Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 211, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1913 — Bankrupt, a Little Old Man Seeks Fortune as Newsie [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bankrupt, a Little Old Man Seeks Fortune as Newsie

CLEVELAND, O.—A little man in a somewhat frayed gray suit stood on the corner of Euclid avenue and East Ninth street the other afternoon. Under his arm was a bundle of pink and green sporting extras. It was bis first day as a newsboy. His voice was somewhat weak, but he manfully tried to make it penetrate into the Jumbled sea of street noises. Under the determined expression of his face there was great embarrassment, almost shame. He had only !15 papers in all. Even the smallest of the hundreds of "hustlers” who swarmed through the rush-hour crowds had 40 papers. "You see, I didn’t know how successful I was to be,” explained the little man. "At first I was afraid that I might have some unsold papers on my hands; so 1 only bought 20 at first. Tomorrow, however, I think I shall buy at least 40 —perhaps 50.”

He held out a paber to a passing man. The customer reached isto his pocket, and was immediately assailed by a ragged boy of twelve, who shoved a paper into his hand, seized the cent, and was gone. The little man tucked the paper back under his arm. v “That doesn’t seem fair to me," he observed. “He stole my customer. Still, I suppose I will have to expect that. Perhaps I, too, may learn to do it” No one knows the name of the little man. He refuses to give it. “I wouldn't like the people at home to know that I am forced to sell newspaperti on the street," he explained. “You surely wouldn’t ask me to do that, would you? “You see, I waß the owner of a small general store until a short time ago. - No. I can't teH you where it was. It’s of no real importance. “And then I became a bankrupt I was told that I had not managed my store systematically. Perhaps f had not, but I had worked hard, at any rate. Even the firms to whom I owed money admitted that. “So 1 sold what I had left and paid what I owed. After I had finished paying them all, I had but very little left. And so I came to Cleveland. There was no place for me at home.”