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21 October 2012

COOGAN story 

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(appearing in the "Washington Post" [DC], 04 AUG 1894, PAGE 8):

STORY OF A BLIND MAN

Another Proof that Truth Is
Stranger Than Fiction

AN OLD SAILOR FINDS A FRIEND

Romance of a Poor Unfortunate Who Used
to Stand on the Corner of Ninth Street 
and Pennsylvania Avenue Offering Pencils
For Sale to Passers-by - A Young Clerk
Who Questions Him Discovers that He
Had Known Him in Boyhood

For several days a blind man has stood at the corner of Pennsylvania
avenue and Ninth street with lead pencils for sale.  Few persons have
noticed the man, for he is retiring and unobtrusive, and has stood
half-hid in the niche between two of the buildings on the corner.
Yesterday a policeman told the blind man to move on; that he had 
stood too long there.

"Please don't make me move," pleaded the blind man; "I can't go from
this corner."

"Why not?"

"The only friend I have in the world is near me here.  Don't make me
go."

And then a story came out, a true story, but one so strange as to be
almost incredible.  The blind man is Andrew Coogan. Fifteen years ago
the site of one eye was accidentally destroyed while he was a sailor
on the ship Bazanna.  The other eye was affected and Coogan became
a almost blind.  Up to four weeks ago he could see well enough to
walk alone, and to do little jobs of work.  He had a chum, a blind
man, named John Graham, and the two lived in a little room at 489
Missouri avenue, and were as happy as two persons, so awfully 
afflicted, could be.  They went out together frequently, looking for
work, Coogan leading Graham.  What little money they made was 
carefully expended.  They cooked their own meals, and were proud that
they were drags upon no one.

Became Totally Blind.

But one afternoon, not quite a month ago, as the two were walking down
Pennsylvania avenue, Graham turned his head suddenly. The ragged straw
brim struck Coogan's remaining eye.  The pain made Coogan place his
hand to the eye for a moment.  As he removed it he cried:

"My God, John, I am now as blind as you."

The blow from the hat had destroyed his sight.  Without another word,
the two men groped their way to their room, long familiarity with the
streets having made this easy.  There they talked over their situation
which was now so changed. One could no longer help the other, and they
decided it was best they should part.  What little monty they had was
given to Graham, and the next day he went to Pittsburg [sic].

Coogan was then forced to go on the street with pencils to sell.
During all of his years of failing sight he had never begged, and now
he was a poor hand at it.  Few persons bought his pencils, and the
police moved him from street to street.  He began to think that there
was no place for him.  Finally, not many days ago, a newsboy led him
to the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Ninth street and told him 
that it was a good place.

Found a Friend of His Better Days.

All day Coogan stood on the corner, and toward evening a clerk in one 
of the stores there, who had been wathing the different persons who
stopped to give pennies to the blind man, thought that he would talk
to him.  Approaching the man, the clerk asked him how he lost his
sight.

"My eyes were injured when I was sailor on the ship Bazanna fifteen
years ago."

"The Bazanna," ejaculated the salesman; "why, my father used to be 
captain of that ship."

"Was your father Capt. Robert Smith?"

The clerk assented, and then it came out that Coogan, now blind and
selling pencils, had often played with the son of his captain on the
ship fifteen years ago, and had time and again carried him into the
rigging and taught him all the little pleastantries of seamanship.

The young man, only too anxious to do all that he could for his
father's old sailor, is having the eye which was recently hurt 
treated, and is taking care of him in other ways.

Yesterday afternoon the young man arranged with the police that Coogan
should not be moved from the corner which had been such a fortunate
one for him, and to-day he can been seen by all who pass.

This is the story, simple but strange.  It is true, except that the
correct name of the old captain of the Bazanna has not been given.

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