The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-06-21
RAILWAY TRAMPS.
Western Nomads Different From
Their Eastern Namesakes.
interesting Experiences On a
Trip Across the Plains.


coast railroads carrying it is save to
say, one-half as many tramps as pay
ing passengers. Going over the Siski-
you mountains a few years ago our
train stopped four times within
distance of twenty miles to ''comb
out" the tramps. They we're under
the cars, on top of the cars, hanging to
the platforms, riding on the cow
catcher-everywhere, in short, where
| human fingers could close q grip.
They were more decently clad and
better looking, as a rule, than the
tramps we see in the East. I was
told by an experienced railroad man
that most of these men are mechanics
and laborers of respectable antece-
dents who have drifted westward in
search of work, spent their
money and been compelled to resort to
this ragged edge sort of life in order
to make their way home again. Some
OF them by-and-by acquire habit of
tramping and a taste for it, SO that
they are untitled for steady employ
ment, but others steal rides from place
to place till they strike job, then
settle down and become reputable and
welEto-do citizens. In the newly set
| tied communities of the other coast a
disposition to pry into ones neigh
boris past is not encouraged, and the
man who begins as ride stealer does
not have to live down his record, as
he would at this end of the country.
A member of congress from western
state, who has made something of a
national reputation for himself, once
told me in confidence that as young
man he was champion tramp and
train nuisance.
| l remember one fellow / saw in Or
egon, who was put off way train at
every station, between Roseberg and
Salem, but who always contrived to
get aboard within a minute or so after
his expulsion. He was bound to go to
. Salem, and frankly said as much to
| the first train hand who tackled him,
and he accomplished his purpose.
| Having formerly worked on railroad,
! he knew all the tricks of the trade. At
! the start he crawled IN under a car and
, rode on the trucks. When discovered
| there he walked off as if satisfied, only
/ to 90 around the train and crawl in
again on the other side. He was next
caught riding on the roof. Then he
climbed up the rear of the tender and
| stretched himself out so that he looked
like log of wood. Discovered there,
he secreted himself under the step of
the locomotive cab, and when the train
was on stiff up grade, so that it could
not very well be stopped, he mounted
to the cab and impudently offered his
services to the engineer as assistant
fireman. Next he tried the tricks once
more, and SO on,
recall another incident in my west
ern travels, in which tramps played a
most creditable part. Two of them
had been put off Denver and Rio
Grande train a few miles east of
Salida, COL, and had seated them
selves under tree to escape a rain
which had begun to fall, when cloud
-one of those dreaded visitants which
are not infrequent in that region
deluged the hillside a few yards away,
scooping out a trough and burying
the railway track several feet deep un-
der earth, gravel and small bboulders.
From the windows of our train,
which had crossed the great divide on
its way eastward that morning, we had
seen the peculiar cloud formation
strike the side Of the mo utain and
disappear among the trees, but no.
body suspected its effects. AS the
road had single track, we waited at
Sallda several hours for the west bound
train to pass us on the siding and then
concluding that it had been detained at
the next station beyond, our conduc-
tor ventured to move us cautiously for
ward, whistling sharply all the while.
Suddenly man was observed 'on the
track a short distance ahead of US
energetically waving his coat as a sig
nal to stop. On hating engineer
learned from him that he was one OF
the tramps just mentioned, and that his
companion had gone eastward while he