The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-06-30
THE TRAMP ON HIS TRAVELS.
The Dangers He Encou11ters-His Infinite
Patience,

The Dangers He Encou1lters-His IDhhAIe
Patience
The tramp takes many chances OF ac-
cident in his mode of travelling. He is
subject not only to the ordinary risks
which all passengers assume, but from
the class of trains on which he gener-
ally rides the places he takes on the
cars, and his poor opportunities of en-
tering and leaving them in safety, to
others which the regular passenger es-
capes A great number are annually
killed while riding between the express
and mail cars, or on the brake beams.
In event of a collision, they have infin-
itely less chance than the passengers in
the coaches of escaping unframed. In
mounting moving cars many of them
are killed. | recently saw one with his
upper-arm bone broken, the accident
having occurred while in the act of
climbing into d moving box-car. An
other, in showing some boys how pros
fcient he was in seating himself on the
brake beam after the train had started;
put his foot under the wheel, and, as d
result, lost his leg above the knee:
Every railway surgeon sees similar ac-
cidents with greater or less frequency:
One should not fall into the popular
error of thinking that all tramps are
professional ''bummcrs." | think that
perhaps a majority of those whom l see
are men who are going to some other
point in search Of work. Many of these
are employed by farmers and ranchmen
living in the vicinity of the railroads
at such times of the year as they need
assistance, and several employers have
told me that they were generally very
good help. l have repeatedly known of
tramps seeking work who had worthless
time-checks in their pockets from pre-
vious dishonest employers. 1t would be
doing a very grave injustice to these
men to class them with ordinary va
grants. But a large proportion never do
any work when it may by an possibility
be avoided.
The aggregate number of tramps in
the country must be enormous. | have
repeatedly seen them in gangs of from
six to fifteen, and those of two or three
are met with continually. At remote
points on railroads, freight trains have
been repeatedly captured by organized
gangs of these men, and the trainmen
forced to accommodate the members as
the leader directed. 1t is a sad com-
mentary on our economical system that
the number seems to be constantly in
creasing.
There are certain things that we may
learn from the tramp, and one in para
ticular that would be valuable to us all.
The Americans are, l presume, the most
impatient of any race of people. But
the American tramp is second Job. If
he does not succeed in stealing ride on
the train on which he has fondly calcu-
lated for two days, he does the most
philosophical thing there is for him to
do-that is, he waitsa day or two more.
If he does not get anything to eat to-
day, he hopes for better luck to-mor-
row. If the impatient conductor of his
particular train orders him off, he occa-
sionally gets little provoked, but much
more commonly he says something to
the effect that The guesses he can if he
has to" and acts accordingly. In all
these things and a thousand others, he
shows a development of patience and
fortitude we all might do we'll to emu.
late.-J. n. Hall, in Harper's Weekly.