The evening times., 1896-09-16

IN many INSTANCES, jump from the empty
box car IN which they have been stealing
Il ride when the suburbs are reached and
walk around the city to make connection
for the South at acEson CitEor Ale. andr-.
rather than pass through Washington and
take chances of being picked up aud vagged
by the police.
SPEED THE HoBoS.
While making his rounds last night Sergt.
Daley came across about thirty members of
the southhound advance guard. They were
lingering about the freight yard of the
Richmond and Dauvine Railroad, near the
Long bridge. When they espied the fight.
ing sergeant the hobos started across the
bridge EN- maSse. IN appearance they pre-
sented every phase OF the tramp fraternity.
There were veteran roadsters, with un-
kempt gray boards and hair and ward
robe OF greasy, soiled tatters- Young tour
ists' were in the party, some OF them mere
boys, on their first tramp. perhaps. sprink
ling was cOlored, and there were Germans,
freshmen, EDglIshmen and other nationali-
t:es-altogether a motley, devil-may-c
crew.
One old fellow with whom sergt. Daley
talked said lie lad been on the road thirty
years. Uc said Ills home in Cairo, H., was
burned to the ground, and his wife and
only child consumed by the flames. Prior
To that time lie had been a hard-working
miller The loss of lis all family and home.
dishcarteDed the poor fellow and at fist
lie premeditated committing suicide.
Il was TOO cowardly to do that" said
the old fellow, as a tear tricklcd down his
hardened features, and so i just threw
up both hands and became wanderer on
the face of the earth, without either aim or
object in this life. You have read that
poem which speaks of the piece OF human
driftwood being buffetted about on the
sea of life? Wen, that's me"
The sergeant remarked TO the aged tramp
that he appca red to be man Of some ctiu
cation.
on. ycs,'' was the reply, my poor
old mother and father did the best they
could for me, and Went to school for about
eight years before ! went to my trade.
But what is an education when you have
lost both family and home. 1t is a jcering
mockery"
There are Some sad life stories hidden
beneath the ragged coat of the tramp
mused Sergt. Daley, as the aged tramp
hobbled toward the bridge to reioin his
fellows who had taken to the wet and
soggy marshes o! the Potomac flats
These stretches OF reclaimed land are
favorite stopping place for the soiled
men of the road. They shelter themselves
under the overhanging wealth of young
willows and LAY low,'' as one of them eX-
pressed it, until after midnight, when the
through freight trains are made up and
started on their journey TO the Southland
Soon after l 2 O'Clock they sneak out Of
their retreat singly and in pairs and threes
and quickly and quietly load themselves
into empty freight cars.
THOUSANDS ON THE WAY.
One of the hobos who was making tracks
toward Long Bridge with big hand OUT
of meat and bread under his arm said
that during the next two weeks thou
sands of tramps would pass through Wash
ington en- route to the Cotton States, where
many of them raise stake by picking the
fleecy commodity.
Texas is a favorite place for the tranIping
tourists They are loud in their praises of
the generosity of the people of the Lone
Star commonwealth AS one Of the road
sters expressed it:
mo feler need go hungry, dry or do
emmy ha rd workin Texas ThecitiZens there
are good people, and the MeXicans will di-
vide their last corn cake with yer"
Another knightof the turnpik kevolunteered
the statement that the people i'll Washing
ton and Baltimore were ''the chilliest lot
he ever struck. while 1.-The Cops would ar.
rest feller for squirting his eyes"
Among the hobos who arrived during the
past forty-eight hours were five one
legged men. Three off the number lost
their limbs while stealing rides ON the
railroad. These cripples stick together
like pards and divide their begginss.
The usually carry about a half dozen
cheap lead pencils each, and offer them for
sale when they see a policeman coming.
Owing to the severity of the vagrancylaw
here and its application to itinerants found
sleeping cut of doors, the tramp who knows
his business either slunibers peacefully in
Jackson City or in the willow covered glens
on the flats, where they are safe from
interference or arrest