Omaha daily bee., 1884-08-15
How Tramps steal Rides.

iId NiuSos N-Ns4i'l iCosci 'cth SllIOlllClt,
On the platform of this railroad town
of the past your correspondent was left
standing few nights ago with the miser.
able fact staring him in the face that he
had long wait of six hours before him,
with nowhere to 60, nothing to read and
not thing to do. Stlolling to the end
of the platform, man was discovered
seated on truck and swaying his legs to
and fro with the easy grace and devil
may care abandon of one to whom time
was no object. Away to the right of the
track the moon, just emerging from a
cloud, lighted up the yellow tide of the
Rio Grande, along whose swollen banks
in the gloom of the cottonwoods sparkled
fully half dozen camp-tires.
"a freighter's camp" inquired the
correspondent of the gentleman on the
truck.
"No; tramps;' he calculated. "The
country is alive with them, and it's get
ting worse" he added, "eveiy day."
81 suppose brakemon and conductrrs
have quite time preventing them from
stealing ride!'
eyes, but it's lost labor. There's not
train goes over the Santa Fe road thas
doesn't carry from half dozen dead
beats up, and this line has got the name
among tramps of being one of the hardest
lines to beat in the United States"
"iow is the racket workedW queried
the scribe.
"Well, there are lots of ways. The
which is good on every railroad in the
United States and the Canadas, while
beginners work the box-car and the
blind baggage. Tho universal ticket
is small, thick board about foot and
half long and three to four inches
broad n groove is cut midway in it dee p
enough to allow it to sit without slipping
across any of the connecting rods or the
break beams of freight Car. Once
safely under the car the tramp fixes his
board, which gives him an A seat, and
as long az he don't fall asleep he can
travel in perfect safety. No one can see
him except by getting under the car, and
neither freight conductors nor brakemen
have time for that.
"Fellows who are little too nervous
for the universal ticket Try the box-car
racket. They watch cars that are being
loaded for some point they want to go to,
and manage before the car is sealed to
get in and ride themselves away with
some grub and bottle or two of water.
The wool cars that leave Las Vegas are
infested with these tramps. You see the
cars are not loaded by the company, but
by the man who charters them, and the
laborers are only too ready to help fell
low to stow away. Sealed cars are never
opened until they reach their destination,
and once locked in, the tramp is safe
from all interference until the end of the
journey"
'tather rough, should imagiue, to
be locked up with limited rations in the
season of washoutsE broke in the
scribe.
swell, no. Your tramp always brings
along with him a fish-plate, by the aid of
which he can always pry back the door
sufficiently 10 squeeze the body out at
any time. The chains to which the seals
are attached are nearly always long
enough for that. For short journeys
tramps prefer to ride on the blind bag
gage. The blind baggage is the car right
after the locomotive. The tramp, when
he sees passenger train about TO move
out of the depot, stations himself on the
off side of the train from the platform
and waits until the conductor has jumped
aboard, when he lightly swings himself
on to the front platform of the car and is
safe until he gets to the next station.
OF course the tramp must slip off and on
at every stoppage, and 80 the blind bag
gage is usually used only for night travel.
1t requires fellow to be smart, too, for