During the first decade of the 20th century , Anderson worked as a newsboy ; decades later , his old boss remembered him working before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire . He may have been a railroad porter after the fire . For about 15 years beginning around 1909 , Anderson worked as a bellhop at a number of hotels . According to a 1918 draft card , Anderson was married and a hotel clerk in San Francisco . In the 1920 census Anderson , divorced , worked on Sutter Street as an operator ; his father was born in Virginia and his mother in Ohio
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Garland Anderson (playwright)