CHAPTER  LXXIV

It  is  entirely  possible  that,  due  to  some  physical  or  mental
defect  of  my  own,  I  was  in  no  way  fitted  to  contemplate  so
huge  and  ruthless  a  spectacle  as  New  York  then  presented,
or  that  I  had  too  keen  a  conception  of  it  at  any  rate.  After
a  few  days  of  work  here  I  came  in  touch  with  several  news-
paper men  from  the  West — a  youth  by  the  name  of  Graves,
another  by  the  name  of  Elliott,  both  formerly  of  Chicago,
and  a  third  individual  who  had  once  been  in  St.  Louis,  Wynne
Thomas,  brother  of  the  famous  playwright,  Augustus.  All
were  working  on  this  paper,  two  of  them  in  the  same  capacity
as  myself,  the  third  a  staff  man.  At  night  we  used  to  sit
about  doing  the  late  watch  and  spin  all  sorts  of  newspaper
tales.  These  men  had  wandered  from  one  place  to  another,
and  had  seen — heavens,  what  had  they  not  seen !  They  were
completely  disillusioned.  Here,  as  in  newspaper  offices  every-
where, one  could  hear  the  most  disconcerting  tales  of  human
depravity  and  cruelty.  I  think  that  in  the  hours  I  spent  with
these  men  I  learned  as  much  about  New  York  and  its  diffi-
culties and  opportunities,  its  different  social  strata,  its  out-
standing figures  social  and  political,  as  I  might  have  learned
in  months  of  reporting  and  reading.  They  seemed  to  know
every  one  likely  to  figure  in  the  public  eye.  By  degrees  they
introduced  me  to  others,  and  all  confirmed  the  conclusions
which  I  was  reaching.  New  York  was  difficult  and  revolting.
