The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-07
GENUS HOBO NUMEROUS
Missoula Is Getting More Than
Her Share of Him.
FOR THE PRICE OF A MEAL
A Citizen Is Fortunate II He Escapes the
Importunines OF the Tramp for
a Single Day-Their Mode
OF Travel.

Missoula. Dec. S.-The genus hobo is
well represented just now in Missoula.
and after dark the man who gets down
the street without getting held up for
"the price of a meal is fortunate i'm the
extreme. Tn cold weather is bringing
these fellows into town in good shape
and they are bowling from all directions.
Some of them have the appearance of
being simply out OF luck and willing to
do something to better their condition
IL an opportunity presents itself. bu.
there Is a good representation OF the
professional who would not change his
lot IL he could. The police are keeping
he gam on the move as much as pos
sible. but there are so many just now
that IL not easy to keep the city free
from them. IL is too cold for them to
sleep out of doors and the boxcar is
not a comfortable lodging. so that there
are many of them during the evenings
In the back corners OF the all-night
places. enjoying the comforts of the
fires n good cheer. They keep a
lookout for moving trains and the pro-
fessionals do not stay very long in n
place. The present method OF running
long trains and not many of them does
not meet with the approval of the men
who get across h country on the box
car line. The waits are too long between
rains and when n Of the travellers
gets 'ditched" he has to wait till he is
cold before another train comes along.
Now and then there Is a returning
Klondiker in the lot. VINO failed to find
the bonanza that he started out to Sc
cure and who is working his way home
as best he can. The contrast between
his feelings now and when he went to-
ward the coast is great. There are some
of this class who talk freely of their
experiences and they do not express
any marked degree of enthusiasm re-
garding the frozen gold fields of the
North. They are soured on the world
and II they succeed i'm getting pack TO
the farm or the factory that they left
they will let somebody else do the gold
hunting in the future. Most of them
are men who had never had any expert
ence In mining and some of them had
no more idea of the manner of secur-
ing gold than they had of dying. They
are wiser now and some of them will
possibly attempt To write a book. Such
a work might not be considered author
lily on mining subjects. but II would
certainly make good reading.
Last month there We're many travel
ing eastward on the boxcar route who
had been working in the orchards and
grain fields of Washington land oregon
put who. either from the results Of
p~rodigality or from economical motives.
travel by the cheap line. In this class
there are some of the toughest speci-
mems that are to be found anywhere.
They are sore at themselves and at the
whole world and they frequently COM
init some petty crime just to break into
Jail n get a rest and something TO
eat. on the other hand, there are men
In this list who have money with them
and more sent on ahead. These travel
quietly and cheaply n when they
strike a town are able To pay their way
and not get into the vag class.
There were four lucky hoboes on the
~astboun freight that vas wrecked last
week at Bonita. They were riding ON
a boxcar just behind the ones that were
smashed by the collision and had been
spotted by the brakeman. who was look
ing for them when the accident oc-
CURED. They We're Jared from their
positions when the shock of the collision
came, but none Of them Were hurt and
they crawled out OF the way. They
were interested spectators. however, of
the wrecking operations. and when the
midnight meal for the workers was
brought up from the section house they
were at the camp fire to receive IL. The
carrier who brought up the lunch set IL
down near the fire and went up to the
wrecked engines to inform the crew
that they might eat. When the first OF
the workmen arrived to eat they found
that the had been i'm ahead &C
them and there was but little lunch left
for them. The "boes'' also got away
with a case OF canned salmon. That
was an exceptional case. however, for
things do not often come as smoothly
as that for the moocher.