In spite of his threat to make it warm for Hogan, the latter was released from custody on condition that he would leave the city. This he did by crossing over the river to Allegheny, and returning again the next morning. He remained some two weeks longer in the city, and experienced no further trouble from the Mayor.
Ben next went to Brookville, and there gave lessons in gymnastics. During the six weeks which he spent between this town and Reynoldsville, the crusade movement against whiskey broke out in active form in that part of Pennsylvania. It was at the time that Hartranft was running for Governor, and when he was anxious to conciliate the temperance vote. He spoke one Sunday night in Brookville, and Ben was among those who attended the meeting.
On the next day the women pushed their work among the saloons, the town being crowded on account of the holding of the court. In one of the bar-rooms where the crusaders operated, and where Ben chanced to be present, some of the bystanders insulted the women in their work. Picking out the ringleader of the disturbance, Hogan proceeded to deliver a lecture to him after the following fashion:
“You have no right to interfere with these ladies. They are doing simply what they believe to be right; and, whether right or wrong, no decent man will insult them. It might be a good deal better for you if you had lived up to the principles of temperance yourself. Perhaps your wife, then, wouldn’t be in want of bread to eat, nor your little ones without shoes or stockings. If you had spent the money which you have wasted for liquor in a better cause, you would be a good deal happier to-day. I am a temperance man myself, although I don’t believe in the total abstinence principles of these ladies. At the same time, I am going to see to it that they are not annoyed nor insulted. No man worthy of the name will do that to any woman. Remember that you have had a mother, and perhaps a wife and sisters. Treat these women with courtesy and kindness. They are engaged in a great work. Now, gentlemen, we will all have a drink!”
This speech, as may be readily conceived, had its effect upon the crowd; and where Ben Hogan became the champion of the crusaders, none of the Brookvillers thought it wise to molest them.
After leaving Brookville, Ben went to Pittsburg again, where, falling in with a young man whom we will designate as George, he made his way into Indiana county. There he entered upon the counterfeit money game, on a somewhat different plan from that adopted in New York. I will attempt to describe the method used.
Ben would call upon a leading farmer, whose love of lucre he believed to be stronger than his conscience. He would go provided with two or three hundred dollars in crisp, new bank notes. Falling into conversation with the intended victim, he would tell him, in a delicate and round-about manner, that he had a project in mind, by which his friend might make a fortune in no time. Drawing out some of the genuine bills, he would say:
“Just look at these. You wouldn’t think they were counterfeit, now, would you?”
“Counterfeit!” the farmer would exclaim, in amazement, at the same time taking the bills and examining them critically. “Well, I swan! If them is counterfeit bills, I’d like to have about a million of them, that’s all!”
“Yes, they’re counterfeit!” Ben would rejoin, in a matter-of-fact sort of way. “The best imitations ever made. Bankers themselves can’t detect them!”