Evening star., 1937-11-14
By John Clagetf Proctor.

Ne1L1 tONus 6aIy, otduC VI
- country has mad its unusual
characters-people who accom-
- plish things that others fail
in, or who achieve prominence from
the force of their superior knowledge.
and then, Of course, there are those
who are recalled just because they
were peculiar and eccentric, as was
the famous Beau Hickman, to whom
the writer has referred upon former
occasion.
This famous gambler and vagabond,
whose right name was Robert S. Hick-
man. was born in Virginia in 1913 Of
respectable parentage, 1t is said, and
because he was the prince of sponges
of his day he was called gentleman
1oafer." a somewhat incongruous way
of putting it. But one thing certain, he
was never known to work, and he lived
entirely by his wits.
He first came to Washington about
1888, when close to 20 years of age. He
had some money when he first came
here, but it took him but two years to
spend it all. This he had little trouble
in doing. since he loved to follow the
races, where he could always be seen
dressed in the most approved style,
sporting diamond pin, gold watch
and massive fob. cane and a beaver,
which afterward became so character
tstic of the individual.
'As a gentleman of elegant leisure
and fashion," it is said, "his tout en-
semble was proverbial for neatness,
elegance and simplicity"
He could relate a story with fine ef-
feet and became the life and enter
tainer of any company in which he
might be thrown. He assumed the air
Of a polished Virginia gentleman, and
was rated as a fine conversationalist-
but he would not work. While in his
prime he mingled with many of the
best people of the day, usually making
his headquarters at the National or
the Metropolitan Hotel.
Many good stories can be told about
"Beau." but this must be left to some
other time. One of the strangest things
about his life is that he never was a
drunkard, as one might assume. but
during the last years of his life, when
invited by friends to drink, would step
up to the bar and claim either a cigar
or 10 cents-and most usually the lat
ter.
Beau's end came at Providence Hos
pital on September l, 1873. First his
body was inferred in potters field
On the following day, after his burial
in pauper's grave, several of his
admirers and friends, who had not
before learned Of his death, contrib
uted sum sufficient to give his re-
mains a respectable burial place The
removal of his body to Congressional
Cemetery must have been an interest
ing event. However, the grave had
evidently been robbed by some body
snatchers, and, being frightened from
their inhuman purpose, fed and
abandoned the remains. The sight
was as sickening as it was revolving to
decency, and the last rites were hastily
performed and the new grave closed
up forever among the mortal remains
of most remarkable man, possessed
of life of a character strangely COM
pounded of all the contretemps of an
erratic genius.
A mn ROYALE, one of Washington's s
outstanding characters, was GER
tairly a woman of peculiar tempera-
ment, but that she had method in
her madness" so to speak, no one
can deny. She had talent and abil-
ity to the extent of her education, and
in her own way she used it to the
best advantage she could She said
uncomplimentary things about peo-
pie and those offended said unkind
things of her. She was largely self
educated. and. like the great Lincoln,
had very humble start in life.
Born in Maryland, June IL, 1869,
she was the daughter of William and
Mary Newport. The former left
Maryland in 1772 with his family and
became a pioneer settler in Pennsyl-
vania, and in 1882 was killed with
many others when Hannastown was
destroyed by the Indians.
Iii fot Allll 1NCWpOlb u Lldl lCO Sdpb.
William Royale, veteran of the
American Revolution. then living in
Virginia, who died in 1918. Soon after
this she embarked upon literary
career, and, mainly in her efforts to
obtain an increase in pension for her
self as the widow of a Revolutionary
soldier, she came to Washington in
July, 1928. Eight years later she
started her first newspaper. the initial
number Of Paul Pry being pub
lished December 8, 1881, and the last
on November 19, 1885. The follow
ing month, on December 2, she began
to print The Huntress, which she
continued to publish with slight in
terruption until July "a, 1854 She
died October /, 1854, and was buried
In Congressional Cemetery.
A mn ROYALE was the first or at
least one of the first American
women to enter the journalistic field
and one of the first also to found and
edit newspaper, and be it to her
credit or not, she was about the first
one to indulge in yellow journalism.
Up to within a short time before her
death her energy seemed inexhausti-
bic. and as an interviewer-and by
the way she was the first, and not
Joe McCullagh-she was resourceful
to the extreme, if the story that she
parked herself close by the clothes
Of President John Quincy Adams, on
the banks of the Potomac, when that
distinguished gentleman was taking
his morning dip, and refused to leave
until Mr.. Adams consented to an in
terview.
But Mrs. Royale had her enemies,
and upon one occasion she was tried
and convicted in the Circuit Court be-
fore Judge Cranch for being COM
mon scold. The penalty in this case,
according to the old English law which
was then declared still to be in force
In the District of Columbia, was that
she be ducked in the water in duck
ing stool. 1t was an obsolete law even
In England and though 1t applied here