The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-05-26

4
York Central Slept In Earns and
! Jaiis 10 Help the tiomeless-- Learned
| What to Do For Them.
! Edwin A. Brown, 1.-THE millionaire
tramp" couSin Of ". G., Brown pruSi-
dent Of the New York Central am.
nounccs that he wir never wear over,
ais again He Is through seeing as II
I part Of the show the .namy side Of
life. he says, and from Eow on with
the rich experience he has had in
learning bow the other half lives. he
Intends TO carry on his work Of pro
yiding municipal lodging houses by
other means than living the dogs
life" himself
Mr. Brown is resident of Denver
where he Is one of the city's largest
real estate holders. With no thirst for
greater wealth than be has. he has Cor
years been trying to learn by actual
experience the suffeFings Of men who
are honest and willing TO work and Of
others who are shftless and almost
worthless as result possibly he
thinks of the governments neglect.
Mir Brown is known all over this
country. His efforts as friend TO
the friendless" have been praised by
President Taft, and one OF the Denver
mans treasured possessions is Il letter
from the president inquiring about his
experiences in helping the homeless
men of large cities.
His First Job as a Super.
Mr. Brown said:
Il started in as tramp or homeless
lahorer in Cleveland last fall. | sought
work everywhere. hut was unable to
find any until. seeing an advertisement
In paper for 'supers' in show
about to be put on. / applied at the
theater. The advertisement called for
fifty men. Several hundred applied.
and was among those accepted.
"All the supers were to be million
aire senators in the play. and | had
been in the theater only short time
when found that hardly one of the
millionaire senators had enough money
to buy bed for the night"
Pay Was so Cents Night.
"The next millionaire senator to me
in the theater was an old man. We
were to be paid about 80 cents a per
Torrance, 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 I was PENN
less. The old man asked him the
same thing, but the stage manager
said 1t was impossible
Where will we sleep tonightY /
asked the old millionaire senator,
"'Well,' he said, the Associated
Charities has n wondshed where we
could get bed and breakfast for two
hours of splitting curly birch. but It is
II o'clock now and the place is closed
for the night We will have to 20 to
the Highbal saloon and sleep on the
floor. That's the only place / know
Of
Slept on Saloon Floor.
1--WE went TO this place under the
hillside, and at the old mans sugges-
ton we collected old newspapers from
the trash cans as we went along the
streets to cover ourselves up with as
web as to lie upon. At the saloon we
were admitted at midnight and were
ousted at o'clock the next morning.
We were unable to sleep for about two
hours after lying down because Of
loud conversation by those Mt the bar,
and when the late drinkers had gone
a small Irishman and a big Dutchman
had rough and tumble fight. and
then th@re was man on the verge of
deIirium tremens who saw things all
night You can see we didn't get
much sleep.
Where shall we wash up and get
breakfastT | asked the old senator
after we had been put out.
"Oh,' he said. we can get cold
washup In The city lawatory.' He led
the way, ana we were soon in q nice,
clean place. where they gave MS
fresh, clean towel and soap and didn't
ask pay for it.
After the washup the old senator
suggested that we try the Charities
woodward. and though we had had
supperless and slecpless night we were
told that II we split curly birch for an
hour we could have breakfast There
was no help for it, and, weak as we
were, we had to do it. After more
than an hour at work we were called
to a breakfast Of something like oat-
meal soup and a piece Of iisird bread
and black fluid which was miscaled
coffee. There was almost no nourish-
ment IN 1t.
"For the next night the old man.
unable TO sleep In the saloon again.
found barn and told me about it.
,Wexslept there, aud came near freez-
ing to DEATH"
In Various Cities.
Mr.. Brown found conditions even
worse IN Cincinnati, while Louisville.
Memphis, Mobile Houston and Dal
las, the last city he visited, and most
of the other southern cities are equal.
~ without facilities for sheltering the
penniiess stranger no matter how