The Autobiography of a Super Tramp 10

The Autobiography of a Super Tramp 10

In this large room, for the common use of the prisoners, were twenty

or more cells, to which they retired for sleep, but were never locked

in--except maybe, an occasional prisoner, who might be waiting trial

under a charge of grand larceny, manslaughter, or murder. Supper was

soon brought in, and it was a good substantial meal. Its quantity

seemed to be more than idle men needed, if they had three such meals

every day, and its quality would satisfy me in any position in life.

What a pleasure it was that night to be in warmth, and with our minds

eased of a month's anxiety. "What time are you going to do?" asked

one. "Thirty days," answered Brum. "Plenty," said the other. "There is

more jails than this, and not much difference in them, and to go out

in the cold for a day or two makes us better appreciate the warmth and

comfort within."

 

Next morning we were taken by the sheriff to the court-house, where a

number of town people were assembled, owing to the more interesting

trial of a local man. I have often thought with amusement of this

scene. Despite the judge's severe __EXPRESSION__, and his solemn

deliberate utterance, we knew what to expect,--thirty days, no more or

less. The sheriff whispered to the judge, and the judge nodded sagely,

at the same time casting his eyes in our direction. We were charged

with being drunk and disorderly, and with disturbing the public peace.

"He did not see," he said, "why peaceable citizens should be disturbed

in this way by drunken strangers, and would fine us seven dollars and

costs, in default of which we would be lodged in the county jail for

thirty days." We were then led back by the sheriff, and when we were

again among the prisoners, they seemed to express very little

curiosity as to our sentences, knowing it was our wish that we should

receive thirty days, and that the judge was at our pleasure--we being

in fact our own judges.

 

Every morning the sheriff required half a dozen prisoners to sweep and

clean the court-house, which was situated about half a mile from the

jail. Australian Red and myself went with him several mornings, for a

little fresh air, but prisoners could please themselves, and Brum, I

know, never left the jail during the whole thirty days. It was an

understood thing that any prisoner could discharge himself on these

occasions, if inclined, without any fear of capture. The Marshal and

the Judge had had their dollars for arrest and conviction, and I

suppose, the sheriff charged for board and lodging, without mention of

a prisoner's escape. Perhaps they were afraid of bringing back an

escaped prisoner, for fear he might make some awkward disclosures. At

any rate, liberty could be had by a very deliberate walk and there was

certainly no need to make a desperate dash for it. Of course, there

was no reason why any prisoner should seek to escape these conditions,

which were of his own seeking, and which, during this unpleasant time

of the year, could not in any way be bettered by homeless men.

 

After serving our sentence, and the sheriff exacting a promise from us

to return again that winter, if not the following, we sought another

jail some twenty miles from the last, which prisoners had spoken

highly of. We were told that there was no necessity at this place of

going through the form of an arrest, but that we could go straight in

out of the cold. The Sheriff would at once receive us at his house,

learn our wants, while the judge would attend to us on the following

morning.

 

We arrived at this place, and everything turned out as described. The

jail was no different from the other. We were catered for as customers

that would, if treated with courtesy and good living, return winter

after winter, and patronise this place in preference to visiting the

more congenial climate of the south. At this place we sentenced

ourselves to another thirty days. Our room, like the other, was a

large iron cage, in which were twenty-four cells in a double row, main

floor and gallery, like little cages within it. As we entered this

large cage, the sheriff opening the iron door, a number of jail-birds

were singing merrily, not for liberty, but enjoying such captivity.

There was only one real prisoner here, who was waiting trial under a

charge of manslaughter, and he was the one prisoner to be locked in

his cell at night; and, in that cell, had waited trial a most cold

blooded murderer. Here we had the usual amusements of card playing,

singing and relating experiences.

 

The real prisoner--for none of the others had been guilty of any

offence, having entered of their own free will--was very unfortunate

in having a pair of wags quartered in the cell above him. These two

practical jokers made a figure of their bed clothes, and letting it

down, dangled it in front of this prisoner's cell. The poor wretch,

happening to be awake, and thinking this was Bill Henderson, murderer,

and late occupant of the cell, come to haunt him, leaped from his bed,

crying with a horror-stricken voice--"Bill Henderson, by God!" Before

he could recover from his fear and make a more calm investigation, the

figure was withdrawn. All this happened as expected, and the prisoners

were delighted, for they had been hinting all day about Bill

Henderson's ghost, so that it might take hold of this poor wretch's

nerves. Once only during the night was this accomplished, so that

their victim might have no suspicion as to its being a genuine ghost.

Every time the sheriff appeared the prisoner complained to him of this

ghost murderer, pleading for a removal, or an early trial. That

gentleman invariably listened with a sarcastic smile, seeming to have

some notion of the truth, by glancing at the faces of the other

prisoners. How these sheriffs, marshals and constables, despise

cowardice, and how they respect the intrepidity of dangerous men.

Many a sheriff, I believe, has surrendered his prison keys to the

lynchers and the lawless mobs, forgetting his duty in disgust at the

exhibition of fear in one for whom he is responsible. And many a

sheriff would lay down his life to protect a criminal who with cool

nerve faces his cell, callous and indifferent.

 

We visited, and were entertained, in several jails during this winter,

and emerged from the last in the middle of April.

 

I have heard since that this system of boodle, as it was called, was

in the following winter entirely squashed. A sheriff, it seemed, being

of an avaricious disposition, had interfered with the quality and

quantity of the prisoners' rations. Therefore, when respectable

citizens visited the jail to speak a few sympathetic words to the

prisoners, which they usually did on Sunday, those discontented

jail-birds complained of insufficient picking; and informed the

citizens that they had been guilty of no offence; that they had

entered the jail through being promised enjoyment, and that those

expectations had not been realised. On hearing this, the citizens

formed a committee, and soon discovered the whole system to be rotten.

Seeing how they had been robbed, they deposed several officers and the

upshot of it was that travellers never again visited that part of

America in quest of comfortable jails.

 

For a day or two the least exertion tired us, owing to our winter's

inactivity, but take it all in all, we were certainly in good bodily

condition. It was now that Australian Red made his first proposal. He

knew a fruit farm, where he had been previously employed, "in this

very State," said he, "on the shores of Lake Michigan." "How long does

the work last?" I asked. "All the summer," he answered, "and good pay

for an active man." "All right," I said, "if I can make a pretty fair

stake, I shall then return to England and home." Brum agreeing to

this, we lit a fire that evening near a water tank, intending to take

the first freight train that came our way. When the train arrived, we

still dallied at the fire, which was a considerable distance from the

track. It whistled before we expected and began its journey. "Break

away," cried Australian Red, making a rush for the departing train.

The speed of the train was increasing and when I reached its side I

was almost afraid to attempt to board it. Australian Red succeeded,

but when we reached the next stopping place, we were greatly

disappointed to find that Brum had been left behind. We got off and

waited the arrival of other trains, thinking that he would soon follow

us, but as Brum did not appear on any of them, we continued our

journey, thinking to see him later. I never saw him again. He had

complained of the year not being sufficiently aired for freedom, and

had proposed another short term in jail. No doubt, after losing us he

had done this.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX

 

BERRY PICKING

 

 

We reached the fruit country a week or two before picking commenced,

but although we were in advance of time, and without a cent, the

generosity of the farmers supplied all our wants. The authorities did

not in the least interfere with us, though we lit large camp fires on

the outskirts of the towns, took possession of hay ricks and empty

out-houses, and loafed for hours in their principal streets. They knew

well that the assistance of every man would be needed to strip the

vines of their berries, which promised a supply exceeding that of

former years. Friday morning, it being generally known that picking

was to commence on the following Tuesday, Australian Red remarked that

it was now time to interview the farmer, for whom he had previously

worked. With this object in view, we left the pretty inland port of

St. Joseph, and strolling leisurely, we reached that farm in two

hours, it being only five miles from the town. The farmer and his

wife, who employed several servants of both sexes, but were without

children of their own, at once recognised Australian Red, and gave

him a kindly welcome, which spoke well for Red's gentlemanly behaviour

in the past. The old man told him, in his bad English, that there

would always be plenty of work for Red, and for others whom he might

bring with him.

 

I was about twenty-three years of age at this time, appeared much

younger and not in any way looking like a dangerous youth, was soon on

the best of terms with the old people. So much so, that at the end of

the summer, when the pickers were leaving, the result being as

satisfactory to themselves as to the farmer, the kind old couple

inveigled me into a private place and proposed to adopt me as their

own son, and that they would teach me how to run the farm, which they

said would become mine at their death. The only way to answer these

kind people was to say that I already had a good home, and parents

living in England, and that I intended to return there with the

profits of this summer's work.

 

The earliest fruit was the strawberries, whose vines grew from six

inches to a foot above the ground. We knelt in the hot blazing sun

which beat so powerfully on our bended necks that the flesh became in

a day or two the dark colour of walnut stain. The soil, being dry and

sandy burned through the clothing until our knees were covered with a

rash. The effect of this extreme heat often affected people's

reasons, and sometimes killed them outright. Berry picking in the

South has other dangers of a worse kind. I shall never forget seeing a

man leap screaming to his feet, at the same time wringing his right

hand in agony. He had parted the thick vines, in quest of the berries

that were concealed under the leaves, and in doing so, had disturbed a

deadly snake, which had bitten his offending hand. The snake was very

small, but far more deadly than many others of twenty times its length

and weight. Several deaths occurred this way in my berry picking

experience in the South. There was not much fear of this happening in

the State of Michigan, but we often wished we could crawl under the

low green leaves of the vine to escape for a time the rays of the sun.

The farm extended to the shores of the lake, and when our day's work

was at an end, we hastened there, and plunged into the cold and

unsalted water which never grew warm, and could be swallowed with

impunity. After which we would return, cook supper in the open air,

and wrapping ourselves in blankets lie all night under the thick

foliage of a tree. The berries were sent every night to Chicago for

the morrow's market; but, there being no market on Sunday our day of

rest was Saturday, and we picked on Sunday for Monday's market. Early

every Saturday morning Australian Red would go to town in the farmer's

buggy, and return to us later in the day with papers, tobacco,

matches, and such provisions as we needed; for eggs, butter, milk,

potatoes and fruit could be had of the farmer, the latter delicacy being free for the trouble of picking.