The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-01


down and catch her again in the rear as
she goes by. That's the only way to
make time, and the hobo likes fast trav-
cling and to make his dates as well as
any other true American.
could have come from San Francis
CO to New York ON something mighty
close to schedule time could have stood
the strain, but you do too much travel
ing with every muscle on the rack to
keep it up indefinitely, and besides you
don't have the use of a dining car
Still, you like to get sections done in
time you can brag about. Doing some
thing to brag about is quite feature of
hobo travelling. It's game, and play
ing to win helps keep up your courage
The best time I ever made was from
Salt Lake to Denver, $40 miles, and
made it in 90 hours, but did not have
a bite or sup during that time, and
though was ensconced all alone in the
empty ice chest of fruit car
On the gunwales on the bumpers, on
the blind, on top of cars and inside
them-these are the choices and chances
of position that are open to the hobo.
The gunwales are underneath freight
cars, running lengthwise, about 20
inches apart, with p feet of space be-
tween them and the bottom of the car.
It's a good place, because you can't
easily be seen and because you can get
in there after the train is in motion.
You lie down on the gunwales, and you
have to hold on tight and brace yourself
with your feet, and that is all very fine
till you get tired out or go to sleep.
There is nothing against it except that
it is exhaustive and dangerous. More
hoboes get killed falling off the gun
wales than in any other way. I have
seen three or four dead men myself who
had ended that way. If you have to ride
by day on a line that watches hard for
hoboes, the gunwales is your best chance.
Usually hoboes travel at night and sleep
by day, but sometimes business is press
ing, and they have to get out of town
or do worse. The men get very smart
about swinging in under a car. They
do it by catching hold of the rod that
the door runs on, drawing themselves
up and thrusting their legs in on the
gunwales. / met a one armed hobo in
Ogden who could do it to perfection. To
show me how expert he was he did it
time and again, getting on and off
trains going faster than an ordinary ca
BILE car.
Ou6 p16CS lud6 Is Theoretically dVd11d-
BILE, but is very little used, is under the
cowcatcher. You can sit there, face for
ward, in a very cramped position, bent
far over, but you are no more cramped
than in many another place and no
colder and no dirtier, but the trouble is
your nerves simply can't stand it. No
body's can. The roar, and the jar, and
the awful way the ground rises up in
front of unu al oT1d tho tprTi-
BILE swiftness of the motion are too
much for flesh and blood.
You must remember that the nearer
you get to the ground the faster you
seem to be going. Nobody rides there
except as an experiment and to be able
to say he did it and how far. Twelve
miles was enough and to spare for me-
I thought I'd never live to get to the
next station when l tried it But for a
man running for his life it might be
fine chance, for railroad men dom often
take the trouble to look there.
The tops of freight cars are used, but
largely as road to other places. If a
train is being thoroughly searched be-
fore it pulls out, it is still possible to
swing on and climb on top after it is in
motion and then climb down again and
maybe into an empty car, If you are in
luck, or ON to the bumpers.
There are lodges that beat all these
for comfort and with much less danger
to life and limb, too, and yet they are
not resorted to except under pressure,
because they bring more risk of being
arrested. No one is likely to arrest
man for riding on bumpers and gun
wales and such. It's counted that the
crime brings its own punishment.
The Panhandle road, running out of
Chicago and off down to Texas, is
known for the hardest road to beat in
the country. Then the Southern Pacific
as it crosses the desert is looked after
closely.
The trainmen watch the trains like
hawks, and when they put you off they
stand over you and see that you stay
of. That is hard luck when there is