him and showed him
the letter.
Jim he said, this is the chance of
your life And he took me around to
a worker In iron and brass he knew,
and he made me a brace for my head
that fitted as nice as o please, Joe
paying him $50 for the job.
A Second Baldwin.
Then I pasted my letter from the
Bellyview on a piece Of sh%eepskin,
clapped my head in the brace. n went
down into William street, where a lot
of swell bankers and brokers hang out
their signs. l hadn't been sitting down
on a marble doorstep five minutes when
a man who looked as If his pockets We're
bullying with money. looked at me.
he said and s seGoeno the nat 'attar Is IT,
hsnd too IL T. go ,aad III liz. ~ ~ my
1%uonders,,1 casa 1rhan 10 81 49, ~. y
and waIIed sa on Mem y. vo,' LEV III, ne 20
didn,t want r. g,ra ~ ibe ,etta, ".
receipt for a brace at the hosnitaI'
don't you?
We'll I swear it wasn't more than
three minutes when up walked another
Teller n sang out like the first:
"'Hello! Another Baldwin,
Then I remembered all at once that
there was a Teller with a broken neck
by the name of Baldwin going around
exhibiting himself in the side shows of
circuses and getting a lot of attention
and money for doing it. So. I said to
the man:
Eyes, sir, a second Baldwin. and
here's a letter to prove it.
And he gave me a dollar.
7 make a long story short, I collect
ed more han the price of my brace that
day, and I quit at 8 o'clock, too, my
head feeling a bit tired from the weight
Of the iron.
Hf ~. 49, H. $50. - r ,,,o,Yx.5 -