Show A MORMON TRAMP i THE trite saying truth is stranger than fiction finds many illustrations in the personal experience of the latter day saints individual instances of patient endurance and heroic devotion are to be found among them sufficiently striking to adorn a tale and wr stir the heart of the sensitive reader with admiration and sympathy the writer was moved to thus reflect recently in becoming familiar with some facts connected with the career of a young german now a resident of this city I 1 will attempt to tell the story as I 1 have learned it authenticated in a way that places its reliability beyond question charles A haacke was bom at riga alga russia of german parents november 2nd and 1865 and is therefore just turned twenty three years of age he is of medium height and build and has haa a clear cut intelligent face with a marked teutonic cast at the age of five years his mother died and he and his father removed to germany where his parent married again at fourteen charles was apprenticed with a machinist in berlin and made good progress in leax learning nIng his trade in 1882 his father and stepmother step mother invited him to accompany them to a mormon meeting he complied and on hearing elder abram H cannon preach was at once convinced that joseph smith was a prophet A short tune time afterwards all three were baptized by elder john Q cannon charles became at once imbued with the spirit of the gospel and ready to sacrifice his dearest earthly prospects for its sake not so with his parents who were not long connected with the church until they apostatized and became exceedingly bitter in their denunciations of it from that time haacke the elder bent all his energies toward ambit bering his son in the same way but to no purpose every attempt in that direction only made charles more devoted to the church haacke senior even used physical force on several occasions on one of these the father threatened the son with all kinds of vengeance if he did not cease his connection with the mormons cormons Mor mons f and he denounced joseph joeeph smith as an impostor and a liar this calumny against the prophet caused charles blood to surge wild ly through his veins with indignation and he exclaimed not so joseph smith was a prophet of god and you are a slanderer and a falsifier the father sprang toward dimand uttering a fierce imprecation struck the son a heavy blow upon the face he was about to renew the attack when charles stood erect before him and looked him squarely in the eyes the infuriated old man hesitated and then subsided ending by ordering his son out of the house this command was obeyed with considerable alacrity and charles took UP his lodging with a member of the church charles was advised by one of the elders J M tanner to leave and make hla his way to utah this idea delighted him but he had not more than one third as much as would pay his passage to new york however he went to hamburg in the hope of getting an opportunity of working his passage on a steamer but failed having no papers to prove that he was a native of russia he was in danger of being detained for service in the german army he wrote to his father for the proofs of his nativity but he flatly refused to supply him with them this was a sorry new years yearns opening for charles he finding himself in this luckless position at the opening of 1885 however he made the acquaintance of a Da Danl who was about to return to his native land this man agreed to take charles with him so he paved the way by entering into an arrangement with the seamen of a danish vessel by which the two travelers were bunked all night in the fore taale of the ship and were out to sea in the morning and beyond the reach of german officials charles irk in a fw w days reached copenhagen where he visited the headquarters of the scandinavian mission having letters from elder tanner president lund kindly furnished him with enough money to carry him to new york he sailed to leith betth scotland proceeded thence by rall rail to liverpool remained at that port one night departed for new york on the fhe of january 1886 1885 and after a 4 passage of ordinary duration lauded handed on this side of the atlantic iz a strange land unable to speak guch so as to make himself un der stood and with the munificent sum of one dollar in his pocket n M A feeling of desolation crept over the young man as he thought of his position he sought work in the hope of obtaining money with which to go west to utah but was unsuccessful cess ful being resolute though young he soon made up his mind regarding what he should do he determined to turn his face toward zion and travel to the goal of his desires in the capacity of a tramp when it is considered that this resolve was made in winter some idea may be formed of the appalling character of the venture charles met with a german tramp whose face was also turned toward the setting sun california being the destination of his minds eye the two set out through mud slush and snow going a distance of twenty five miles the first day the esth of february 1885 and reposed in a barn at night bleeg was out of the question the weather being so cold that the chattering of the travelers teeth beat a rapid accompaniment to the wierd tune played by the wind as it howled around the corners comers of the wooden structure in which they lay curled in a bunch of hay next morning charles was badly demoralized physically but never wavered in his determination to press on his feet were chafed chafee and palatal painful and he cut a sorry figure as he trudged along making an effort to heel it with one foot and toe it with the other to make matters worse a portion of the road lay across a marsh which was frozen on the surface but was not sufficiently solid to bear the weight of the two pedestrians who broke through the lee ice and sank ankle deep at every stop step they reached trenton N J that night remaining two days being treated with considerable kindness by some german residents the two days of traveling under difficulties so impressed the tramp companion of our hero that he throw threw up all hope of reaching the golden state and concluded to leave the track charles however did not once entertain a thought of weakening he setout set out alone on his westward way but met with an incident that came nigh bringing his earthly tramp to a sudden ending in the dark of the evening he be was crossing the river on a long railroad bridge he had reached about midway when a train running at high speed swept around a curve and came dashing with glaring headlights toward the bridge he could not get off toe the structure either by advance or retreat in time to escape what appeared to be imminent a horrible death his hair moved his battered hat and his blood chilled in his veins as he comprehended the danger he sprung sprang to the side of the bridge threw himself down and closely hugged the side timbers and yet was uncertain whether he would escape the train came thundering on he held his breath as it seemed to him to sweep almost directly over him Fortunately he was just beyond the reach of the wheels there was a loud rumbling loar a blast of wind caused by the swift movement of the train caught mm and the moment of pern peril was over he got off that bridge as ae speedily as his half crippled condition would allow and then the first thing the poor boy did in that cold evening air and in his tired and footsore plight was to kneel on the frozen ground and thank god for having on saved ved his life he also asked him for a continuance ti nuance of his blessing and care and that he might enable him to land safely in the home of the saints in utah owing to the lamed condition of his feet and the shook shock he had received from fi om the perilous position from which he had escaped charles was not able to make much hed headway he soon met with a mishap which increased his misery he observed by the side of the truck track what appeared to be a level piece of ground or nghe could the darkness dark nesB tell which anyway it looked as if it might be a smoother surface on which to walk and this would be a great relief he stepped from the track for the purpose of realizing his expectations but to his consternation he seemed to alight on nothing that offered any resistance to speak of to his weight daht until plump and splash he went to toe bottom of a body of water which was coated with lee ice of course his nether garments were waked soaked and as he trudged along feeling indescribably miserable his pants and shoes froze as hard as boards his locomotion was thus still further impeded and to anyone who could have seen him he would him have presented a grotesque spectacle struggling along as a man would whose lower limbs were wem devoid of joints after traveling ng three miles in this predicament the wanderer read reached lied a small station on the railroad ile he himself to its ite keeper and asked by means of signs and a few words of broken english for the privilege of stopping over night his appearance aided as much as anything to make his meaning clear the person he addressed pointed his index finger in the direction of a room where a fire was burning in a stove he entered it and being completely exhausted threw himself on the floor near the fire the heat won soon began to act upon his pants and shoes which were thawed out and clung closely to his limbs while the water trickled from them to the floor the night was not passed as may be imagined in comfort and the morning brought no relief his shoes already worn and dilapidated had become hard as sheet iron and j were curled and gnarled fantastically by being soaked frozen thawed and dried he resumed his tramp in a pitiable state his gait reminding one of the movement of the fore legs of a hobbled horse when he reached philadelphia which he did the same day he be not only looked the worse for wear but completely worn out and his feelings were in exact unison with his appearance he became at once the centre of attraction for a motley crowd of unruly boys who surrounded him soma some of them running close up to him and shouting hallo tramp how are you whose your shoemaker where ye bound fur poor charles he had scarcely energy enough left lef t to notice these rude sallies he was famishing it was waa so long since he tasted food that he felt as if his stomach and vertebra were holding a meeting and refused to be CUS dismissed MIssed from each others embrace so closely did they ding cling together in passing along one of the gt streets wondering how he could get something with which to satisfy the W pangs of hunger that were gnawing at his vitals and a place to rest his weary limbs he espied a german name over a shoemakers shop he entered and explained his situation the knight of st 81 crispin kindly gave him seven cents cente and directed I 1 him to a police station to which kel he could be admitted for the night he bought a loaf of bread with the small sum he thus received put it under his coat and on the way to the station he kept tearing pieces from it and devouring them voraciously sis as he went along finally succeeding in subduing the terrible cravings clavings cravi of hunger on deachin reaching g the station charles found a stalwart german policeman of whom he begged to be allowed to stay over night the officer placed him in a cell which had one virtue that caused the lodger delight it was warm it is a fact that no one who has not known what it is to be voraciously hungry can fully appreciate the blessing of having something good to eat so with warmth to fully enjoy its comforting effects a person has to be exposed under the most adverse conditions to the weathers fierce inclemency that cell was to charles A haacke a palace compared to the accommodations he had for some time been compelled to put up with he not only felt thankful for it as an element that contributed to his comfort but offered ered a grateful acknowledgment to his heavenly Rea venly father for permitting him in his kind providence to possess it even for the brief space of a night in the morning the door was unlocked and the temporary prisoner was out again on the streets of a strange city in a foreign land feeling a terrible sense of loneliness in the crowded thoroughfares through fares along which he trudged in another hunt for employment which was as usual unsuccessful doubtless there was something about the makeup make up of his clothing that did not strike those to whom he applied with favor if they had been judges of character and perceived the stamp of honesty and intelligence impressed on his frank face these outward indications would have counted for nothing against him in being still bent on reaching utah although his spirits had gone nearly down to the heels of his well worn shoes he sought and found a railroad track leading westward and resumed his occupation of counting ties he had not proceeded far before he found one of his countrymen a genuine specimen of the genus tramp engaged in the same kind of progressive mathematical employment the two formed a traveling which was a windfall for our hero because his now new found companion had some cash and although a regular tramp he had a soft place in his heart this humane trait he exhibited by purchasing food and sharing it with the wandering mormon boy he ele ilio ilao initiated charles into the mysteries of train jumping when the proposition to invade a cattle car was made to the latter there was a brief struggle between conscience and convenience but charles sore feet got away with his mental scruple scruples athe the car was boarded and the couple were conveyed a distance of fifty miles toward the setting sun enabling them to reach a city the name of which charles Is unable to recall I 1 here the two proceeded to a police station and on applying for lodging were shown into a room containing a blazing fire and six other tramps the latter being engaged in making and drinking coffee and indulging in all sorts of profane and disgusting language they were toughs of the toughest texture any of them being judging by appearance ready to take a hand band in cutting a throat cracking a safe or wrecking a train providing there should be enough booty at the end of the transaction to induce them to engage in it this kind of society made charles feel nervous but the warmth from the fire proved a soothing antidote to this drawback to his comfort and he made the best of his surroundings next day after partaking of some coffee provided by the tramp fraternity the journey was resumed charles companion teaching him english on the way the next night was spent in a barn and furnished another illustration of the fact that bayas a bedding for mortals in bitterly cold weather is a miserable failure as a substitute for blankets scanty covering under such circumstances acts however like a charm as an eye opener in this respect it operated an entire night which was sleeplessly spent and resulted in an early rise and a resumption of the tramp when the neighborhood of harrisburg was reached charles companion showed signs of a disposition to break up the partnership co probably his generous impulses had succumbed to a powerful impression that ids his exchequer was being more rapidly depleted by the additional drain that had lately been made upon it and that a continuation of the recent financial policy would lead to complete bankruptcy he suggested that each take a different road in the search for cold victuals and meet at the harrisburg depot at which our hero arrived in due course but the purser wed failed to put in an appearance while charles was sitting in the waiting room like patience on a monument in a green and yellow melancholy the keeper of a fruit stand glanced at him occasionally with pitying eye finally he accosted our tramp telling him he looked sick he handed banded him some crackers and apples which |