The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-05-12
MILLIONAIRE HOBO
Continued from Page one.J

sufferings of men who are honest and
willing to work, and of others who
are shiftless and almost worthless,
as result, possibly, he thinks, of
the Governments neglect.
Mr.. Brown is known all over this
country. His efforts as friend to
the friendless" have been praised by
President Taft, and one of the Dem
yer mans treasured possessions is a
letter from the President, inQuiring
about his experiences in helping the
homeless men of large cities.
His First job as Super.
Mr.. Brown has just completed a
tour of the South.
Il had hitherto visited as a home
less man, seeking work and a tenn
porary lodging, every section of the
country except the South" said he
in his room at the Waldorf one day
last week, "and | felt that, though
l had been through the horrors of
the Bull Pen of Denver, the jails
at Pittsburg and other cities, and
narrowly escaped the prison at Spo-
kane by revealing my identity be-
cause | could not stand another such
night as | had spent in Pittsburg, my
experience would be incomplete until
| had made a circuit of the South
Il started in as tramp or home
less laborer in Cleveland last Fall.
| sought work everywhere, but was
unable to find any until, seeing an
advertisement in paper for 'supers'
in a show about to be put on,
applied at the theatre. The adver-
tisement called for fifty men. Sever
al hundred applied, and | was among
| those accepted.
"All the 'supers' were to be mill
ionaire Senators in the play, and
had been in the theatre only a short
time when / found that hardly one
of the millionaire Senator's had
enough money to buy bed for the
night"
Mr.. Browns contention is that or
ganized charity is good as far as it
goes, but that it does not meet the
demand of homeless men in strange
city for place to sleep when the last
cent is gone and no work is to be
found. He thinks his experience in
Cleveland fully bears this out, and
confirms his opinion that cities them
selves should handle the problem as
New York has handled it.
Pay Was 80 Cents a Night.
The next millionaire Senator to
me in the theatre" Mr.. Brown went
on, was an old man. We were to
be paid about so cents a perform
ance, payable at the end of the
week. When the first performance
was over | asked the stage manager
if he could advance me enough of
the wages to buy bed, as | was pen
niless. The old man asked him the
same thing, but the stage manager
said it was impossible,
Where will we sleep tonight
| asked the old millionaire Senator.
well, he said, the Associated
Charities has a woodshed where we
could get a bed and breakfast for
two hours of splitting curly birch,
but it is IL o'clock now, and the
place is closed for the night We
will have to go to the Highball Sa-
loon and sleep on the floor. That's
: the only place / know Of.
1--WE went to this place under the
hillside, and at the old mans sug-
gestion we collected old newspapers
| from the trash cans as we went
along the streets to cover ourselves
up with as well as to lie upon. AT
the saloon we were admitted at mid
night, and were ousted at o'clock
, the next morning. We were unable
to sleep for about two hours after ly-
: ing down, because of loud conversa-
tion by those at the bar, and when
, the late drinkers had gone a small
1 lrishman and big Dutchman had a
l rough-and-tumble fight, and then
4 there was man on the verge of de-
lirium tremens, who saw things al
/ night. You can see we didn't get
t much sleep.
l Tom Johnson Benefactor.
D Where shall we wash up and gel
= breakfast / asked the old Senator
after we had been put out
= Oh he said, we can get a colo
= wash-up in the city lavatory' He
/ led the way, and we were soon in &
g nice, clean place, where they gave us
fresh, clean towel and soap, ant
0 didn't ask any pay for it. l hat
e never seen anything exactly like thar
}. in any city | had ever visited, and
g asked the old Senator who had pro
vided these things for the homeless!
man.
Tom Johnson he said, and h'
added that Tom Johnson, who wal
then living, had done a number o
d things to help the wayfarer. Ii
y fact, | myself saw plenty of evi
dences of Johnson's work for the un
|, fortunate. Cleveland is full of mic,
It three-cent luncheon places, the out
growth in a way of the three-cen
a fares advocated by Johnson.
# after the wash-up. the old 'Sena
e tor suggested that we try the Chari
ties woodward, and though we hat
d had a supperless and sleepless nigh
) we were told that if we split curl,
birch for an hoU we could hav
S breakfast There v no help for it
/. and weak as we were we had to d,
it. After more than an hour a
G work we were called to a breakfas
It of something like oatmeal soup ant
a piece of hard bread, and a blacl
IS fluid which was miscalled coffee
There was almost no nourishment IL
N it