Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-09-14

Sdlu, Gl6 I1dle , Wleu Gu0y TeDulIu VIII DFO-
badly put on their building more ladders,
but no one else will, and in week or two
there will be another wholesale destruction
of lives.
THE TRAMP QUESTION.
We have got to face another irruption of
tralnps very soon. The cold season has
commenced in the northeast, and the adj
vance gaurd of the army has already shown
itself. The sturdy thieves are getting more
and more common in the parks, and back
areas that are accessible, and Railways
that are carelessly left open, are being al
ready robbed. There is an alarming in
crease Of sturdy, uhshaven, unshorn, un-
kempt men standing on the streets, look
ing with villainous eyes into houses, to see
whether robbery or beggary will do best,
and the police are becoming more and
more busy with vagrants. Those who go to
the far west during the summer, are not
here yet, but when they come we shall
have our hands full,
l asked one of them which he preferred,
the city or the country. With charming
frankness he answered, the country, of
course, when the weather is warm enough
to admit of sleeping in the open air, or in
barns.
''You see," said the vagabond, Sin the
city the cops are always a watchin' Of US,
and you can't do nothin' without takin'
blasted risk. Butin the country, bless you,
ther' amt nothin' to stand in the way.
Two of us watches till the men are away in
the fields, and we know ther' amt nobody
in the house but woman. Then we goes up
and asks for suthin' to eat, which we don't
RELY want, for we kin kill and roast as
many chickens as we want. But while the
women are givin' US suthin' to eat, we sights
about, and if ther' is any loose property
layin' round, we gobbles it. If the women
make any fuss we show pistol, and that
ends it. We don't steal enough to make it
worth their while to follerus very far, and
besides they are afraid,-for we have dOz-
en- or two in a neighborhood.
''Do the women never make resistsnceY
Certainly they do. Every now and then
we strike one who has revolver and big
dog, and they make it warm for us. have
hole through my left leg, that woman
in Steuben county, New York, put there.
And my pardner was nearly finished by
bulldog, and then the men come up, and
they beat us nearly to death. But ther'
amt no biznis that you don't have to take
chances in"
''If yon can get all that you want to eat,
without invading houses, what do you want
to take these chances for ?"
''Eatin' amt all ther' is of life. Clothes
don't bother US much, but ther' is likker
and tobacker. Them you hev to pay for,
in suthin', for you can't walk into a s'lOOn
and bluff EN- out of them. No indeed! l
wish we could. But them we must have,
and then we like to hsv jambOrees when a
lot of US git together, and then we hev to
take keer of our wimmen, and one woman
will drink more and smoke more than two
men. They git crazy and are very expen-
sive. No, we hev to hev suthin' besides
our eatin'."
"If you prefer the country when it Is
warm, why don't you go South in the Win
ter?"
"We tried that, but it won't work. We
kin git along with the weather, but you
see the country is so sparsely settled that 1t
takes too much walkin' to git from house to
house. And then, they don't live well E.
nough. They cook terrible, and l won't
live on hog and hominy and all sorts Of
grease. could have done it once, but my
stomach amt what it used to be. lam git
tin old and have to have things better than
l used to. l feel it all day if don't have
coffee in the mornin', and l must have y
great many other things wioh they amt
used TO in the South. And besides all this
they are too handy with their weapons down
ther'. In the North when they git after US
they arrest us, and takes us very careluiiy
to a Jail, and they brings us tracts ana
treats us kinaly, so as to reform us anu 'ue
wimmen visit us, to try the effect OF KIND
ness ON us erin ones, and they feed us
mighty well. and altogether, it amt bad
thing for rest. Andthen we gifts out aud
goes our way, recooperatid, and good for a
Great deal of walkin'. Now down South it
amt that way at all. If you go into a
house and scare the wimmen, the men amt
far off. and they git on their horses and
hunt us. And they don't arrest us nuther.
When they come up with us, they are jest
as likely as not to put charge Of buek-shot
through us, for ther amt no inquiry about