The Girl Ben Met in Owney Geoghegan's--A Confiding Sea
Captain--Adventure in Little Falls--Pitching a Man Across the Erie
Canal--Return to Syracuse.
Ben remained in New York at this time for a month or so, during which time
he met with an adventure which it is worth while to relate.
Being well fixed in the way of money--he had made five hundred dollars in
a few hours at faro--he went around one night to Owney Geoghegan's
notorious resort on the Bowery. It was considerably past midnight when he
entered the place, and the women who were lounging about the room were in
the main most pitiable representatives of their sex. Among the number,
however, was one who, in spite of her dilapidated appearance, gave
unmistakable evidence of having seen better days. With this girl Ben fell
into conversation, learned that she had followed a life of shame but a
short time, and was struck by her beauty and intelligence. Poor and
forsaken, as she now was, Hogan's sympathy went out to her, and the
character of the man was illustrated in the way he treated her. Accustomed
as he was to gilded vice and the association of the better class of the
demi-monde, he could still make himself an equal with women of this sort.
He accompanied his newly formed acquaintance to her home on Forsyth
street, and there spent the remainder of the night, occupying, let it be
said, a separate room. Most wretched quarters they were in which this
young woman with her widowed mother lived. When Ben awoke the next
morning, he proposed to the girl, Nellie, to stay to breakfast. She told
him with some hesitancy that there was nothing in the house to eat.
"That makes no difference," said Ben; "we can get plenty to eat and drink,
too. Here, take this ten-dollar bill, go out and buy whatever you want. A
porter-house steak wouldn't go bad, and you might invest in a bottle of
champagne, too."
With many expressions of gratitude, the girl took the money, and while she
was gone, Ben, adapting himself to the surroundings, assisted the mother
in preparing for the breakfast. It was a royal feast, and perhaps the
consciousness of having done a good deed gave our hero a keen appetite.
When Ben came to take his departure, the girl and her mother were profuse
in their thanks.
"You may be a prize fighter," said the latter, "but you have the kindest
heart of any man I ever knew."
"When I'm in want again," said the girl, "I shall look you up to help me."
A day or two afterward, Ben, while in company with some of his friends,
ran across the girl in the street, and readily furnished her with the
money she solicited. She told him then that she had three or four hundred
dollars' worth of rich dresses and jewelry in pawn, which she hoped some
time to redeem.
Some two weeks after this adventure, Ben was passing down Broadway, with a
friend, when he heard a voice call out
"Cousin!"
Turning, he saw a richly dressed young woman, in conversation with a
gray-haired man. As he approached, the latter turned away, and upon coming
up to the girl who had called him, Ben found his old friend, whom he had
met in Owney Geoghegan's. It took only a few words to explain matters. The
gray-haired man who had just left her was a sea captain, with plenty of
money, who had been smitten by her many charms. He had provided her with
funds to redeem her clothing and jewelry; had given her two hundred
dollars in cash, and was prepared to give her any additional amount. She
had called to Ben as "cousin" in order not to arouse the jealousy of the
sea captain. And she was now prepared to pay back Ben's kindness with
interest.
The two, therefore, started off together, and lived royally while the
captain's money lasted; then they hit upon this plan for raising more. The
captain was so smitten with the girl that he was only too anxious to spend
money to gratify any whim of hers. She represented to the captain that she
needed money to furnish her room in better style, and the confiding old
fellow readily made out his checks for the desired amount. In this way he
contributed another four hundred dollars to the enjoyment of the girl and
Hogan.
It will be observed that when this woman was in want Ben was quite ready
to assist her; but when she struck good fortune again, and was supplied
with somebody else's money, he was equally ready to share it with her, and
get all the pleasure out of the adventure possible.
Ben never saw the girl afterward, but their brief acquaintanceship was one
that he will never forget.
At length, after an eventful sojourn in the metropolis, our hero
determined to pay a visit to Syracuse, the scene of his early adventures.
On his way to that city, he stopped off at the town of Little Falls, where
occurred a very amusing incident.
As he was a stranger in the place, he sought the companionship to be
found in a friendly and adjacent bar-room, and was there accosted by a
fellow anxious to make a bet. The conditions of the bet were that each man
should put up twenty-five dollars, and the one who first succeeded in
knocking off the other's hat, should take the money. Believing that his
own skill in the boxing art would make it an easy thing to win the bet,
Ben squared off with the stranger; but all the science he could bring to
bear did not enable him to knock off his opponent's head-gear. In about
two minutes and a half, Ben's hat was sent spinning to the floor, and the
Little Falls representative was accordingly entitled to the stakes.
Ben immediately put up another twenty-five dollars, which the stranger
also won, and repeated the process until he had relieved our hero of one
hundred and seventy-five dollars. Ben subsequently discovered that this
shrewd boxer wore a set of false whiskers, encircling his chin, and the
close-fitting cap which covered his head was fastened to these whiskers.
Of course it was impossible to knock off the cap under these
circumstances.
Fully conscious that he had been done for, Ben set his wits to work to hit
upon some plan by which he might get even with the Little Faller. By the
next morning he was ready with a proposition. He offered to bet the fellow
who had done the boxing five hundred dollars that he could throw one
hundred and thirty pounds across the Erie canal, which flows through
Little Falls. As a matter of fact, Ben did not have a dollar left, but he
had taken the landlord of the hotel into the scheme, making the latter the
stakeholder. It was agreed between them that if the fellow could be
induced to make the bet, the landlord should represent that Hogan had
already put up the money.
"What sort of a weight do you want to throw?" asked the successful boxer.
"A dumb bell," answered Ben.
"But there isn't any one hundred and thirty pound dumb bell in the town!"
"Well," said Ben, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll bet you the five
hundred dollars that I can throw you across the Erie canal!"
"I'll bet you can't!" was the prompt rejoinder.
"All right!" exclaimed Ben. "We'll make the trial, and if I fail, the one
who gives out first and wants to stop shall lose his money."
This was agreed to by the stranger, who put up his five hundred dollars,
and with the landlord and Ben, proceeded to the canal.
It was a chilly day, and the water was anything but inviting. The man of
course had counted upon being pitched in to the canal, but he had also
reckoned that he could stand the ducking longer than Ben could stand the
throwing. That was where he made a mistake. Hogan seized hold of the chap,
who weighed about one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and pitched him head
foremost into the chilling water. He came out with his teeth chattering
and his skin blue.
"That's one failure!" exclaimed Ben, "but never mind; I shall get you
across, yet. There's nothing like patience in these things."
Thereupon he seized hold of his victim again, and pitched him a second
time into the water. Shaking as if he had the ague, the fellow pulled
himself out, while the landlord and Ben roared with laughter. A third time
Hogan picked up the unfortunate man, and threw him out into the canal. By
this time he was pretty nearly frozen to death, and when he got out, he
swore he wouldn't be thrown in again if he could win ten times five
hundred dollars. Ben and the landlord divided the stakes, and Hogan left
Little Falls seventy-five dollars ahead, in spite of the unfortunate
boxing contest.
The ups and downs of an adventurer's life found an illustration in the
journey to Syracuse. A couple of railroad sharpers, who made a living by
betting on sure things, came up to Ben on the train, and told him they had
a chance to bleed a "sucker," but they needed a little ready money to do
it. Would Ben go them two hundred or two hundred and fifty dollars for
about half an hour? They would stand in with him evenly for all they made.
Ben gave the fellows his money, and they went forward to another car to
operate upon the "sucker."
After waiting half an hour for their return, Ben got a little uneasy, and
went in search of his friends. He found that they had jumped the train,
and his two hundred and fifty dollars had gone where the woodbine twineth.
Then it was that he saw the "sucker" not a very desirable kind of fish to
be.