Four of the remaining eight were devoted to
studying English.
His first connection with journalism arose out of an experience which he
related with a wealth of detail which showed how deeply it had been
burned into his memory.
When he arrived in St. Louis he soon found himself at the end of his
resources, and was faced with the absolute impossibility of securing
work in that city. In company with forty other men he applied at the
office of a general agent who had advertised for hands to go down the
Mississippi and take up well-paid posts on a Louisiana sugar plantation.
The agent demanded a fee of five dollars from each applicant, and, by
pooling their resources, the members of this wretched band managed to
meet the charge. The same night they were taken on board a steamer which
immediately started down river. At three o'clock in the morning they
were landed on the river bank about forty miles below St. Louis, at a
spot where there was neither house, road, nor clearing. Before the
marooned party had time to realize its plight the steamer had
disappeared.
A council of war was held, and it was decided that they should tramp
back to St. Louis, and put a summary termination to the agent's career
by storming his office and murdering him.
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