Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-15
How Tramps Steal Rides.

Chronicle
 On the platform of this railroad town of the past your correspondent was left standing 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 a 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 a dozen camp-fres.
 "A freighters' camp?' inquired the cor respondent of the gentleman on the truck.
 F7No; tramps," he calculated sEThe coun- try is alive with them, and it's getting worse, " he added, "every day.
 q suppose brakemen and conductors have quite time preventing them from stealing ride?"
 Ete'Yes, but it's lost labor There's not 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.''
 'EHow is the racket worked!' queried the scribe.
 ''Well, thers are lots of ways. 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 versa1 ticket is a small, thick board about foot and half long and three to four inches broad; 8 groove is cut midway in it deep enough to allow it to sit without slipping across any of the connecting rods or the brake-beams of a freight car. Once safely under the car the tramp fixes his board, which gives him an A 1 seat, and 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 con ductors nor brakemen have time for that.
 FEFellows who are a 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 hide themselves away with some grub and bot tie 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 fellow to stow away. Sealed cars are never opened until they reach their destina- tion, and, once locked in, the tramp is safe from all interference until the end of the journey"
 Rather rough, should imagine, to be locked up with limited rations in the season of washouts?' broke in the scribe. EEWell, no. Your tramp always brings along with him fish plate, by the aid of which he can always pry back the door suffi- ciently to 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 baggage. 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 stop page, and so the blind baggage is usually used only for night travel. It requires fel- low to be smart, too, for conductors never jump on until the train is well in motion. l used to brake on the San Marcia1 division of the road until I ruptured myself and had to get lighter job around the depot The smartest tramp recollect in my time had only one leg. He had Grand Army of the Republic badge and used to make plenty of money in all the towns along the line from Deming to Raton. To see that fellow hop on and off the blind baggage with that game leg of his was sight. We never fired him. 'EDon't the engineers look out for tramps?'' ffNot they. That is part of engi- neer's duty. He'd just as soon haul a tramp as not, and he hates the trouble of having to stop to put them off,"
 '7Is the train stopped every time a tramp has to be put off"
 "Well, passenger trains are; but with freight trains it depends. If the brakemen are strong enough they make him jump for it. Sometimes the fellow alights all right, sometimes he gets hurt and an odd time he gets killed. When he gets killed you will generally read an item about unknown tramp, while trying to steal ride, having fallen between the wheels, or something of that kind, but we know better.''