Shortly after the incidents narrated in the preceding chapter, Ben made his way to St. Louis.
On his way to that city, and while in Cincinnati, he met with O’Baldwin. Ben had intended, on arriving in St. Louis, to give a sparring exhibition, but O’Baldwin got in ahead on this project, and took the cream of the town.
Gallagher was at this time in St. Louis, getting ready for his fight with Allen. When Ben reached the city, he called on Gallagher, and was surprised at the remarkable powers which he possessed. He interested himself in behalf of his fellow pugilist, and did the latter good service in the capacity of trainer.
After remaining some time in St. Louis, Ben took a farewell benefit, which was held in Jack Looney’s hall. Gallagher, McCool, and a number of others volunteered for the occasion, which proved in every way a success.
Leaving St. Louis, Hogan returned East, going to Oneida, N. Y., where he acted as trainer for McLaughlin, who was preparing for his match with Homer Lane. After a month spent in this manner, Ben was seized with a desire to go back to the oil country, and, accordingly, made his way to Petroleum Centre. He reached that town dead broke; borrowed five dollars of Tyler, and struck out for Parker’s Landing.
When he reached that small but by no means unimportant settlement, our hero had just thirty-five cents in his pocket. His first entree, therefore, in Parker’s—for by that name it is familiarly known—cannot be said to have been altogether encouraging. But if his capital in money was limited, Ben had any amount of pluck and energy, and these soon gave him a fair start.
His first venture in Parker’s was in the gymnasium line. Charley Green, to whom he made known his plans, advanced him forty dollars, with which he opened a place. He stopped for a time with John Eckert, who now keeps a popular hotel in Auburn. The gymnasium was opened in a hall, and among the distinguished pupils were Eph Parker, Doc. Karnes, Charley Green, Tillinghast, and others. Eph Parker may be said to have been the mainstay and cornerstone of the concern. Whenever Ben became hard-up—which he did frequently in those days—Eph would generously advance him fifty or a hundred dollars, wherewith to bridge over the temporary troubles. Eph was a good-natured sort of a fellow, who spent his money with more freedom than wisdom. He had a great weakness for boxing, and believed himself to be an expert in that line. Ben very quickly discovered this susceptible point, and turned it to practical account. He would tickle Eph’s vanity by telling him that he was the greatest boxer in the world, and follow up this stupendous flattery by borrowing a hundred dollars.
This sort of thing might have gone on indefinitely, but for the fact that Jim Linton opened a free-and-easy in the town, which made sad havoc with Ben’s gymnasium. In fact it broke it up.
Bent upon taking advantage of this misfortune, Hogan proceeded to set up a free-and-easy himself.
Both of these places were what might properly be termed red-hot, and of the two, Ben’s was a little the hotter. Parker’s was a town at that time unlike any other spot on the face of the globe. The inhabitants grew accustomed to such exclamations as “I’ve lost my ear!” “I’ve lost my nose!” “I’ve lost my pocket-book!” This last, perhaps, was the commonest of all. It was a place where a man found so much life that he was apt to stumble upon death when he least expected it.