two in the morning
He could not tell you who the Pilgrim Fathers were , nor could he name the thirteen original States , but he knew all the officers of the twenty-second police district by name , and he could distinguish the clang of a fire-engine 's gong from that of a patrol-wagon or an ambulance fully two blocks distant . It was Gallegher who rang the alarm when the Woolwich Mills caught fire , while the officer on the beat was asleep , and it was Gallegher who led the `` Black Diamonds '' against the `` Wharf Rats , '' when they used to stone each other to their heart 's content on the coal-wharves of Richmond . I am afraid , now that I see these facts written down , that Gallegher was not a reputable character ; but he was so very young and so very old for his years that we all liked him very much nevertheless . He lived in the extreme northern part of Philadelphia , where the cotton and woollen mills run down to the river , and how he ever got home after leaving the _ Press _ building at two in the morning , was one of the mysteries of the office . Sometimes he caught a night car , and sometimes he walked all the way , arriving at the little house , where his mother and himself lived alone , at four in the morning . Occasionally he was given a ride on an early milk-cart , or on one of the newspaper delivery wagons , with its high piles of papers still damp and sticky from the press . He knew several drivers of `` night hawks '' -- those cabs that prowl the streets at night looking for belated passengers -- and when it was a very cold morning he would not go home at all , but would crawl into one of these cabs and sleep , curled up on the cushions , until daylight .