Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-17
As Related by One Who Joined a
Party of Hobos.
THEY MET WITH SYMPATHETIC AID
Their Style Of Travelling and How
They Got Food.
THEY CAN, BUT WON'T WORK

| and West Virginia looking Tor WORK. ana,
| thoroughly discouraged, was sitting on
pile of ties near the station at Kenova, w.
| Va, debating which way to go. Cincinnati
was, as 1 well knew, no good. and l had
about decided to go east and try some of the
large cities. when al, incident occurred that
settled the matter. and at the same time af-
| forded me an opportunity had been on the
| lookout for for some time.
/ discovered that / was not alone on the
ties At the other end Of the pile and hid
den from view because they were sitting on
the ground, were four men who were wait.
| ing to catch freight that was already past
due going east. / also discovered while ly
| ing on top of the pile and listening to their
! conversation that they were professional
| tramps. as they term 1t "hobos."
! climbed down from my place on top and
| went around the end where they were sit
| ting, fully expecting to see living specimens
of the"Wandering Willies" and"Wea Rag
| gles," who often depicted in the
pages of Puck and Judge. Imagine my sur
prise when l found a party of clean, we'll
dressed and intelligent young fellows, who
| had all the appearance of prosperous young
mechanics or tradesmen. On closer inspec-
ton their clothes showed signs of wear and
| rough usage; the well-defined ear marks of
| long rides in box cars, and their shoes of
many a hard mile over the rock and cinder
ballast of the railroads
| 1t was no trouble to engage in the con-
versation, as they evidently took me for a
member of some other contingent in their
own vast army and l socn found out they
were on their way to Washington; two with
the avOwed intention of joining the COM
monweal army, the others on one of the
aimless expeditions that go to make up the
sum of existence for these latter-day no
MAIDS.
| l approached them on the subject of Join
ing their party, and stated that l was
! railroad switchman out of employment,
and as there was no immediate show of
business on the roads improving. 1 was not
much averse to trying their mode of life
This was the truth, for had. during the
| last winter. read a series of articles by
Josiah Flynt in the Century. describing
their methods. and had wished the oppor-
| tunity of seeing for myself little of the
| actual life on the road" They agreed to
| let me join them on certain conditions. If
j developed into a good hustler. and kept
| myself clean. II would be all right. but
they plainly Informed me that l would have
to throw my feet" If / stayed in the
push" as they termed the party.
| Cleanliness n Condition.
| / was much surprised at the Injunction
as to cleanliness. l had inferred from
what had read on the subject that tramps
| as rule were not very particular as to
their personal appearance. and a doubt en-
tered my mind TO whether ! had struck
| a genuine variety of the genus hobo" but
| this was speedily dispelled when / found
that, with one exception. none of the party
| had done days work In over a year eX-
cept when they wanted money for booze"
drink; meals. lodging and travelling ex-
ne hay E.ad matt
| When / Joined them they were, as / have
previously said. four In number. and were
known in trampdom as Frisco Army"
| Oakland Shorty" Lowell Slim" and Mi
ner Mike" On my advent i was christened
! "Switchie, and was only addressed in
| that way by the boys, none of whose names
/ was ever able to learn. Amy" had In
| former years been boiler maker by trade,
but three years ago had lost his right arm
and since then had been on the road all
! the time Oakland Shorty was sign
| writer and decorator of more than usual
ability: Lowell SLIM" ciglr maker. and
| Miner Mike" coal miner the last, like
myself, was green In that mode of life,
| having only Joined the others day or two
previous. Here were three young. stout
and healthy men mot counting Army. who
| was disbarred from following his trade by
his accidenO, oil with good trades. who
We're tramps from choice; who would not
| work even If the opportunity offered, and
| who were maintained in idleness by the
! sympathetic women of our land. whose
compassion they aroused by their tales Of
| the hard times and no work" where they
came from. All lies. but told with so much
| ca -nestr ess and such a doleful look to
| make them seem very real.
| A passing freight train was boarded
about noon, and we rode the bumpers to
| Huntington. twelve miles. We all got off
| the train about half mile east of the
| town and made fer the river for a wash
| after which we separated to batter a din
rer from the private residences. AS novi-
| tiate, l was taken down one of the streets
by Oakland" and instructed In what kind
| of talk to make to the lady of the house.
| By the way, the average tramp always
addresses the one who answers his knock
| at the door as lady" If, by chance,
should strike section Ia meal handed
out on a plate), or a sit "a dinner at the
| kitchen table,, l was TO eat that and con-
tinue to hustle for lump Ia lunch done
up in paper to bring back to camp to eat
for supper. Army, on condition that We
| brought back enough to provide his supper
had agreed to work the grocery stores
for java" (coffee). sugar and tobacco.
The sympathy Racket.
The first house tried was what they term
"a soft" / got good dinner with but very
little talk. After leaving this house / went
on down the street, and, although was ter
ribly nervous about 1t. l decided to follow
my instructions and try for the lump.
selected my house, and. rapping at the back
door, soon launched in my tale of
woe" The kInd-hearted lady accepted my
story and provided me with big lunch
fully enough for two, to help out the sick
friend" l had mendaciously told her was
waiting at the depot, too weak to walk, for
4 little food to sustain life until we could
reach our friends. With my big bundle of
food / was soon back at the rendezvous
was astonished at the success had met
with, and expected to have TO walt some
time for the other foragers, but fast as l
had been, they had been still faster, and all
were there ahead of me Army had plenty
of coffee and sugar. and each one had a to-
mato can to make their Java" in. Wood
was collected. and then, as IL was still
early. all hands laid down in the shade of
the grand old oaks for ''doss'' (slcep) until
ii should be time to get supper. 1t was
dark when / woke up, and the fire was
burning brightly, the coffee steaming in the
row of sitting around II, and on two
newspapers. spread the ground within
the circle of light thrown by the fire, was
displayed the motley array of grub that
had been brought in that afternoon.
We decided to try and beat the "vesti-
bue" that night as far as possible, and at
IL 70 p. m. we all left town on that train
Army and the miner on the blind baggage,
Oakland and Lowell Slim on the trucks. and
myself in the smoker. l had squared my
self by virtue of my letters with the con-
ductor for a ride to Clifton Forge. 1 kept
watch at every stop 10 see If the train men
found the gang, as the agreement had been