A STRANGE CATTLEMAN
It was now the beginning of October, and the mornings and the evenings
were getting colder. Although Baltimore is a southern town, and was
therefore free from the severe cold of towns further north, it was not
so far south as to make plenty of clothes dispensable. We two,
Australian Red and myself, tramped this city day after day for work,
but without success. There were only two courses left open to us: to
make three or four more trips on cattle boats, until the coming of
spring, when there would probably be work in abundance, or to go
oyster dredging down the Chesapeake Bay, a winter employment that was
open to any able-bodied man in Baltimore, experience not being
necessary. Red soon placed the latter beyond consideration by relating
his own hard experience of the same. First of all the work was very
hard, and of a most dangerous kind; the food was of the worst; and,
worse than all, the pay was of the smallest. A man would often cut his
hands with the shells, which would poison and swell, and render him
helpless for some time to come. "Again," said Red, "a man is not sure
of his money, small as it is. A few years ago," he continued, "it was
a common occurrence for a boat to return and have to report the loss
of a man. These dredgers were never lost on the outward trip, but when
homeward bound, and the most hazardous part of their work was done.
The captain, on coming to shore, would report a man lost, drowned, and
his body unrecovered. This drowned man, being an unknown, no relative
came forward to claim wages from the captain. How the man met his
death was no secret among the dredgers, and they had to keep a wary
eye on their own lives; for a captain would often move the tiller so
suddenly as to knock a man overboard, accidentally, of course. A board
of enquiry looked into these things, and a captain was tried for
murder, and escaped with a sentence of seven years' imprisonment.
There were not so many accidents after this, but they have not
altogether ceased." After hearing this account, I was not very eager
for more practical knowledge of this profession, called dredging, so I
agreed with Red to make three or four more trips as cattlemen, until
the spring of the year made other work easy to be obtained.
We returned to the office, where between thirty and forty men were
waiting an opportunity to ship. As I have said before, some of these
men were notorious beggars, and the kind-hearted people of Baltimore
never seemed to tire of giving them charity. One man, called Wee
Scotty, who had been a cattleman for a number of years, begged the
town so much in some of the rather long intervals when he was waiting
a ship, that he could take a stranger with him three times a day for a
month, to be fed by the different good people that were known to him.
He could take up a position on a street corner, and say--"Go to that
house for breakfast; come back to this house for dinner, and yonder
house with the red gate will provide you a good supper." In this way
he kept me going for two weeks when, at last, I was asked to sign
articles to go with cattle to Glasgow.
Some days before this, a man came to the office, whose peculiar
behaviour often drew my attention to him. He asked to be allowed to
work his passage to England, and the skipper promised him the first
opportunity, and a sum of ten shillings on landing there. This was the
reason why some of us had to wait so long, because, having made trips
before, more or less, we required payment for our experience. The man
referred to above, had a white clean complexion, and his face seemed
never to have had use for a razor. Although small of body, and not
seeming capable of much manual labour, his vitality of spirits seemed
overflowing every minute of the day. He swaggered more than any man
present, and was continually smoking cigarettes--which he deftly
rolled with his own delicate fingers. In the intervals between
smoking he chewed, squirting the juice in defiance of all laws of
cleanliness. It was not unusual for him to sing a song, and his voice
was of surprising sweetness; not of great power, but the softest voice
I have ever heard from a man, although his aim seemed to make it
appear rough and loud, as though ashamed of its sweetness. It often
occurred to me that this man was playing a part, and that all this
cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco and swaggering, was a mere sham; an
affectation for a purpose. I could not, after much watching,
comprehend. He was free of speech, was always ridiculing others, and
swore like a trooper, yet no man seemed inclined to take advantage of
him. Blackey took him under his protection, laughing and inciting him
to mischief. He was certainly not backward in insulting and
threatening Blackey, which made the latter laugh until the tears came
into his eyes. The men were spellbound at his volubility. He shook
that red rag of his, and a continuous flow of speech ensued, and the
surrounding creatures were mute, but not at all infuriated. His
audacity may have slightly irritated one or two, but no man had the
least idea of inflicting on him corporal punishment. I and Red were
called to the office to sign articles for Glasgow, and, when doing so,
Blackey and this strange new companion of his were signing for
England, the two ships leaving for their destination on the same tide.
We were sorry to lose this man's company, knowing that his tongue
would have gone far to amuse our leisure hours aboard.
We had a very pleasant voyage, and this line of boats gave us very
little cause to complain, either of sleeping accommodation or diet,
the officers and ship's crew also being sociable in their dealings
with us. The same thing happened at the end of this voyage, and we
would have suffered the same privation--had it not been for an
accident. On the fourth morning ashore there was not a penny among us,
and the boat would not sail for another two days. Australian Red was
rummaging his pockets and piling before him a large assortment of
miscellaneous articles. "I wouldn't care much," said he, "if I had the
paltry price I paid for this," at the same time throwing on the table
a thick, heavy, white chain. Picking this up, for an indifferent
examination, I became interested, and enquired as to how it came into
his possession. It seemed that a poor fellow had offered to sell Red
the chain for a penny. Red, seeing the man's condition of extreme
want, had given him sixpence, at the same time refusing to accept the
chain. The poor fellow had then persisted that Red should accept it as
a gift. Red, being now filled with his own troubles, wished that he
could dispose of the chain to the same advantage. The chain was,
without doubt, silver, being stamped on every link. "What!" cried Red,
suddenly roused, while the cattlemen in their deep interest moved
forward, making a circle several feet smaller--"What!" he cried,
"silver did you say? Let me see it!" He snatched the chain and,
without looking at it, or putting it in his pocket, rushed out of the
room without another word. In five minutes he returned, and throwing
towards me eight shillings, the value of the chain in pawn, said:
"None of this for drink; keep a tight hand on it for our food supply
until the boat sails." He knew his own weakness. On first coming to
shore I had taken the precaution to buy several books, to make sure of
them, indifferent whether we suffered hunger or no. For this reason I
thoroughly enjoyed the voyage back, and we arrived safely at
Baltimore, having been away a little over five weeks.
The first man we met, on entering the cattlemen's office, was Blackey,
who, having made a shorter trip, had returned some days previous.
"What became of your strange friend, Blackey?" I asked. "Did he remain
in England, or return to America?" "Why, haven't you heard about it
all?" asked Blackey; "the English papers were full of the case." "We
have heard nothing," I said, thinking the poor fellow had either been
kicked to death by one of the wild steers, or that he had either
leaped at the waves in a mad fit of suicide, or that the waves had
leaped at him and taken him off. "He worked side by side with me for
eleven days," said Blackey, "and by his singing, laughing and
talking, he made a play of labour. Down in the forecastle at night he
sang songs and, in spite of our limited space, and the rolling of the
ship, he gave many a dance, and ended by falling into his low bunk
exhausted, and laughing still. In all my experience this was the first
time that I was not eager to sight land, and fill myself with English
ale. On the eleventh day out, we were hoisting bales of hay for the
cattle, and he was assisting me in the hold of the vessel. I know not
whether we failed to fasten properly the bales, or whether the
cattlemen on deck blundered when receiving them, but all at once I
heard a shout of--'Look out, below!' and down came a heavy bale,
striking my companion on the shoulder. He spun around once or twice,
and then fell unconscious into my arms. The ship's doctor was at once
called, and the poor fellow was taken aft. Several times a day I made
enquiries about him, and heard that he was out of danger, but needed
rest. I never saw him again. When we landed in England he was not to
be seen, and I thought, perhaps, that he was too ill to be removed
without the assistance of a vehicle. Next day I happened to pick up a
paper, in which was a full and lengthy account of how a woman had
worked her way as a cattleman from the port of Baltimore, making
mention of the ship's name. My companion was that woman, and I never
had the least suspicion," continued Blackey, "although, I will say,
that I always thought him a queer man."
I had scarcely been in the office a week, when I was offered a boat
for London. Only one two-pound man was required, all the others, with
the exception of one, who was to receive fifteen shillings, were
ten-shilling men. Red had no chance on this boat, and I was not sorry,
knowing how his extravagant habits would spoil the trip's enjoyment.
This was a voyage of some delight, both aboard and ashore. Having been
in London before, I knew what enjoyment could be had with but little
expense--of museums, parks, gardens, picture galleries, etc. I made
friends with a decent fellow, who had been a schoolmaster, and,
persuading him out of Deptford, we procured lodgings in Southwark, and
from that place we paid our visits to the different scenes. We saw
none of the other cattlemen until the hour of sailing. Many of the
poor fellows had lost their money on the first night ashore, and now
had strange experiences to relate of workhouses, shelters,
soup-kitchens, and unsuccessful begging. When we arrived at Baltimore
it wanted one week to Christmas Day, and there was not much chance to
ship again for two or three weeks, owing to the number of men waiting.
As I have said before, the people of Baltimore are extremely
kind-hearted, and no man need starve if he has the courage to express
his wants. The women seem to be as beautiful as they are good, for I
have never seen finer women than those of Baltimore, and a man would
not be making the worst of life if he idled all day in a principal
street, reading the face of beauty, and studying the grace of forms
that pass him by. But it is of their kindness and generosity that I
would now speak. For Christmas Eve had come, and Australian Red,
accompanied by Blackey, had taken me on one side, the former beginning
in this way: "Will you join this night's expedition? What we want you
to do is to carry a small bag, no more, and all the begging will be
done by us." I had visions of the police stopping me and enquiring the
contents of such a strange burden, but being an unsuccessful beggar,
and feeling too independent to have others perform this office for me,
without making some little effort to deserve their maintenance, I
agreed to their proposal, and that evening at six p. m., we sallied
forth together. They both started on a long street, Red taking one
side and Blackey the other, whilst I waited the result some yards in
advance--a safe distance away. They could scarcely have been refused
in one house, for in less than ten minutes they were both at my side,
dropping paper parcels into the empty bag, the mouth of which I held
open. All at once Blackey disappeared, having been called in to
supper. The same thing happened to Red, two or three minutes after.
When they approached me again with other parcels, they both agreed to
accept no more invitations to supper, but that they would excuse
themselves as having families at home. They continued this for half an
hour, hardly more, when the bag was full to the mouth. "Now," said
Blackey, "take this to the office, and we will remain to fill our
pockets, after which we will follow as soon as possible. Or do you
prefer to wait for us?" I preferred to go, and, avoiding the main
streets and lighted places, succeeded in getting back without rousing
the curiosity of the police. They soon followed, with another supply
stored in their capacious pockets. What delighted them most--but of
which I took very little account, knowing to what use it would be
put--was that they had received several small amounts in money, the
total being one dollar and seventy-five cents. I shall never forget
this begging expedition. When the different parcels were unrolled, we
beheld everything that the most fastidious taste could desire, for not
one parcel, I believe, consisted of simple bread and butter, much less
the former by its own common self. There were fried oysters, turkey,
chicken, beef, mutton, ham and sausages; Irish potatoes, sweet
potatoes and yams; brown bread, white bread; pancakes, tarts, pie and
cake of every description; bananas, apples, grapes and oranges;
winding up with a quantity of mixed nuts and a bag of sweets. Such
were the contents of over sixty parcels, got with such ease. Blackey
had been refused at three doors; and Red had failed at five, but had
been requested to call back at two of them, and had not troubled to do
so, not having properly located the houses.