Arizona republican., 1910-07-04

prevented over twenty wrecks, one on
the G. r. /. & p. in Oklahoma, since
he was last in Phoenix. For that ser
vice he received the following letter:
Office Chief Special Agent C.RI& P
Chicago, March 2S, 1910.
This is given to A No. / as a
token of our high esteem of himself
and our generous appreciation of his
foresight in preventing what might
have been a disastrous wreck, prob
ably causing loss of life and many
thousand of dollars. The act was the
discovering of dragging broken
brake beam on our train 81 at Ban
er. Okla, at IL p. mr March 10, 1910.
ROBERT BARNIVILLE,
Chief Clerk.
A No. 1 says he was looking for a
place to ride as the train was just
starting from the station He saw
the broken beam and ran to the con-
ductOr who stopped the train and
spent a half hour fixing the damage
and then refused to let him ride, in
accordance with orders of course, so
that while il seemed cruel he could
not blame the conductor much II
was a cool rainy might and rather
than pay his fare he walked eight
miles to the next station and caught
another train.
He Travelled constantly with Jack
London at one time for four months
and saw him last, September IL, 1909.
at G}en Ellen, Cal, where London was
building palatial bungalow. Jack
gave him the following which he car
ries i'm his log book with thousand
similar documents:
"To My Old Pal, A No /:
In memory of old days on the
road together and in hopes that your
same old good luck will always be
with you.
JACK LONDON"
A No / is outraged by the sug-
gestion that he is rich and pays to
ride. He says his family is well to
do, but he has been ostracized ever
since he became tramp and has no
money save what he makes by sell
ing his book and by some syndicate
writing; also by carving potatoes
from time to time and selling them
to the curious, when he finds him
self broke and hungry. He says that
on the road a man is known by his
appearance. If he is ragged, other
hobOes feel that he is beneath them
If he is clean and well dressed the
envious ones declare that he is rich
and only taking on the profession"
After a year or so of rambling A
No. l fell in with a travelling bur-
glar and eX-convict and strange as
It may seem the man for all his
l. 4.
him and was touched to see the kid"
starting out on such a career. The
story of this fellowship is told in his
book. The Adventures of A. No. l.
and briefly it is that the convict ask
ed him how long since he had said
his prayers at night. Learning
that that habit was dropped when
he took the road, he taught the boy
rambler to kneel nightly and repeat
this prayer: Il solemnly promise
never to associate with anyone in
whose company / would be ashamed
to pass my mothers home in broad
daylight. Amen"
That prayer, says A No. l has
been his inspiration and is today his
daily utterance. 1t is for that reason
with picked company if possible for
he tries to be in a class by himself
1t was this convict also who gave
him the suggestion for his adopted
name. He said, Il want you to be
A No. 1 in whatever you do, where
ever you are"
Since then A No. 1 says he has
been working to uplift himself. He
could not break away from the wan.
derlust so he tries to be the best
tramp in the world and if by his
books he can save ten boys a year
from taking to the road, he believes
he will have done some good in the
world. The following is the brief
story of how he has tried to i'm
prove himself as it was written by
showing at least some growth
in grace: