Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-11-01
ACalonY ofTramps.

In woodland OH Darby read in one
of the most picturesque sections OF
country in the vicinity of Philadelphia
there is a certain little community Oh
settlement OF tramps. During the day
they lounge around fires of brush wood,
made in little stony hollow, some,
times singing, sometimes cooking OF
mending or washing, sometimes drink
ing. Occasionally some of them,
spurred by appetite or tired of idleness
90 nut into the fields and gather herbs
or flowers and bring them into the city
o sell. and with the money received
huy whisky, upon which they all get
drunk and make The woods ring with
Songs and boisterous laughter, or saw
age cries. The size of this motley
gathering varies with the time and the
seasons. Ii hardly ever numbers less
han twenty, and has reached to eighty.
| There Sre mea and women, old and
young. Nearly all day long they Iin-
ger around the fires i'm the wood, and
when storms of great violence occur,
| hey take refuge in barns in the neigh
,orhood. Upon a beautiful wooded
Knoll they have set up a little cabin
made OF logs and the bark of trees. In
The stony hollow in the side of hill j.,
where they pass much of their time,
they have kettles and pans and other
household utensils, and wooden tri-
pod upon which TO hang a kettle over
fire, and strung from tree to tree
lines upon which to hang their clothes
70 dry. They fare well. They beg
from the farmers in the neighborhood
who dare not refuse them and fear
even to murmur at their demands.
Any offense to them might result in
the burning OF the barn or home of the
helpless offender. 1t is no wonder
that man should live in dread with
gang of laWless vagabonds about his
door, and no protection near him for
himself or his wife or daughters. This
Icommunity seems TO be governed by a
master and "iDistress"-the latter
an old, white haired wretch, who has
been known in the vicinity for years.
fhey receive the allegiance of all the
others, and refuse sdmittence into ths
circle to such applicants as do not, for
my reason, please their fancy. OIL
course, their authority is not ALWAYS
submitted to, but to great extent they
are the rulers of the colony.
Inc ooSiOty SOuOidly 10 hpt iuNltIuRy |
and individually it is repulsive. So
many low proved, scowling, savage
human beings one seldom meets With |
IN the same uay. If an honest laborer
looks eontemptuously at them they
-cOwl in return or mutter threatening
ly; if a curious stranger go too near
their residence" they warn him off.
1r il he laugh at their patched gar
nents futtering in the breeze they
,urse him; if he ailudes to them as
"bummers" they ar Sc in their maiesty
and pour forth their indignation. Now
to break up this settlement is u question
which has agitated the minds of the
farmers round about for a long time.
Winter does not destroy it. All last
winter the tramps could be tracked by
the footprints in the snow from the
barn where they slept to the hollow in
the woods, where they had gathered
together FL immense mound OF leaves
and withered brush. No one is willing
TO. order them off. 1t is not safe. They
have been tolerated until. patience hss
given away, but how ge. rid of them
Is problem yet oe5e solved.
- l.