The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-06-04
From the Daily Of Wednesday,.
TRAMPS,
What ID To Be Done to Abate an
Info!erable Nuisance.
A Question Which Concerns
Every Family In the City.

them are p~r0fessioal beggarS with .
certificate written and signed by
sons unknown person or persons,
recommending the bearers to the
charity of the public. In ninety
nine cases in a hundred these certif-
cate>showing begears are the rankest
impostors. They can limp to order,
or shut an eye to simulate blindness,
or emit a consumptive cough, or draw
their features into an expression of
pain at the drop Of a hat.
They are professionals and can tell
a story in broken English Of disease
and pain and hunger which, if true.
would draw tears from \ handsaw.
But their stories are not true.
Deser ling objects of charity do not
have to leave any Of the eastern or
western States to come TO these
Rocky mountains to beg.
As for the genus tramp they are
quite AZ undeserving as are the pro-
fessional beggars. As a class they are
ignorant, lazy and thievish. They
wont work even If work be offered
them. Their homes are where night
overtakes them and their meals are
taken at kitchen doors. They ap-
proach men with a pitiful story
about being unable to get work and
how long they have been without a
meal. The charitably inclined 60
down in their pockets for four bits or
a quarter and hand it to the pleading
wretch. In over half the cases the
money goes for whisky. To kind
hearted housewives they tell the
same story and get a square meal.
Charity is not well bestowed upon
such vagabonds.
There is still another class who is
mistaken for tramps. This class Is
composed of more intelligent men.
They will beg at the front door. the
genuine tramp generally goes to the
kitchen. They are keen-eyed and
observant and take an inventory Of .
room at a glance. They are profess
sional house-breakers and visit the
better class Of residences to spy the
land and take notes for future use.
When the time is ripe burglarizing
tegins and people wonder how the
burglars knew just where to effect an
entrance and how such and such in
ner doors could be so easily opened.
When the fact of the matter Is the
burglar or burglars have visited the
house a half dozen times or more In
different DISCUSSES as an ordinary
tramp.
Az we said, Butte is being overrun
with tramps, or those supposed to be
such, and the question naturally
arises what should be done to abste
the nuisance. We have . vagrant
law. Tramps may be arrested under
it. They can be convicted and sent
to Jail and made to work upon the
public streets. But our jail is not
large enough to hold ~one-fourth Of
them. And if they were all jailed
and all worked out. their fine they
would be thrown upon the commu>
| nifty again to beg or to burglarize
| houses. What is to be done?
Scarcely a day passes that the pri~
| vate residences In the suburbs of the
| city are not visited by tranps beg
cling for food, two, Or three times q
day. They are persistent, bold
! and some of them lmpertinent. At
| all times they are unwelcome visit
ors and the frequency of their calls
destroy, In the end. the sympathy
and charitableness of the most benev.
| Olent.
There are but two courses to pur-
sue in dealing with these vagabonds.
J One Is not to open the door for them,
| to refuse them food, not listen to
their stories, aud If by chance the
door is opened to them, to shut it In
their faces. To feed them IL to en-
courage and to keep them In
the city. The other course was
adopted two years ago which resulted
in the departure of about two hun
dred of them In oneday. We should
advise the former, but the latter IL
more effective.
The teachers Of the several schools
of this district can obtain their war
ranta bv calling on judge Nichols at