Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-09-14

anu III very llDtidl ndluCl- 'hiy " -"
ago, the same tragedy occurred in fac
tory in Massachusetts, and in the city OF
New York there are thousand build
ings liable to 20 at any time. But it won
he done There will be great deal said.
the IIales when they rebuild will probably
put on their building more ladders, but no
one else will, and in week or two there
will be another wholesale destruction of
life
THE TRAMP QUESTION.
We have got to face another irruption on
tramps very soon. The cold season has
commenced in the northeast, and the adj
vance guard 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, unshayen unshorn, I'M
kempt men standing on the streets, looking
with yillainous eyes into houses, 10 see
whether robbery or beggary will do best,
and the police are becoming more and more
busy with Migrants. Those who got far
West during the summer are not here yet,
but when they come we shall have our
hands full
asked one of them which he preferred,
the city or the country. With charming
f.ankness 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, = in the
city the cops are always watchin of US,
and you can't do nothin' without takin'
blasted risk But in the country, bless you,
Their ain t nothin' to stand in the way. Two
of us watches till the men were away in the
fields, and We know ther' amt nobody IN
the house but women. Then We goes up
and asks for su.nin to eat, witch 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 Their is any loose prop
erty layin' round, We gobbles it. If the wo-
men make any fuss we show pistol, and
that ends it. We don't steal enough to
make it worth their while to foller US
US very far, and besides they are afraid
for we have dozen or two in a neighbor
hood
d" Do the women never make resistance -
90 Certainly they do. Every now and then
we strike one who has revolver and a big
dog, and they make it warm for US. have
a hole through my left leg, that woman in
Steuben county, New York, put there. And
my pardner was nearly finished by bull
dog, and then the men come up, and they
beat US nearly to death. But Their amt no
bizniss that you don't have to take chances
in"
" If you can get all that you want to eat,
without invading houses, what do you want
to take these chances for?
" Eatin' ain't all ther' is of life. Clothes
doa't bother US much, but Their is ikker
and tobacker. Them you hev to pay for, in
suthin' for you can't walk into s'loon and
bluff EN- out of them. No indeed | wish
we Good But them We must have, and then
we like to have jamborees when lot Of US
git together, and then We like to take keer
of our wimmen, and one woman will drink
more and smoke more than two men. They
git crazy and are very expensive. No, we
hev to hev suthin besides our eatin'''
" If you prefer the country when it is
warm, why don't you 90 South in the
winter ?''
We tried that, but it won t work. We
kin git along with the weather, but you see
the country there is 81 sparsely settled that
it takes too much walkin' to git from house
to house And then, they don't live well
enough. They cook terrible, and | won't
live on hog and hominy and all sorts Of
grease | could have done it once, but
my stomach isn't what it used to be.
am gcttin' old and have to have things
better than used to. ! feel it all day if
all this, they are too handy with their
weapons down Their. In the North when |
they git after US they arrest US, ana takes us
very carefully to Jail, and they bring US
tracts, and treats Us kindly, 50 as to reform
US, and the wimmen visit us, to try the
effect Of kindness on US erin ones, and they
feed US mighty well, and, altogether, it amt
a bad thing for rest. And then we gifts
out, and goes our way, recooperated, and
good for great deal Of walkin' Now down
South it amt that way at all. If you 20
into a house and scare the wimmen, the men
amt far Of, and they git on their horses and
hunt US. And they don't arrest US nuther
hen they come up with Us, they are Jest
Is likely as not to puta charge of buck-shOt
through Us, for Their amt no inquiry about
'icn thing. Out Of a party of fourteen Of
Is that went down into North Carolina, only
i've ever got back North. And then don't
ike niggcrs, and you have to do great deal
If stayin' with EN-. Niggers amt to my
aste. never did ike EN-, and | can't
overcome the Ireiuds. They are an infe-
Tor race"
Don't you find it rather hard to find
places to sleep, in the city,"
Sometimes. Now and then we git into
he statiOn-house, and there are always
mpty boxes, and warm corners 1t ain I
5 pleasant a- the Windsor hotel, but we are
atisfed. "
why don't you try work little while?''
The mani face took curious expression.
Work we work Why, We might as
rel be Iabrln men to once None Of that
Or me. There is one city in the West
'lch got into last Fall, where they arrested
:, and put us in a stone-yard, breakin'
tone for the strccts-Tolcdo They got me
nee, and kept me at it two weeks. |
90 within hundred miles of that
Ity, if knew it, for a fortune. Think of
'orkin' ten hours a day, and fecdin' Us on
read and water They don't know how to ,
eat people ther''
The yagabond went away, with an ex-