Among the many accomplishments suited to the life I was leading was that
of a "strong-arm man," and I determined to put it into use now, for I
was desperate.
The rule in this dastardly work is always to select a man smaller and
weaker than one's self. As I looked about I saw a man coming up the
Bowery who seemed to answer to the requirements, and I said to myself,
"This is my man!" I walked up to him and touched him on the shoulder,
but as he straightened up I saw that he was as big as myself, and I
hesitated. I would have taken the chances even then, but he started back
and asked what I wanted. I said I was hungry, thinking that he would put
his hand in his pocket, and then, having only one hand, I could put the
"strangle hold" on him. But he was equal to the situation. He told me
afterward that I looked dangerous.
I asked him if he was ever hungry. He said, "Many's the time." I told
him I was starving. "Come with me," said he, and we went over to Chatham
Square, to a place called "Beefsteak John's."
We went in and sat down, and he said, "Now order what you want." On the
Bowery in those days you could get a pretty good meal for fifteen
cents--all you wanted to eat.
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