(Miller p5). He applied for jobs he was unqualified to do so in a matter of weeks he was fired, and he had to go back to sea to find a living. He spent the next several months in the south Atlantic and even made a few stops in South Africa. He eventually quit this job to wonder in poverty up and down the coasts of Argentina and Brazil. Finally returned to New York stowed on a British Liner. He still would not live his wife and son so with a three dollar a month allowance he rented a place on the docks called Jimmy the Priest’s Waterfront Dive. He still did not work and sank deeper into poverty. His father forced him to get a job so he signed on as a seaman on a trans.-Atlantic luxury liner. Eugene hated the sea so much though that he returned to Jimmy the Priest’s only to attempt suicide by massive intake of veronal. He was saved by his friend James Byth and he was now made to go travel with his father’s vaudeville company, but that did not last long due to Eugene’s poor acting ability. Eugene’s writing talent was discovered on accident when his father got him a job with the New London Telegraph. He ran a poetry column and often filled it with his own work using several different pen names. He would also at this time supply poems to the New York Call. “The Masses,” and Franklin P. Adam’s “Conning Tower” were among his best poems written during this time. Still only writing as a hobby, he found it was a good way to fund his extravagant social life. Due to his lifestyle, his wife Kathleen became upset and once when he was with a prostitute she barged in and demanded a divorce on grounds of adultery. They were legally separated on October 11,1912. Shortly after this event, he came down with tuberculosis and was in and out of several medical institutions. He recovered in a matter of months and he went to live with his friend James Rippen. During this time, Eugene began seriously wr...
