AN AMERICAN HOBO IN EUROPE
By WINDY BILL
A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES
OF A POOR AMERICAN AT HOME
AND IN THE OLD COUNTRY
PRESS OF THE CALKINS PUBLISHING HOUSE
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
Copyright 1907 by B. Goodkind
Contents
Chapter. Page.
I. Billy and Me 1
II. Frisco 41
III. The Journey Overland 85
IV. New York City 130
V. Them Bloomin' Publishers 139
VI. The Ocean Voyage 148
VII. The Steerage 156
VIII. Glasgow 171
IX. Getting a Square Meal 181
X. The Glasgow Green (or Common) 188
XI. Hunting for a Furnished Room 193
XII. Dancing in the Green 202
XIII. Taking in a Glasgow Show 214
XIV. Robert Burns, the Poet 224
XV. Sir Walter Scott 276
CHAPTER I.
BILLY AND ME.
Stranger, will you please permit me to give you an introduction to a
particular friend of mine, little Billy. Little Billy and I had long
been friends and had become so intimate that we were more like brothers
than friends. Some brothers indeed do not stick to each other as closely
as Billy and I did for we never quarreled and the worst that ever
happened between us was a little growl which we soon got over.
Billy and I had been on the bum together a long while and had prospected
for gold and other things in Utah, Nevada and California. The adventures
we had if I were to relate them would fill several such volumes as this.
And many of them were worth relating, too, but I will merely give a
general outline of our experiences, for his experiences were mostly
mine.
While hiking it along the railroad one day between Ogden and Salt Lake
City which is a distance of about thirty-seven miles, we ran across a
couple of pretty Mormon girls about half a mile from town and they made
goo-goo eyes at us. Billy, who is rather reserved with strangers, was
for moving on, but I, who am a friendly and sociable cuss, was in for
having a little time with them.
"What's the harm, Billy?" said I to my chum; "let's see what kind of
stuff the girls are made of."
"Oh, what's the use, Windy," responded Billy; "we might get into
trouble."
"Trouble be blowed," said I; "they ain't agoing to make any trouble so
why should _we_. Let's see what their game is anyway."
We approached the ladies, tipped our hats, and passed the compliments of
the day. They responded pleasantly enough, entered into a conversation
with us and soon we all strolled further on from the town and sat down
on a viaduct spanning a rushing irrigation ditch. Billy was as chipper
as anyone when once he got started and held his end down in the
conversation first class. The girls were merry and talkative and seemed
to like to talk to the fellers. They told us all about the Mormons, how
they live, act, and what they do, and Billy wanted to know how Mormons
got married.
"Why don't you get married and find out?" asked one of the girls.
"I ain't no Mormon," spoke up Billy.
"You can be if you want to," says the girl, "religion is free."
"All right," says Billy, "I'll think it over."
The girls were giving us a game I thought, but we could stand it if they
could. We chinned away there for hours until it began to grow late, when
the girls concluded they would have to go. We were sorry to part from
such elegant company but it was a case of have to.
After they had gone we wondered what their little game was, whether it
was merely a case of flirtation or whether they were looking for
converts to their religion. Billy put the question to me and I told him
he could search me; I didn't know. Anyway, neither of us wanted to get
married just then, so after the girls left us we troubled our heads no
more about them.
We stopped in Ogden, Utah, a few days, and then beat our way to Virginia
City, Nevada, where we did some laboring work at the old Bonanza mines.
Neither of us were miners, although we had prospected some without
results. We found the miners to be a good-hearted set of fellows and
liked to be among them. Grub and booze could be had for the asking in
Virginia City when we were broke, but handouts were more plentiful than
work. Not many strangers wander to Virginia City these days, for the
town is off the main line and no bums visit it. It is on the decay
order. Its streets are in ruins, ditto the sidewalks and houses, and
over the whole place there is a musty odor. It is away high up in the
air about eight thousand feet above sea level and the wealth that once
was brought up from several thousand feet below the surface amounted to
billions, not millions of dollars. Today the big mill houses still stand
in their usual place in good order but little mining is done there.
Some of the big plants, such as the Ophir, Savage, Norcross and Hale,
Consolidated Virginia and Best & Belcher are still there, but where
there were a thousand miners working before there are not ten working
today. The place is strictly on the bum, just like me and my little
pardner. Once there were forty or fifty thousand people in Virginia
City, but today there are not five thousand, or anyways near that number
and the ruins and scenes of desolation make a fellow feel sad. The old
International Hotel where the nobs used to stop and spent a fortune
every day, is now run by a Chinaman at a cheap rate. There is plenty of
fine scenery around Virginia City, however, and plenty of Piute Indians,
but the Piutes don't enhance the scenery any. They are a dirty crowd and
sit around on decaying lumber piles and hillsides within the town,
playing cards and other gambling games. The miners are mostly
Cornishmen, Englishmen from Cornwall, England, and as Billy is English
he took to them very readily.
Carson was our next stopping place and we found it to be a nice little
town. It isn't far from Virginia City and is the capital of Nevada. It
contains a few thousand people, lots of tall poplar trees which stand
along the streets, sage-brush and alkali covered hills and plains, a
large stone railroad roundhouse, the State Capitol building (which is
enclosed in a park several acres in extent), a U. S. mint and that's
about all. No work to speak of is going on around there and as Billy and
me could not get anything to do we lived on hand-outs mostly. One
evening we saw a hen wandering about rather aimlessly, so to put her out
of misery we caught her, wrung her neck and took her out of town where
we roasted her over a slow fire. We rubbed her while she was cooking
with a little sage to make us think of Christmas and devoured her by
starlight. Bill said she reminded him of home and felt kind of blue for
a few moments. But he munched away and soon cheered up.
It may be the proper thing here to give a short description of Billy.
Billy was a little fellow, about five foot two, and was a Britisher, a
native of the city of York, in Yorkshire, after which New York is named.
He was what you might call a strawberry blonde, for he had light hair
and a moustache that was halfway between golden and red. It wasn't one
of your straggly kind of moustaches with big hairs sticking out all over
it, but small, neat and compact with just the cutest little turned up
spit-curls at each end of it you ever saw. Maybe Billy wasn't proud of
that moustache! He was dead stuck on it and was nearly always fussing
with it and fondling it. Quite often he trimmed it with the aid of a
little looking glass which he carried in his kit. Whenever the kit was
unrolled Billy got the glass and admired himself with it. And yet I
can't say the little cuss was vain, for whenever he met females he
seemed indifferent to their charms and looked another way. His eyes
were blue and his hands and feet small. Taken all together he wasn't a
bad looking chap. Billy had some folks in the old country, a mother and
two sisters but no father or brothers, and they lived in old York. Billy
was born and raised in York and at a very early age was apprenticed to a
harness-maker. His folks probably thought that the sooner he got out and
rustled the better for himself and all concerned. Apprentices don't get
much in old England, Billy told me, and have to serve long years at
their trade before they can become a journeyman. Billy worked seven or
eight years for his clothes and board and an occasional ha-'penny with
which he bought a meat pie or lollipops.
One day the idea struck him that he wasn't getting rich very fast. He
had been working a long time and hadn't a bean to show for it, so he
began to grow dissatisfied. He had heard some tales of how easy it is to
get rich in America and he thought that it might be a good thing if he
went there. His mother and sisters didn't agree with his notions but
Billy didn't seem to care for that. He just laid low for awhile and said
nothing. But the more he thought things over the more dissatisfied he
became and the more determined to flit. He slept in the back room of his
boss's shop and had to arise early every morning to take down the
shutters, sweep out, dust off, and get things in shape generally for
business.
One day the boss came down and found the shutters still up, the place
unswept and no Billy. The boss probably wondered where little Billy was
but he had to take it out in wondering, for Billy had flown the coop and
was over the hills and far away on his way to London. The boss went to
Billy's folks and asked them if they knew where Billy was, but they told
him he could search them. They didn't know anything about Billy. The
boss probably did some pretty tall cussing just then and made up his
mind that something would happen to Billy when he turned up, but he
never did turn up and never will until he (Billy) gets rich. Then he'll
go back to visit his folks and settle with his master, he told me.
Billy says the boss don't owe him any money and he don't owe the boss
any, so it's a standoff financially between them; but Billy owes him a
few years of service which he says he is willing to put in if the boss
can catch him. Billy says he had a hard time of it in London and found
it difficult to secure passage to this country. Finally, after many
heart-breaking experiences he secured a job as steward on an ocean liner
by a fluke, merely because another chap who had previously been engaged
failed to show up. Billy was in luck, he thought. He landed in New York
with a little tip-money, for the steamship company would pay him no
wages unless he made the round trip according to an agreement previously
made in London and with this small sum of money he managed to live until
he found work. He secured a job as dishwasher in a restaurant and
received five dollars a week and his chuck as wages. Out of this big sum
he paid room rent and managed to save a little money which he sent home
to his mother. Compared with what he had been getting in the old
country Billy considered that he was on the road to fortune and he felt
elated. He held down his job for some months but got into a difficulty
one day with his boss over something or other and got fired. He took his
discharge much to heart and concluded to leave New York. He made his way
to Philadelphia, about one hundred miles west, and there secured work in
a small restaurant as a hashslinger. When he left this place because of
a little argument with another waiter, he concluded to go out West where
he was told the opportunities were great. I met him in a camp seated at
a fire one evening surrounded by a lot of 'bos in Wyoming. He didn't
look wealthy just then. We scraped up an acquaintance and I took to the
young fellow at the first go-off as I saw he was not a professional vag,
and we joined forces and have been together ever since.
Our trip from Carson in Nevada over the mountains into California was a
delightful one. From Carson to Reno the scenery is no great shakes
(although it was over hill and dale), for the hills looked lone and
barren. The crops had just been gathered from these hills and dales. The
leaves were turning color on the trees and it was the melancholy season
of the year when nature looks blue. Me and Billy weren't melancholy,
however, for we were good company to each other and never felt lonely.
At Reno early one morning we crept into an unsealed boxcar and rode
upward to the high Sierras. The scenery when day broke was so fine that
we were enchanted. No barren mountains were here and no sage-brush
covered plains, but well-timbered mountains whereon grew trees and
bushes of all kinds. To us it seemed like wakening from autumn to
spring. Billy and me couldn't understand this. A few miles away were
leaves that were turning in their autumn tints whilst here everything
was green and fresh like the dawning of life. It astonished us but made
us feel good all over. We were both as happy and joyous as if we were
millionaires. Here was a beautiful sheet of water with a big paper-mill
near it; further along was a little railroad station entirely
surrounded by hills. Nothing but lofty mountains towered all around us,
with a canyon running through them, along which we rode. Ice-ponds were
there with no ice in them just then, for it was the wrong season for
ice, but numerous huge ice-houses were there, which showed us what the
ponds were for. The iron horse wound around and around these lofty
mountains and the keen, pure air made us feel as good as if we had been
taking a nip. We sure felt gay and happy as larks. By-and-by we reached
a place called Truckee which seemed to be quite a town. We hopped off to
reconnoiter for we knew the freight train would be there some little
time, and noticed that there was only one street in the town, which
contained several stores, a butcher-shop or two, several restaurants,
two hotels and about a dozen or more saloons. As we walked along the
street we noticed a sign over a stairway leading into a cellar which
read, "Benny's Gray Mule." We started to go down the steps but found
that "Benny's Gray Mule" was shut up tight. Too bad! A saloon with such
a romantic name as that ought to thrive. We went into another saloon
and I ordered two beers and threw a dime upon the counter in payment.
"Come again," said Mr. Barkeep, giving me an evil glance. I hesitated.
"Another dime, pardner, all drinks are ten cents here," says barkeep.
"All right," says I, "don't get huffy; I didn't know the price." I laid
down another dime and this Mr. Barkeep swept into his till nonchalantly.
The place seemed tough and so did the barkeeper. Toward the rear of the
large room was a lunch counter where a square meal could be had for two
bits (25 cents), or coffee and hot cakes for fifteen cents; sandwiches
for a dime each; a piece of pie and coffee, ten cents. In convenient
places were gambling layouts where a fellow could shoot craps, play
roulette or stud-horse poker. It was too early in the day for gambling
but a few tough-looking nuts were there sitting around and waiting for a
chance to try their luck. We saw all we wanted of this place and sloped.
Truckee is the last big town in California going eastward, and it is a
lumber camp, railroad division and icing station (refrigerator cars are
iced there). A pretty rough old place it is. Me and Billy bought a
couple of loaves of bread and some cheese and then made tracks for our
box-car. We found it all right and climbed aboard. Our train had done a
lot of switching at Truckee and a good many cars had been added to the
train. Two big engines now were attached to the train instead of one and
soon with a "toot toot" we were off. It was uphill all the way and the
locomotives seemed to be having a hard time of it for their coughs were
loud and deep and the hissing of steam incessant. To Billy and me the
work was easy for all we had to do was to listen to the laboring engines
and look out at the pretty scenery. The scenery was fine and no mistake,
for the higher we went the prettier it got. Mountains we saw everywhere
with spruce, fir, pine and cedar trees upon them. The views were ever
changing but soon we came to a lot of snow-sheds that partly shut off
the views. They must have been a hundred miles in length, for it took
us an awful long time to get through them. The sheds were huge affairs
of timber built over the track to keep off the snow in winter, and I
felt like stopping and counting how many pieces of timber were in each
shed. It must have taken a forest to build these sheds.
Along in the afternoon we began to get hungry, so we jumped off at a
place called Dutch Flat, to see what we could scare up in the shape of a
handout. The outlook didn't seem promising to us for all we could see of
Dutch Flat was a lot of Chinese shacks strung along one side of the
railroad track.
"Billy, I guess we're up against it here," I remarked; "I don't see any
signs of a white man's house around. Where can we get anything to eat?"
"Let's try the Chinks; we've got to have something to eat, you know; we
can't starve," ruefully responded Billy.
We were both pretty hungry by this time for the bracing mountain air had
given us a hearty appetite.
I stepped up to the first hut we came to, rapped at the door and when a
chink opened it told him we were very hungry and would like something
to eat.
"No sabee," says the chink, slamming the door.
I tried other huts with the same result. It was "no sabee" with all of
them. I told Billy that my errand was a failure and his jaw dropped.
"How much money have you got, Billy?" I asked.
Billy dug down and brought up a lone nickel. I had a dime. I asked Billy
to give me his nickel and told him that as we couldn't beg any grub
maybe we might be able to buy fifteen cents' worth of something. With
the fifteen cents I strode forth to try my luck once more.
I saw a very old Chinaman in front of his hut and asked him if he would
sell me fifteen cents worth of grub.
"No gotee anything; only law (raw) meat."
"What kind of meat?"
"Pork chop," answered the old man, briefly.
"All right, here's fifteen cents; give me some meat."
I handed him the money and he went inside and brought out two fair
sized chops.
"You sabee cookee?" asked the aged celestial.
"Heap sabee, you bet; me cookee before," remarked I.
"All lightee," said the celestial, giving me a little salt and pepper.
The country around Dutch Flat was hilly so Billy and me hunted up some
secluded spot where we could eat our chops in peace and quietness. We
built a rousing fire, for wood around there was plentiful, and put the
chops upon long sticks which we hung over the fire. The grass around our
camp was pretty dry and the first thing we knew the fire began to spread
all over the country. When we stamped it out on one side it made good
headway on the other side, and do all we could we couldn't stop it. We
got scared, dropped our meat and sloped. It wasn't long before the
Chinamen saw the fire and then there was a whole lot of loud talk in
Chinese. The whole village was out in a jiffy with buckets, pails, empty
oil cans and any old thing that would hold water and at it they went,
trying to put out the fire. Not a few of the Chinamen procured wet sacks
with which they tried to beat out the flames, but it was no go. Me and
Billy returned and grabbed a sack each, wet it and aided all we could in
putting out the fire, but it had gained too much headway and defied us
all. I concluded that it was going to burn down all the Sierra mountains
before it got through. There was a laundry in the Chinese village for I
noticed a lot of white man's underwear and white shirts hanging on lines
to dry, and near by was the washerman's horse tethered to a stake. When
the horse saw and smelt the flames he became frantic and was a hard
horse to hold. His owner ran up and yelled and shouted at him in Chinese
but the horse either did not or would not understand what was said to
him for he tried to kick the stuffing out of his boss and everything
else that came near him. He kicked down every wash line that he could,
one after another, and did his best to break loose from his halter, but
it was no go. He wouldn't let his boss get anyway near him for his
heels flew in every direction and it made us laugh to hear the Chinamen
swear in Chinese. After the brute kicked down every line within reach of
his heels he finally broke loose and galloped over the hills at a
breakneck pace. For all that Billy and I know to the contrary he is
galloping yet. Billy and me concluded that it was about time for us to
skip out, too, so we did so. We had done all we could to help put out
the fire and lost our grub in the operation, so we felt that we had done
our duty. I have often thought of that fire since and wondered what the
result was, whether it ended in great damage to the country and the
destruction of the Chinese village, or whether the horse had ever showed
up again. There is no rainfall in California during the summer months, I
am told, and in consequence the grass and much of the vegetation dries
up and one has to be very careful where to light a fire. We didn't know
that, hence the disaster.
We climbed into our car again, and were ready to move on whenever the
train did. We lit our pipes, indulged in a smoke, and laughed over our
recent experience. We must have laughed pretty loud, for a head was
suddenly thrust into the car doorway and a stern visage confronted us.
It was the brakeman's. "What you fellers doin' there?" asked Brakey.
"Only taking a ride," responded Billy.
"Where to?" asked Brakey.
"Down the line a little way."
"What are you riding on?" asked Mr. Brakeman.
"On a freight train," innocently answered Billy.
I guffawed, for I knew Billy had given the wrong answer, but Brakey
never cracked a smile.
"Got any money or tickets?" asked he, gravely.
"No," answered Billy.
"Get off then and be quick about it," was the stern command.
Off we hopped and quite crestfallen, too, for our journey for the time
being was ended. We wandered back to the railroad station to ascertain
when the next train would leave. There would be nothing until early the
next morning we learned, so there was nothing for us to do but to unroll
our blankets and lay off somewhere near by where we could catch a train
as it came by. We were very hungry, but turned in supperless, and chewed
tobacco to satisfy the cravings of our stomachs. We soon fell asleep but
kept one ear open to catch the sound of any freight train coming our
way. Wayfarers are wonderfully acute, even in their sleep, as regards
noticing the approach of trains. No matter how sound their sleep may be,
they will wake up at the proper time to board a train nine times out of
ten, unless they are too badly boozed. During the early hours of the
morning a long train full of empty cars came our way and we made it
easily. It was mighty chilly at that time of the day, but as we had on
heavy overcoats, our bodies did not suffer much. Our feet, however, did.
Fellows who beat their way, though, must put up with such little
inconveniences without kicking. It belongs to the business. They must
bear hunger, cold, thirst, dust, dirt and other trifles of that kind
and get used to it. Those who travel in Pullman and tourist cars pay
their money and sleep on feathers, but we slept just as well and nearly
as warmly, wrapped in our blankets in a box car. During our wanderings
we slept on the ground, in old shacks, barns, sidetracked cars or any
old place and got along fairly well. We didn't have washbasins to wash
in, but we carried soap, brushes and hand-glasses with us, and could
make our toilet at any place where there was running water. Water was
plentiful in the Sierra mountains.
We pulled out of Dutch Flat when the train got ready and flew down the
mountain side at great speed. We could go as lively as the train could
in our car, however, and the speed was exhilarating, but the morning
breeze was mighty keen and cutting. We would have given a great deal for
a cup of hot coffee just then, but of course it wasn't to be had.
When we neared a place called Auburn we saw a grove of trees, the
leaves of which were a deep green, and among them hung little balls of
golden yellow fruit that looked good to us.
"Hi, Billy," exclaimed I, "look at them yellow balls hanging on the
trees, will you? Wonder what they are?"
Billy looked at them fixedly for quite a while and then suddenly made a
shrewd guess.
"Them's oranges, Windy, as sure as we're alive."
These were the first oranges Billy or I had ever seen growing on trees
and they surely looked good to us. They reminded us of Christmas trees.
We would liked to have jumped out to get some oranges for breakfast, but
they were so near and yet so far that we desisted. How tantalizing it
was to see a tempting breakfast before you and not be able to eat it.
But the train didn't stop anywhere for refreshments, so that let us out.
When we got down to a place called Roseville, which was a junction, we
noticed several orange trees standing near the depot with plenty of
oranges hanging amid the leaves, and oh, how we did long to make a rush
for them. The train crew was on that side of the train, however, and
there were plenty of people near the depot so we dared not make the
venture. Oh, if this train would only stop twenty minutes for
refreshments maybe we could get a handout, but it didn't stop, so we had
to go hungry till we reached Sacramento.
We got to Sacramento, the Capital of California, before noon, and jumped
off the train in the railroad yard, keeping an eye on the bulls and
fly-cops that buzzed around there. No one got on to us so we walked
leisurely along with our blankets slung over our shoulders. The railroad
yards were quite extensive and it took us quite a while to traverse
them. In them were car shops, foundries and all kinds of buildings and
things pertaining to railroads. Sacramento is a railroad division, the
first out of Frisco, I believe, and we noticed a good deal doing in the
way of railroad manufacturing, but we were too hungry to care for such
things just then. We got to the passenger train shed which was a large
housed-over building of glass and iron, and outside of it came upon a
broad street which led into the town. Alongside of this street I noticed
a slough with green scum upon it which didn't look good to me for
swimming or any other purpose. On the other side of this pond was a big
Chinatown and Billy and me thought we might as well see what it looked
like. We entered it and saw a young workingman come out of a ten-cent
restaurant. Billy stepped up to him and boned him for the price of a
square meal. He listened to Billy's hungry tale of woe and coughed up a
dime with which we bought two loaves of bread. We then wandered through
the streets looking for a retired spot where we could sit down and eat
but the streets in that locality were so filthy and the Mongolians so
plentiful that we concluded to keep a moving. We came to J and then to K
Street, which were broad business thoroughfares full of stores and then
we walked along K Street until we saw a shady green park. To it we
wandered and found a comfortable rustic seat under the shade of a
spreading oak tree. We threw our blankets behind our seat and sat down
and blew off steam. We were tired, hot, dusty and hungry. While eating
we looked about us. The park wasn't a large one but it was a trim one.
The lawns were shaved down close, the winding walks were well-kept,
there were flowers to be seen, palm trees, pampas-plume bushes and, oh
ye gods! orange trees with oranges on them.
"Say Billy," remarked I with my mouth full of bread, "get on to the
orange trees, will you?"
"Where?" asked Billy, with wide-staring eyes.
"Why, right along the walk up that way," said I, pointing.
"Sure enough," says Billy, "keep an eye on my grub, will you, while I
get a hatful," said he excitedly.
"Keep your eyes peeled for cops," admonished I, as Billy rushed off.
Billy made the riffle all right and came back with four or five nice
looking oranges, which were all he could carry. He remarked that they
would do for the present. After stowing the bread and getting a drink of
muddy water from a fountain near by, we tackled the oranges and found
them dry and tasteless and bitter as gall.
"Call them things oranges!" sneered Billy, as he threw his portion away
with disgust; why they're bitter as gall. I've bought many a better
orange than that in the old country for a penny.
"I thought they raised good oranges in California," said I, "but if
they're all like these, then I don't want any of them," whereupon I
threw mine over my shoulder, too, into the shrubbery behind me. Oh,
weren't they bitter; Boo!
"Billy, we've been misinformed," said I, "the oranges in California are
N. G."
"Right you are, Windy, but as they didn't cost us anything we oughtn't
to kick."
After eating and resting, we took in the town. We found Sacramento to be
a sizeable place, containing about fifty thousand people, and the
people to us seemed sociable, chatty and friendly. We both liked the
place first class, and as we were broke, concluded to try our luck there
for awhile. We struck a street cleaning job and held it down for a week.
The water used in Sacramento comes from the Sacramento river, we were
told, and as it wasn't at all good, we took to beer, as did many others.
We were told about a class of people in Sacramento called Native Sons,
who monopolized all the good things in the way of jobs. Native Sons are
native born Californians who take a great deal of pride in their state
and have an organization which they call the Native Sons of the Golden
West. The aim of this organization is to beautify California, plant
trees, keep up the old missions, preserve the giant redwood trees,
forests, and the like. Lots of fellows spoke ill of the Native Sons, but
we didn't, for they weren't hurting us any. The native Californians we
met in Sacramento to us seemed a genial sort of people who are willing
to do strangers or anyone a good turn, if they can. Lots of them were
hustlers and full of business and their city surely is a snorter. There
are several large parks in Sacramento, fruit and vegetable markets, and
any number of swell saloons where a schooner of beer and a free lunch
can be had for a nickel. Then there is the Western Hotel, State House
and Capitol Hotels, all of which are big ones, and any number of fine
stores and lots of broad, well-shaded residence streets, traction cars,
electric lights, etc. The city is right up to date.
After we had been there about a week, Billy suddenly got a severe attack
of the shakes and seemed in a bad way. His lips turned blue, his eyes
burned with fever, his teeth rattled like clappers, and his body shook
as if he had the jim-jams. I went to a dispensary and had some dope
fixed up for him, but it didn't seem to do him any good. I then bought a
quart bottle of whiskey, and poured the whole of it down his throat. He
took to it as naturally as a kid does to its mother's milk, but every
day the poor little cuss got worse.
"Let's hike out of this place, Billy," said I; "the best cure for the
shakes is to go where there isn't any, for as long as we stay here
you'll be sick."
Billy, as usual, was willing to do as I said (and I was always willing
to do as he said), so we made tracks out of Sacramento in pretty short
order.
We crossed the Sacramento river, which is about a half a mile across, on
a wooden bridge, and it was all Billy could do to walk across it. He was
as weak as a kitten and so groggy on his pins that he could hardly stand
up. Some people who saw him probably thought he was boozed, but he
wasn't, any more than I was. I took hold of his arm and led him along,
but the little cuss sat down on a string piece of the bridge and told me
to let him die in peace.
"Die nothing, you silly little Britisher: you ain't any nearer death
than I am," said I. "Sit down and rest yourself and then we'll take
another little hike. We'll make a train somewhere on the other side of
the river, then ho! for 'Frisco, where our troubles will soon be ended.
Brace up, old man, and never say die."
I jollied the little cuss along in that way until we got to a little
station where we could catch a train and we soon did catch one.
We rode on to Davis, which was a junction, and close to the station I
saw a large vineyard. I pointed it out to Billy.
"Stay where you are, Billy, and I'll get you some grapes," said I.
Grapes were ripe just then. I jumped over the fence and secured a big
hatful of fine big, flaming tokay grapes. They were delicious and did
Billy a world of good.
We were now fairly on our way to 'Frisco, the Mecca of all bums. We
never saw a bum yet who hadn't been in 'Frisco or who didn't know all
about the city.
Billy and me had heard about it, but hadn't seen it, and though we were
on the tramp, didn't consider ourselves bums. We worked when we could
find something to do, but when there was nothing to do, of course we
couldn't do it. Work is something a bum will never do. Lots of the bums
we met along the road were criminals and some of them pretty desperate
ones at that. A few were chaps who were merely traveling to get
somewhere and had no money to pay their way. Others had money and would
not pay. Some were honest laboring men flitting from point to point in
search of work, and not a few were unfortunates who had held high
positions and were down and out through drink or misfortune of some
sort. There were all sorts beating their way, and there always will be.
The professional vag is a low down fellow who has few redeeming
qualities. He is agreeable with his chums and that is about all. Neither
Billy nor I were low, base born fellows, or criminals, and our parents
were respectable, so that is why we took to each other. We were fellow
mortals in distress, that is all. We did not think it very wrong to take
a chicken if we were very hungry, but that was the extent of our evil
doing. We bought our own clothes, blankets, etc., and never broke into
a house to steal anything. One outfit that we were with at one time in
Utah, one night stole a suit case that was standing on the platform of a
railroad station and they divided up its contents among themselves. It
consisted of a coat, vest, pants, collars, ties, handkerchiefs, brush,
combs, etc., and had we been caught the whole bunch of us might have
been pinched, but the gang made tracks in a hurry and got as far away
from the scene of the robbery as they could. Some of the characters we
met in our travels would have contaminated a saint almost, for their
looks, actions and words revealed their disposition. The higher up in
crime some of these chaps were, and the abler and more desperate, the
more were they admired by some of their fellows. This kind of chaps were
generally the captains of the camp, and gave orders that were readily
obeyed by the others. One bum was generally commanded by the captain to
go and rustle up bread, another was sent for meat, a third for coffee, a
fourth for sugar, a fifth for pepper and salt, etc. No matter how
things were obtained, if they were obtained no questions were asked.
One fellow returned to camp with a quarter of a lamb one night and
boastfully told how he had got it. It had hung up outside a butcher shop
and he stole it. The captain mumbled his approval in low tones, for he
was too mighty to praise loudly or in many words.
The ways of hobos are various, and it would take up a great deal of
space to describe them in detail.
It was along toward sundown when we made a train out of Davis. Davis,
like Sacramento, was a pretty hard town to get out of, and the best we
could do was to ride the rods. That was easy enough, even for Billy, who
was rather delicate at that time. The rods under some freight cars are
many and well arranged for riding purposes. They are fairly thick bars
of iron set close together, stretching from one side of the car to the
other, underneath the body of the car, and though not very often soft,
when an overcoat is strung across them, with rolled up blankets for a
pillow, they are the next best thing to a berth in a Pullman car. When
one side of our body ached, we just turned over to the other side, and
it beat riding on the bumpers or brake-beams all hollow. A berth in a
Pullman costs about five dollars per night, fare extra, so we were
saving lots of money. Beating our way on a railroad we considered no
crime at all, for to judge from what I can read in the newspapers, the
railroads rob the people, so why shouldn't the people rob them? That's a
good argument, ain't it?
The measly old train must have been a way-freight, for she made long
stops at every little excuse of a town she came to. About ten o'clock at
night she came to a place called Benicia, and there the train was cut in
two, so I hopped off to see what the difficulty was. On both sides and
ahead of us was water. I rushed back to Billy and told him to get off in
a hurry.
"What's the matter?" asked Billy.
"There's water all around us, and I guess they're going to carry the
cars over on a ferry boat. I suppose our journey for the night will end
here."
"Not much, Windy," replied Billy; "I want to get to 'Frisco tonight and
maybe we can pay our way across on the boat."
We walked boldly on a boat that we saw the cars being pulled onto by a
locomotive, and when we got near a cabin a ship's officer stepped up to
us and wanted to know where we were going.
"To 'Frisco," said I.
"To 'Frisco?" said he with a grin. "Well, you'll have to pay your way
across the ferry on this boat."
"What's the fare?" asked Billy.
"Seeing that you two are good-looking fellows, I'll only charge you ten
cents apiece," said the captain, or officer, jokingly.
We both drew a long breath of relief, for we thought the boat was going
to 'Frisco and that we'd have to pay a big price. I handed the
good-natured officer two dimes for us both and we felt happy once more.
The boat wasn't long making the trip, only about ten minutes or so, and
on the other side we found no difficulty in making our train again,
after she was made up. We held her down until she reached Oakland, which
is opposite 'Frisco. There we learned there was one more ferry to cross
before we could get into 'Frisco, so Billy and I decided to remain where
we were for the night, for it was late. We prowled around until we found
an open freight car, and turned in for a snooze.
The next morning was a beautiful one, and we were up and out by
daylight. The weather wasn't cold, the sun was bright and cheery, but
over 'Frisco we could see a sort of fog hanging. It was easy enough to
see across the bay of San Francisco, for the distance is only about five
miles, but the length of the bay we could not determine, for it
stretched further than the eye could reach. We noticed an island in the
bay not far from Oakland, and from Oakland a long wharf extended far out
into the harbor, maybe a mile or so. We walked along this wharf until we
came to a big train-shed and ferry house combined, where we coughed up
two more dimes and got upon a large ferry-boat. As it was very early in
the morning, very few passengers were on the boat. We walked to the
front of the boat and drank in the delicious morning breeze. The
ferry-boat was as large and fine a one as I had ever seen. It was a
double-decker with large cabins below and aloft, and with runways for
vehicles between. The cabins were very spacious and handsomely fitted
up.
At about half past five the boat started on her way across, and now we
were making a straight shoot for 'Frisco. Talking of 'Frisco, by the
way, permit me to say a word about the name. The people of San Francisco
don't like to have their city called 'Frisco, but prefer to have it
called by its full title. They think the abbreviation is a slur. I can't
see it in that light. 'Frisco is short and sweet and fills the bill;
life is too short to call it San Francisco.
The ride across the bay was fine and lasted about half an hour. We
passed an island which someone told us was Goat Island, and Billy and
me wondered whether there were any billies or nannies on it. We didn't
get close enough to see any. Further on we saw another island which was
hilly like Goat Island. It was called Alcatraz. It contained an army
post and was fortified. It looked formidable, we thought. Not very far
away, and straight out, was the Golden Gate, which had no gates near it
that we could see, but just two headlands about a mile or so apart.
Outside of the Golden Gate is the Pacific Ocean.
We were now nearing 'Frisco, which lay right ahead of us. Nothing but
steep hills could we see. They were built up compactly with houses. As
we got close to the shore we saw plenty of level streets and wharves,
and alongside of the wharves, ships. We steered straight for a tall
tower on which there was a huge clock, which told us the time--six
o'clock. We entered the ferry slip, moored fast and soon set foot in
'Frisco.