The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

On the day following our night at the “Club” we slept until late in the afternoon; so late that beginning search for work was entirely out of the question.  This did not cause me much worry, for I had more than three hundred dollars, and New York had impressed me as a place where there was lots of money and not much difficulty in getting it.  It is needless to inform my readers that I did not long hold this opinion.  We got out of the house about dark, went to a restaurant on Sixth Avenue and ate something, then walked around for a couple of hours.  I finally suggested that we visit the same places we had been in the night before.  Following my suggestion, we started first to the gambling house.  The man on the door let us in without any question; I accredited this to my success of the night before.  We went straight to the “crap” room, and I at once made my way to a table, where I was rather flattered by the murmur of recognition which went around.  I played in up and down luck for three or four hours; then, worn with nervous excitement, quit, having lost about fifty dollars.  But I was so strongly possessed with the thought that I would make up my losses the next time I played that I left the place with a light heart.

When we got into the street our party was divided against itself; two were for going home at once and getting to bed.  They gave as a reason that we were to get up early and look for jobs.  I think the real reason was that they had each lost several dollars in the game.  I lived to learn that in the world of sport all men win alike, but lose differently; and so gamblers are rated, not by the way in which they win, but by the way in which they lose.  Some men lose with a careless smile, recognizing that losing is a part of the game; others curse their luck and rail at fortune; and others, still, lose sadly; after each such experience they are swept by a wave of reform; they resolve to stop gambling and be good.  When in this frame of mind it would take very little persuasion to lead them into a prayer-meeting.  Those in the first class are looked upon with admiration; those in the second class are merely commonplace; while those in the third are regarded with contempt.  I believe these distinctions hold good in all the ventures of life.  After some minutes one of my friends and I succeeded in convincing the other two that a while at the “Club” would put us all in better spirits; and they consented to go, on our promise not to stay longer than an hour.  We found the place crowded, and the same sort of thing going on which we had seen the night before.  I took a seat at once by the side of the piano player, and was soon lost to everything except the novel charm of the music.  I watched the performer with the idea of catching the trick, and during one of his intermissions I took his place at the piano and made an attempt to imitate him, but even my quick ear and ready fingers were unequal to the task on first trial.

We did not stay at the “Club” very long, but went home to bed in order to be up early the next day.  We had no difficulty in finding work, and my third morning in New York found me at a table rolling cigars.  I worked steadily for some weeks, at the same time spending my earnings between the “crap” game and the “Club.”  Making cigars became more and more irksome to me; perhaps my more congenial work as a “reader” had unfitted me for work at the table.  And, too, the late hours I was keeping made such a sedentary occupation almost beyond the powers of will and endurance.  I often found it hard to keep my eyes open and sometimes had to get up and move around to keep from falling asleep.  I began to miss whole days from the factory, days on which I was compelled to stay at home and sleep.

My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred dollars ahead, and at other times I had to borrow money from my fellow workmen to settle my room rent and pay for my meals.  Each night after leaving the dice game I went to the “Club” to hear the music and watch the gaiety.  If I had won, this was in accord with my mood; if I had lost, it made me forget.  I at last realized that making cigars for a living and gambling for a living could not both be carried on at the same time, and I resolved to give up the cigar making.  This resolution led me into a life which held me bound more than a year.  During that period my regular time for going to bed was somewhere between four and six o’clock in the mornings.  I got up late in the afternoons, walked about a little, then went to the gambling house or the “Club.”  My New York was limited to ten blocks; the boundaries were Sixth Avenue from Twenty-third to Thirty-third Streets, with the cross streets one block to the west.  Central Park was a distant forest, and the lower part of the city a foreign land.  I look back upon the life I then led with a shudder when I think what would have been had I not escaped it.  But had I not escaped it, I should have been no more unfortunate than are many young colored men who come to New York.  During that dark period I became acquainted with a score of bright, intelligent young fellows who had come up to the great city with high hopes and ambitions and who had fallen under the spell of this under life, a spell they could not throw off.  There was one popularly known as “the doctor”; he had had two years in the Harvard Medical School, but here he was, living this gas-light life, his will and moral sense so enervated and deadened that it was impossible for him to break away.  I do not doubt that the same thing is going on now, but I have sympathy rather than censure for these victims, for I know how easy it is to slip into a slough from which it takes a herculean effort to leap.

I regret that I cannot contrast my views of life among colored people of New York; but the truth is, during my entire stay in this city I did not become acquainted with a single respectable family.  I knew that there were several colored men worth a hundred or so thousand dollars each, and some families who proudly dated their free ancestry back a half-dozen generations.  I also learned that in Brooklyn there lived quite a large colony in comfortable homes which they owned; but at no point did my life come in contact with theirs.

In my gambling experiences I passed through all the states and conditions that a gambler is heir to.  Some days found me able to peel ten and twenty-dollar bills from a roll, and others found me clad in a linen duster and carpet slippers.  I finally caught up another method of earning money, and so did not have to depend entirely upon the caprices of fortune at the gaming table.  Through continually listening to the music at the “Club,” and through my own previous training, my natural talent and perseverance, I developed into a remarkable player of ragtime; indeed, I had the name at that time of being the best ragtime-player in New York.  I brought all my knowledge of classic music to bear and, in so doing, achieved some novelties which pleased and even astonished my listeners.  It was I who first made ragtime transcriptions of familiar classic selections.  I used to play Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” in a manner that never failed to arouse enthusiasm among the patrons of the “Club.”  Very few nights passed during which I was not asked to play it.  It was no secret that the great increase in slumming visitors was due to my playing.  By mastering ragtime I gained several things:  first of all, I gained the title of professor.  I was known as “the professor” as long as I remained in that world.  Then, too, I gained the means of earning a rather fair livelihood.  This work took up much of my time and kept me almost entirely away from the gambling table.  Through it I also gained a friend who was the means by which I escaped from this lower world.  And, finally, I secured a wedge which has opened to me more doors and made me a welcome guest than my playing of Beethoven and Chopin could ever have done.

The greater part of the money I now began to earn came through the friend to whom I alluded in the foregoing paragraph.  Among the other white “slummers” there came into the “Club” one night a clean-cut, slender, but athletic-looking man, who would have been taken for a youth had it not been for the tinge of gray about his temples.  He was clean-shaven and had regular features, and all of his movements bore the indefinable but unmistakable stamp of culture.  He spoke to no one, but sat languidly puffing cigarettes and sipping a glass of beer.  He was the center of a great deal of attention; all of the old-timers were wondering who he was.  When I had finished playing, he called a waiter and by him sent me a five-dollar bill.  For about a month after that he was at the “Club” one or two nights each week, and each time after I had played, he gave me five dollars.  One night he sent for me to come to his table; he asked me several questions about myself; then told me that he had an engagement which he wanted me to fill.  He gave me a card containing his address and asked me to be there on a certain night.

I was on hand promptly and found that he was giving a dinner in his own apartments to a party of ladies and gentlemen and that I was expected to furnish the musical entertainment.  When the grave, dignified man at the door let me in, the place struck me as being almost dark, my eyes had been so accustomed to the garish light of the “Club.”  He took my coat and hat, bade me take a seat, and went to tell his master that I had come.  When my eyes were adjusted to the soft light, I saw that I was in the midst of elegance and luxury in a degree such as I had never seen; but not the elegance which makes one ill at ease.  As I sank into a great chair, the subdued tone, the delicately sensuous harmony of my surroundings, drew from me a deep sigh of relief and comfort.  How long the man was gone I do not know, but I was startled by a voice saying:  “Come this way, if you please, sir,” and I saw him standing by my chair.  I had been asleep; and I awoke very much confused and a little ashamed, because I did not know how many times he may have called me.  I followed him through into the dining-room, where the butler was putting the finishing touches to a table which already looked like a big jewel.  The doorman turned me over to the butler, and I passed with the butler on back to where several waiters were busy polishing and assorting table utensils.  Without being asked whether I was hungry or not, I was placed at a table and given something to eat.  Before I had finished eating, I heard the laughter and talk of the guests who were arriving.  Soon afterwards I was called in to begin my work.

I passed in to where the company was gathered and went directly to the piano.  According to a suggestion from the host, I began with classic music.  During the first number there was absolute quiet and appreciative attention, and when I had finished, I was given a round of generous applause.  After that the talk and the laughter began to grow until the music was only an accompaniment to the chatter.  This, however, did not disconcert me as it once would have done, for I had become accustomed to playing in the midst of uproarious noise.  As the guests began to pay less attention to me, I was enabled to pay more to them.  There were about a dozen of them.  The men ranged in appearance from a girlish-looking youth to a big grizzled man whom everybody addressed as “Judge.”  None of the women appeared to be under thirty, but each of them struck me as being handsome.  I was not long in finding out that they were all decidedly blasé.  Several of the women smoked cigarettes, and with a careless grace which showed they were used to the habit.  Occasionally a “Damn it!” escaped from the lips of some one of them, but in such a charming way as to rob it of all vulgarity.  The most notable thing which I observed was that the reserve of the host increased in direct proportion with the hilarity of his guests.  I thought that there was something going wrong which displeased him.  I afterwards learned that it was his habitual manner on such occasions.  He seemed to take cynical delight in watching and studying others indulging in excess.  His guests were evidently accustomed to his rather non-participating attitude, for it did not seem in any degree to dampen their spirits.

When dinner was served, the piano was moved and the door left open, so that the company might hear the music while eating.  At a word from the host I struck up one of my liveliest ragtime pieces.  The effect was surprising, perhaps even to the host; the ragtime music came very near spoiling the party so far as eating the dinner was concerned.  As soon as I began, the conversation suddenly stopped.  It was a pleasure to me to watch the expression of astonishment and delight that grew on the faces of everybody.  These were people—­and they represented a large class—­who were ever expecting to find happiness in novelty, each day restlessly exploring and exhausting every resource of this great city that might possibly furnish a new sensation or awaken a fresh emotion, and who were always grateful to anyone who aided them in their quest.  Several of the women left the table and gathered about the piano.  They watched my fingers and asked what kind of music it was that I was playing, where I had learned it, and a host of other questions.  It was only by being repeatedly called back to the table that they were induced to finish their dinner.  When the guests arose, I struck up my ragtime transcription of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” playing it with terrific chromatic octave runs in the bass.  This raised everybody’s spirits to the highest point of gaiety, and the whole company involuntarily and unconsciously did an impromptu cake-walk.  From that time on until the time of leaving they kept me so busy that my arms ached.  I obtained a little respite when the girlish-looking youth and one or two of the ladies sang several songs, but after each of these it was “back to ragtime.”

In leaving, the guests were enthusiastic in telling the host that he had furnished them the most unusual entertainment they had ever enjoyed.  When they had gone, my millionaire friend—­for he was reported to be a millionaire—­said to me with a smile:  “Well, I have given them something they’ve never had before.”  After I had put on my coat and was ready to leave, he made me take a glass of wine; he then gave me a cigar and twenty dollars in bills.  He told me that he would give me lots of work, his only stipulation being that I should not play any engagements such as I had just filled for him, except by his instructions.  I readily accepted the proposition, for I was sure that I could not be the loser by such a contract.  I afterwards played for him at many dinners and parties of one kind or another.  Occasionally he “loaned” me to some of his friends.  And, too, I often played for him alone at his apartments.  At such times he was quite a puzzle to me until I became accustomed to his manners.  He would sometimes sit for three or four hours hearing me play, his eyes almost closed, making scarcely a motion except to light a fresh cigarette, and never commenting one way or another on the music.  At first I sometimes thought he had fallen asleep and would pause in playing.  The stopping of the music always aroused him enough to tell me to play this or that; and I soon learned that my task was not to be considered finished until he got up from his chair and said:  “That will do.”  The man’s powers of endurance in listening often exceeded mine in performing—­yet I am not sure that he was always listening.  At times I became so oppressed with fatigue and sleepiness that it took almost superhuman effort to keep my fingers going; in fact, I believe I sometimes did so while dozing.  During such moments this man sitting there so mysteriously silent, almost hid in a cloud of heavy-scented smoke, filled me with a sort of unearthly terror.  He seemed to be some grim, mute, but relentless tyrant, possessing over me a supernatural power which he used to drive me on mercilessly to exhaustion.  But these feelings came very rarely; besides, he paid me so liberally I could forget much.  There at length grew between us a familiar and warm relationship, and I am sure he had a decided personal liking for me.  On my part, I looked upon him at that time as about all a man could wish to be.

The “Club” still remained my headquarters, and when I was not playing for my good patron, I was generally to be found there.  However, I no longer depended on playing at the “Club” to earn my living; I rather took rank with the visiting celebrities and, occasionally, after being sufficiently urged, would favor my old and new admirers with a number or two.  I say, without any egotistic pride, that among my admirers were several of the best-looking women who frequented the place, and who made no secret of the fact that they admired me as much as they did my playing.  Among these was the “widow”; indeed, her attentions became so marked that one of my friends warned me to beware of her black companion, who was generally known as a “bad man.”  He said there was much more reason to be careful because the pair had lately quarreled and had not been together at the “Club” for some nights.  This warning greatly impressed me and I resolved to stop the affair before it should go any further; but the woman was so beautiful that my native gallantry and delicacy would not allow me to repulse her; my finer feelings entirely overcame my judgment.  The warning also opened my eyes sufficiently to see that though my artistic temperament and skill made me interesting and attractive to the woman, she was, after all, using me only to excite the jealousy of her companion and revenge herself upon him.  It was this surly, black despot who held sway over her deepest emotions.

One night, shortly afterwards, I went into the “Club” and saw the “widow” sitting at a table in company with another woman.  She at once beckoned for me to come to her.  I went, knowing that I was committing worse than folly.  She ordered a quart of champagne and insisted that I sit down and drink with her.  I took a chair on the opposite side of the table and began to sip a glass of the wine.  Suddenly I noticed by an expression on the “widow’s” face that something had occurred.

I instinctively glanced around and saw that her companion had just entered.  His ugly look completely frightened me.  My back was turned to him, but by watching the “widow’s” eyes I judged that he was pacing back and forth across the room.  My feelings were far from being comfortable; I expected every moment to feel a blow on my head.  She, too, was very nervous; she was trying hard to appear unconcerned, but could not succeed in hiding her real feelings.  I decided that it was best to get out of such a predicament even at the expense of appearing cowardly, and I made a motion to rise.  Just as I partly turned in my chair, I saw the black fellow approaching; he walked directly to our table and leaned over.  The “widow” evidently feared he was going to strike her, and she threw back her head.  Instead of striking her he whipped out a revolver and fired; the first shot went straight into her throat.  There were other shots fired, but how many I do not know; for the first knowledge I had of my surroundings and actions was that I was rushing through the chop-suey restaurant into the street.  Just which streets I followed when I got outside I do not know, but I think I must have gone towards Eighth Avenue, then down towards Twenty-third Street and across towards Fifth Avenue.  I traveled, not by sight, but instinctively.  I felt like one fleeing in a horrible nightmare.

How long and far I walked I cannot tell; but on Fifth Avenue, under a light, I passed a cab containing a solitary occupant, who called to me, and I recognized the voice and face of my millionaire friend.  He stopped the cab and asked:  “What on earth are you doing strolling in this part of the town?” For answer I got into the cab and related to him all that had happened.  He reassured me by saying that no charge of any kind could be brought against me; then added:  “But of course you don’t want to be mixed up in such an affair.”  He directed the driver to turn around and go into the park, and then went on to say:  “I decided last night that I’d go to Europe tomorrow.  I think I’ll take you along instead of Walter.”  Walter was his valet.  It was settled that I should go to his apartments for the rest of the night and sail with him in the morning.

We drove around through the park, exchanging only an occasional word.  The cool air somewhat calmed my nerves and I lay back and closed my eyes; but still I could see that beautiful white throat with the ugly wound.  The jet of blood pulsing from it had placed an indelible red stain on my memory.