The daily gazette., 1877-06-06
TRAMPS.

ItGAM MIS-. l-f-t do.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR ORGANIZATION
AND PERsoNNEL-THE "ARMY" AND
GRADES. UNION" TRAMPs--MYs-
TERIOUs SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
WITH WHICH THEY MARK i..o.
HoUsEs-THE TRAMP tf
.... IN POLITICS.
The summer season is at our doors.
The fashionable world is preparing for its
out OF town summering, and so is the
tramp. The latter, indeed, disguised
at the want of liberality of the Metropoli-
tan heart, has already begun to migrate
from the populous centres on the seaboard
to the sylvan shades of the country, there
to repair, in bucolic quiet, his wasted
energies. When the nipping frost of au
tumn comes the tramp willnreturn to
town reinvigorated and with cheek de :
veloped. If the temper Of the rural press
be taken as a criterion the tramp will
have warm reception in the suburbs
this summer. The origin of the tramp
is shrouded in mystery. He came upon
the country like the Colorado potato bug
whence no one new. As the Huns and
Goths swarmed down upon Rome of old,
so the tramp appeared at the gateways OF
our Eastern cities. They have eluded
the statistician and only vague gllesses
can be madeas to their numerical strength,
Some facts regarding his habits are all
that is known about him. He is liar,
a thief and loafer. At every house he
tells different story full of romance and
pathos. His imagination is brilliant, his
person unclean, his habits dissolute, a
very criminal in every appointment ex-
cept the striped shirt. Though he has
only recently grown to strength, he is an
old established fact, and his present for
midable condition is due to organiza-
ton.
THEIR ORGANIZATION.
That the tramps have an organization
is established beyond doubt, Within a
twelve-month the papers ofthe country
have literally teemed with narratives
which show conclusively that an organ
ization exists, with signs, passwords and
symbols. A sign language has been dis
covered but not interpreted. Through
out the States of New York and New
Jersey the posts of lodge gates have been
embellished with mysterious signs, sur
passing in eccentricity the hieroglyphics
on Egyptian obelisks. By scratch OF
chalk or knife cut the pioneer tramp in
dicates to his fellows that follow the
character of house, thus saving much
labor and deterring mendicants from
being refused money and food. Investi-
CATION has proven that most of the tramps
now depredating the country were at one
time In the army. Usually after war AND
the devastations of armies class oi
worthless fellows get abroad, and once
free from the surveillance 10 which they
are used they wander hither and thither
leading rowing, nomadic lives, with nc
care for the morrow, growing more inso
lent and idle every day.
THE ANCIENT ROMAN TRAMP.
Gibbon tells of deserters from the Ro-
man army who infested the highways o.
Gaul, and single handed levied tribute o
bread and wine from the defenceless hus
bandmen. In Syria and Mesopotami;
followers of the Pretorian guard, who
tired Of travel, slept by the roadway, like
their followers in Gaul, depredated ,
country already poor from demands made
upon it by the commissariat of the army
Here, then, is the early prototye of the
tramp of to-day. Gibbon in speaking o
this subject merely mentions the facts
obiter, and it is fair to infer that the
tramps of Rome were not so numerous o.
troublesome as the tramps of to-day. 1
they had numbered as many thousand
as our tramps do they would no doub
have been treated with that consideration
which the thoughtful historian devotes t,
all things important. We have no de
tails as to how they lived, further thai
that they insisted on having food an,
drink, and when short of money the,
borrowed" from upguarded wayfarers
Nothing is heard of them in the City o
the Seven Hills, and if they ever congre
gated there their identity was lost in tn
vast populace, and the Irenarchs wer'
never bothered as our police justices ar
to find place in which to incarcerat,
them.
THE ARMY TRAMP.
The original army of American tramp
which was an offshot of the army dis
banded in 1864, has been much augment
ed within the past few years by recruit
from among the laborers and mechanics
who, finding it difficult to get employ
ment, have Joined the rowing army. Mos
| of these gentlemen from the trades arr
sharks, who, when times were good, uset
to organize strikes and make a comfort
able living by hoodwinking the fellow
who worked hard for living and joinet
unions in order to oprotect themselves,an,
not to hamper or fight capital. The.
saw an easy living in strikes and strike
were always going on. The hard time
have opened the eyes of mechanics, an,
it is not probable that strikes will be 81
frequent in the future. Mention has beel
made of an organization having been in
stituted among tramps, with signs ant