Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-03-24
ON TRAMPS
INTERVIEW WITH THE TRAMPS ON
TIE TRAMP QUESTION.

TIE IhAMP QUESTION
The Mistake OF tho Present Mode of Treat
ment-victims of Misfortune Rather than
Criminals-Strong Protestations of VIII.
lingness to Work, but Inability to Secure
It-Tramps of Necessity and Not Choice
Occupations and characteristics as Told
r. by Themselves.
"What's your opinion of tramps?" queried
prominent st. Paul lawyer to GLOBE rep
resentative as the twain emerged from the
municipal court room one morning last
week, after hearing the customary sentences
pronounced on a score or more of these
Americanized sans culotts, whose growth
has been of such marvelously mushroom
character since their first appearance on
American soil.
ASK me something easy was the jocular
reply OF the scribe, as the twain separated at
an adjoining corner, the question in the
meantime having kept up persistent buzz
i'll the reportorial tympanum, as though
il was unwilling to be put off
without some attempt at an answer.
A few streets farther on procession was
encountered that would have made the rag
tag brigade of jolly Jack Falstaff almost
split for very envy. Stringing along for half
a block or more, progressed or shambled a
half hundred of the Republics malefactors
whose brief audience with the magistrate re-
suited in their commitment to the county
jail, Thither they were winding-a logged
", sullen, furtive-eycd crowd of men, whose
shiftless, serpentine swaSger was kept in
subdued check by the subjective presence
of the police. The lawyers ques-
ton had not ceased ringing
in the reporters ear, and it now tattooed with
redoubled energy, until the mental response
came of, "Why not ask tramp?" A tramp's
opinion of tramps-it came like an inspira-
ton. The experiment might result bene-
ficially. and it had the merit at least of not
being hackneyed. A half hour later and a
diminntive newsgatherer might have been
seen trying to reach the ear that adorns the
commanding pericranium of Deputy Sheriff
Harrison. want to interview the tramps
do you?" THAT'S it exactly" replied the
GLOBE man, and it was forthwith decided a
80. The courteous jailer was called the
iron door swung lazily inward on its cum
bersorr" hinges, and in a moment afterwards
the Wis was extended the freedom and
liberty duplication limited) of the house.
Ascending short flight OF iron steps, and
the upper corridor of the Jail was reached.
where, huddled in cells by tours, reclined in
various postures the objects of the report
er's visit.
THEY DON'T LIKE TO TELL.
Before giving the following interviews it
is necessary to remind the reader that while
the average tramp is glibly talkative on
points where his grievances are concerned,
he Is also reticent, to degree, on questions
concerning that portion of his outlawed ex-
istence bordering on criminalty. The ut
most ingenuity of the enquirer falls entirely
short of the cunning exercised by the tramp
IN his replys to equivocal or eliminating
questions, and while the interviews that fol-
low may be relied upon as genuine no at
tempt is made other than to arrive at
negative status of the question from the
tramps' own standpoint, deductions and
inference alike remaining for solution at the
readers own option.
The cells were approached in turns and
their inmates questioned individually, not a
few OF whom were keenly alive to the odium
attaching to their 'profession," and all of
whom attributed their misfortune to their
inability to procure work during the winter
months, while in most instances a sincere
desire was manifested to quit the ''business.' -
few utterly repealed tho imputaton of
tramp as applied personally, and COM
plants against certain railroad corporations,
who advertise in Eastern papers for laborers
to work on new roads in this section of the
country, we're numerous and bitter, the indi-
gence and recklessness of many being
directly attributed to this reason.
1t will also be seen that a majority of those
interviewed are exceedingly young men, most
of them being unmarried, while with ono or
two exceptions, none of them have served
during the late war, thus exploding thread
bare theory that the tramp, as an institution
is the product of the rebellion.
The first twenty interviews were had with
men, who were confined to their cells, for
refusing to work on the stone pile, for the
reason, mainly, that they were "men," and
declined to be made spectacle of by being
paraded through the streets like cattle
"We are men," said one fellow, land why
was arrested the first night
I got here, and after serving
my time, was released and arrested over
again the same night, without having
chance to earn money enough to leave town.
tell you, he continued, they must quit bad
gering us fellows like dogs,o or something will
happen. They keep us penned up here, and
let us 60 without money. We can't always
get work the same day we are released, and
having no means we are compelled to ask
for something to eat. Then we are arrested
again. tell you, young fellow, the tramp's
ls no good business, and I knows it, but,
we are mon: and that is no way to treat u.s."
The above, more or less modified, and
stripped of its dialect, is the echo of nine
out of every ten men interviewed.
WHAT THEY SAY.
The interviews, thirty in number, when
boiled down present the following food for
reflection
Thomas Mcclure, "a years of age, of Irish
descent, unmarried, laborer by circum-
stances, and tramp by necessity. Came
west three weeks ago to work on the North
ern Pacific railroad. Has been on the turf q
week. Has poor opinion of tramps, and
thinks it is bad business. Is willing to
work, and will jump al the first chance.
William Forest, 2;5-year-old Scotch
man. Has family and three children at
Watertown, n. Y. Came from Bismarck
three weeks ago. A railroad worker bv
choice, and has poor opinion of tramps.
frefefs work to prison cell, and thinks the
authorities ought to discriminate in favor of
married men.
George Smith, % years old, unmarried,
and Pendsylvanian by birth. Has been
out of work five months and came from
Iowa last week. miner by profession and
has bad opinion of the tramp business,
which he likened to flock of wild geese
pursued by the hunter-society. Wants
&c to work, but didn't succeed in getting any.
Look to the road, hence his arrest.
Edward Green, laborer, "a years old and
unmarried. Left Pennsylvania four months
ago, and has been in the State two weeks
had bad opinion of the tramp business, and
would like to get work, but wouldn't make a
public show of himself on the stone pile.
John Murphy, an independent tramp,
who won't work on bread and water. Of
irish descent, 81 years old, unmarried and q
laborer; came from Jersey, and has worked
for the St Paul s. Pacific railroad Fol
lowed tramping for two weeks, and saws be
could set work if allowed to look for it.
John