The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-01-21
.TRAMPS ON RAILROADS.
THEY GET OVER GREAT DISTANCES
ON SCHEDULE TIME.

! Sometimes That Is. Very Good, Though
n Trine Dangerous.
While trainmen are of one mind in re-
gard to the annoyance which tramps
cause the railroad companies they dis
agree about the methods of these indi-
viduals in .'doing" the country. In
spite of the strict rule of all railroads
prohibiting tramps, these professional
travellers get over the road somehow or
other with astonishing rapidity. They
have been known to come from San Fran
cisco to New York IN but a trihe longer
time than it took Mr.. Mackey on his
record breaking trip. 1t is by no means
accompany Mr.. Maclzey part of the way
across the continent ON the fast mail
train. Tramps are partial to mail
trains. The trucks are roomier than
those of the ordinary coach or freight
car. Whatever doubt there was about
Ar. Mackey's beating the record there
certainly wasn't any doubt that Mr..
Tramp beat the railroad company.
There are tramps and tralnps. Many
a poor fellow who has spent his last cent
and is out at the elbows wants to try his
luck in another part of the country, but
he has no means of getting there except
his heels. These will not carry him far
without hunger staring him in the face.
He sinks about some freightyard, and
when a train is pulling out begs train
man to carry him along bit. He ad-
mits that he is a tramp, but he isn't; he's
IA beggar and tenderfoot. There are
others, who have just got their hand in,
travelling from town to town, and when
"A trainman catches them slowed away
in a box Car they whine piteously and
recount their sufferings or those of a
sick family miles away which they are
anxious to get to.
HOW REAL TRAMPS ACT.
-'These are no tramps," said brake
man. ''There is nothing interesting
about them and they are nuisance.
The professional tramp is a character,
and sometimes you meet with one so
slick that he deserves to beat his way.
The real tramp makes no excuse when
he is discovered. Nine times out of ten
he makes a threat, and as a good many
of them go armed it is dangerous to
meddle with them. For if there is a
human being who might be expected to
value his life cheaplyit is tramp rather
than burglar. How many times have
had tramp snarl at me with Il string
of oaths and wind up by threatening to
put hole through mei''
Probably tramps will hang on to
most anything, from the brakeshoe to
the wheel box" suggested the reporter.
''No," said trainman of the Central
Railroad of New Jersey. "Many people
have erroneous ideas about the habits of
tramps. Personally never saw a tramp
ON truck, but others say they have.
Tramps generally pull for an empty box
car, if there is one open. 1t is curious
to see them search the yard over, inquire
about the departure of trains and
their destination and the stops they make
along the way. Why, Saturday night,
just before leaving for Phillipsburg,
went to search my train for tramps, and
found an empty Fall Brook car full of
them, right next to the train shed. They
knew somehow that the car was going
home, and that it went to the end of the
journey. They always seem to want to
go as far as possible.
''These fellows set up u whining and
begged me to let them go along. They
j
as bad, to go for, and one of them said
he wanted to go to Phillipsburg to attend
the funeral of his brother. i drove them
all out. None of them was a professional
They didn't know one another, and they
all scattered in different directions.
REVENGE FOR ILL TREATMENT
'Of course they will get into any Cal
that is left open, and if there is anything
eatable they always help themselves.
there isn't an open car they will try t.
find a car of lumber. That is more ex
posed, but there are always some vacan
nooks between the piles of boards, anC
they make very good hunks. When
was running ON a Long Branch train w,
. had an experience with tramps at Mata
wan. We picked up car of lumbe
there. A gang of tramps had learned O
its time of departure and that it was
through car, which just suited them
They always try to get through sleep
err like passengers who pay their way
One of them, who had wooden leg, the
put on top of the lumber in plain sight
and then they appeared to go away. o
course the trainnen wouldn't put a de
formed man off, and apparently he wa
the only one who was going along. Blu
mo sooner did the locomotive signal
start than the gang lit upon the lumbe
1car like swarm of bees. We went bac
and pulled them all out from the GREY
ices, and-we got curses in return.
1.-The next night when freight trai
came along the switch at Matawan wa
open, and the train smashed lot of car
on siding. The tramps were aroun
later to see the results, and they aske
the agent whether that was Porter
train. No, said the agent, and they wei
very sorry that they had made mi
take.
"An empty box car or car of lumbt