The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-06-11
eY DAMON


XIV.
It vas bitter cold as Jack Dempsey
and Liz" Fisher went whirling oveI
the right-of-way Of the Missouri Pacific
railroad. clinging to the rods be-
meath a fast passenger train, bound fol
1t was 50 cold that Jacks feet were
frozen. and at a town which Jack
thinks was Hoisington, Kan, although
he isn't sure of that point, they had to
unload" The fighter-hobo was in
great misery and Liz" helped him to
the roundhouse in the railroad yards.
They wanted to lie down and sleep,
but the railroad folks chased them out,
and they limped down the tracks until
they came to an old box car. They got
n the box car and built a. little fire
on the floor out of paper and some
slltvers Of wood. The blaze thawed
them out, and under its warming influ-
ence they fell asleep.
Il woke up after a while" says Jack,
and / smelt something burning. The
floor Of the TO- car was on fire. Well,
we got out of there pretty quick, you
bet, and went ON up into the town. We
were good and hungry, but Liz" had
no idea OF how to mooch something to
eat. so l had to hit a house myself.
II knocked on the kitchen door of
the first one we came to, and out came
the prettiest girl | ever saw in my life.
She, had great big Eyes and a grand
smile. ! don't know why, but l felt
ashamed all Of a sudden, and 1 held my
head down while l wal asking her for
some eats, She gave is a bundle of
turkey sandwiches and some oranges,
and | don't think l ever tasted any
thing sc. good in all my life. Say, she
was a pip"
They brought up in the railroad
station, and were sitting there getting
wa RIM Whon tho door Onnnnd ond a
ninion of the local law entered, cast
ing an eagle orb about the place.
He was looking for fellows to go to
work." says Jack, and he spotted Liz
and me right away. He knew we were
'boes, and he was hunting 'boes. That's
Kansas. Come on, you %fellers,' he says
you
We'll, Of course we didn't want any
jobs, but we had to go along with him
or go to jail, and even works better
than a Kansas Jail. He took us up to
a bowling alley and set US to work
ers knocked EN- over.
Il had on a big sweater, and
sweat like a good fellow putting up
pins for awhile. They had some other
'boes in there doing the same thing,
and one of them dropped a ball on my
Ildilu. III Hdu SOTnb OF my fingers
mashed not long before that on the trip
to Kansas City trying to get into a
water tank, and the ball squashed the
rest of them, My Jimmy, how it hurt!
| a to quit work, n the guy in
charge of the alleys gave me a quar-
ter"
Two more days of hard, and very
cold travelling got the wayfarers to
Pueblo, Col, and Fishers home, which
Is a short distance out of town. There
they met a warm welcome, for Fishers
mother was glad to see him again, and
glad to have any friend Of her sons as
a guest.
sey. She gave me. IS and I got a hair
went to the express office to get the
suit case I had left with Morris in
Kansas City, and I found that he'd sent
1t c.. Q. D. There was $3.50 due on it,
so pretty soon l was broke again.
81 stayed around Fishers for quite
a while, and I made myself useful on
the ranch, too, I killed a couple of
pigs for them and dressed the meat,
and did a lot of other work, because
| know something about farming, If
l don't know anything else.
I wanted to get back home as soon
as l could, so after resting up good ]
went into town one day and nailed a
S 1tNANS pce'SNAANSl AoiAf WColpVullo.
/ was a real good DO by this time, and
don't you forget 1t!
"The conductor saw me. get on at
Pueblo. but he let me ride to the
town Of Florence. l was riding the
blind-the front of the baggage car,
you know-and he made me unload.
Then l swung in under on the rods and
rode to Salida. I had to stay there all
night. but I kept hid out, because the
last time / raj In Salida | was pretty
prosperous, and l didn't wan to let the
people knew see me back there on the
hummer.
Then I caught a train and rode to
line, stayed there all day and grabbed
another RATHER on into Salt Lake. ]
was home once more, and glad Of 1t.
Yes, sir. I was glad"
Dempsey and Liz" Fisher arrived in
Pueblo New Years day, 1917
only two years ago, mark you, yet
within that time the man from Ma
nassa has come from a rod-riding hobo
without a dime to a $500 match!
Talk about your romance, what do you
make of that?
Speaking of romance reminds me that
somewhere in among his jaunts east.
ward and westward, Jack Dempsey
thing into his life. He got himself mar
ried up-ho~ and where deponetf
sayeth not, AS l gather, 1t was a
matrimonial tie which did not take
and which has since beer dissolved.
1t is not a matter on which l fee
disposed to expatiate at length, for
know little or nothing concerning it.
mention 1t in passing, because assuredly
those matters are part Of a mans life,
Sometimes all Of 1t.
There now befell an incident which
am inclined to think Jack Dempsey
has often regretted. 1t was a match
with Jim Flynn, the old Pueblo fireman
one of the greatest characters who ever
poked a beezer between the ropes, and
day.
That day was well past and gone
when Flynn met Dempsey, Jim was