Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1893-05-31
THE rRAMPS OF OLD.
Some of the Old-Fsshioned Sort that Arc
Not Met with Nowadays.

There used to be type of tramp
that is rarely met with now. l mean
the shallow bloke. commonly known
As s'lry-land sailor Not that dry
land sailors" are not to he found even
now. but it is rare indeed that one Of
/ the real old-fasliioned sort is met with.
To run shallow" meant to go about
the country half naked. A genuine
shallow bloke" knew not the luxury
of n shirt; he scorned to encase his feet
in boots. always preferrng to pad
the hoof.h !. e., 90 barefooted. FIRE.
qnently these shallow blokes" trav-
eled in schools" that is. in companies
OF four. five and six. and wherever they
went they made the streets hideous
with their unearthly bowling of nauti-
cal diities. in which the refrain, and
the stormy winds did blow--ow-oww
was always conspicuous.
These men were anatomical curiosi-
ties. One would be minus. an arm.
anothe would lack leg. II third would
exhibit withered limb done up in
tight bandagcs. Scarcely one of them
would be found physically perfect.
They would stretch in line across the
street. the two extreme men pushing
their hats in the face of every passer-
by, and sundry curses sometimes loud
ms well rs deep. followed the "uncar-
table" pedestrian, while all the bless
ings of heaven were invoked on the
head of the kind gentleman" who
dropped copper in the obtrusiye
These shallow blokes" were terror
to The ordinary tramps. They were
noted as being the greatest black
guards travelling. Their blasphemous
talk was simply hideous and shocked
even old and well-seasoned tramps.
Happily they are now nearly an ex-
linct race. 1t is fact. though not
generally known, that scores of the
vagabonds mutilated themselves for
the purpose OF working upon the feel
ings of a charitable public. One of
the most common methods of ''acquir-
ing" withered limb was to bind it
tightly with strips of linen and thus
stop the circulation of the blood.
Loathsome looking wounds were man
ufactnred by Inserting in these BAN
jogos All old copper coin, which grad
ually ate into the flesh.
A somewhat pleasant contrast to
these itinerants were the ''lurkers,
more intelligibly described as beg
g;ng-letter gentlemen" class of men
not unknown Mt the present day. They
would carry a neat little roll of pict-
ures, two or three gentlemen's combs
in little sachel. or any other light
and fancy article Just to take the
granny off," in other words for the
sake of appearance.
Their object was not to sell these
articles, but to beg 'over them" They
usually had a plausible story to tell Of
better days; they could produce letters
from this gentleman and from that
clergyman. They did not 20 in for
coppers, but silver and gold. 1t is no
unusual thing for one of these to re-
ceive from II sympathetic old gentle
man or credulous old lady .half
thick 'un' or thick 'un" (half a
sovereign or sovereignty. Clothes they
used to get in plenty and they were
always well dressed, for which reason
they were often dubbed flash blokes"
in the common lodging house. Some
of these men had really seen better
days. l have known broken-down
university men, occasionally an officer
of the army or navy-and these men
made no end of money by visiting old
retired officers of the service.
tenants Magazine.