The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-09-03
rRAMps ON THEIR rRAvELs.
Their Ingenious Schemes for Riding on the
Railroad Free.

/
On the platform of this railroad town of
the past your correspondent was left stand
Ing few nights ago with the miserable fact
staring him in the face that he had long
wait of six hours before him, with nowhere
TO go, nothing to read and not thing to do.
Strolling to the end of the platform, man
was discovered seated on q truck and sway
ing 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
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 fires.
freighter's camp ?" inquired the cor.
respondent of the gentleman on the truck
No; tramps," he calculated. "The
country Is alive with them, and its getting
worse" he added, "every day."
suppose brakemen and conductors
have quite time preventing them from
stealing free ride2'
Yes, but it's lost labor. There's not a
train goes over the Santa Fe road that 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"
"How is the racket worked ?" queried the
scribe.
Well, there are lots of way. The old
vets use the universal ticket which is
good on every railroad in the United States
and the Canadas, while beginners work the
box car and the blind baggage. The 'uni-
versal ticket Is small thick board about q
foot and half long and three to four inches
broad groove ia cut midway In II deep
enough to allow 1t to sit without slipping
across any of the connecting rods or the
brakebeams of freight car. Once safely
under the car the tramp fixes his board,
which gives him an AL seat, aud as long as
he don't fall asleep he can travel In perfect
safety. No one can see him except by get
ting under the car, and neither freight
conductors nor brakeman have time for
that.
Fellows who are O little too nervous for
the universal ticket try the box car racket
They watch oars that are being loaded for
some point they want to go to, and manage
before the car Is sealed TO get in and hide
themselves away with some grub and bot
tie or two Of water. The wool cars that
leave Las Vegas are infested with tramps.
You see the cars are not loaded by the com.
pany, but by the man who charters them,
and the laborsrs are only too ready TO help
fellow to stow away. Sealed cars are
never opened until they reach their destina-
ton, and, once looked in, the tramp
is safe from all interference until the end of
the journey"
''Rather rough, should imagine, to be
ltcked up with limited rations in the season
of washouts ?" broke in the scribe.
Well, no. Your tramp always brings
along with him fish plate, by the aid OF
which he can always pry back the door suf-
ficiently to squeeze thebody 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 baggage. The blind baggage is the
car right after the locomotive. The tramp,
when he sees q passenger train about to
move out of the depot, stations himself on
the of 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. or course
the tramp must slip off and ON at every stop
page and so the blind baggage is usually
used only for night travel. 1t requires {
fellow to be smart, too, for conductors
never Jump on until the train Is we'll il
motion. used to brake on the San Marcia
division of the road until ruptured mysel
and had to get q lighter Job around thu
depot The smartest tramp l recollect il
my time had only one leg He had a Crane
Army of the Republic bndge and used Il
make plenty of money in all the towns along
the line from Deming to Ration. To see that
fellow hop on and off the blind baggage
with that game leg of his was sight. We
never fired him."
"Don't the engineers look out for
tramps?"
"Not they. That is no part of an engi
neer's duty. He'd just as soon haul n tramp
as not, and he hates the trouble of having
to stop to put them Off"
"Is the train stopped every time tramp
has to be put off p
"Well, passenger are; but with freight
trains it depends. II the brakemen are
strong enough they make him jump for it.
Sometimes the fellow alights all right, some
times he gets hurt and an odd time he geta
killed. When he gets killed you will gener-
ally read an item about an unknown tramp
while trying to steal ride having fallen be-
tween the wheels or something of that kind,
! but we know better. "-Las Cruces (N. MY
| Letter IN tie San Francisco Chronicle.
i In a.