Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-31
MUSTERED IN THE HOBOES
Boys of the Third Have Some Fun on Their
Way South.
TWO TRAMPs WHO WERE CONsCRlPTED
Thorough Physical Examination Fol-
lowed by IA Fright and IA
Wild Leap for Liberty from
the Moving Train.

Fred Caldwell, travelling passenger agent
of the Rock Island, has returned to Omaha,
after having accompanied a battalion of the
Third Nebraska regiment to the front. While
Caldwell was talking with three or four
other railroad men yesterday a street gamin
went by, singing: ooh, the buns that used
to ride upon the Wabash That started
the talk upon the class of travel that pat
ronizes the blind baggage exclusively, and
Caldwell related this tale:
AFTER we pulled out Of Council Bluffs
with the second battalion of Colonel Bry-
ans regiment some of the soldiers discov-
cred that there was a pair of hoboes on the
train. They were seated on the platform
steps between two of the coaches and were
enjoying n fine ride on the special when a
council of the soldiers decided to have some
fun with them. Four guards were sent
out, fully armed and looking savage enough
to scare the whole Spanish army. They
marched to where the buns were resting
easily discussing the great international
questions of the day. TIL squad halted and
the bums were told to fall in. They OBJ
jected, but when told they were on a mill
tary train and would have to obey military
orders or be shot they gathered their rags
together and accompanied their escort back
to the rear car.
"a young lieutenant was chosen master
of ceremonies and he played the part well.
Drawing himself up to show his fine
physique and military bearing he said:
Men, 1t has been decided by a court of the
officers of this regiment that you shall be
impressed into the service of the govern
ment and assigned to duty in this branch
of the army. We are just two men short in
tI.i, a-;,,a, nn1 uEnlI tnEn Vn1 IN fill
these vacancies. But first we must have you
examined by our surgeon to see that you
are physically sound
Thorough Physical Examination.
'By this time the poor hoboes were thor
oughly scared. They looked as though they
had had their wits frightened out of them,
They protested that they couldn't go to war
because they had important positions in So
ciety to fill. and offered other equally
powerful excuses. But 1t was no go. The
soldiers were going to have some fun and
they had it. They picked out the two big
gest and strongest men in the company and
called them surgeon and assistant surgeon
to conduct the physical examination One
of the tramps when told TO strip said he
hadn't had a bath for a month and he
didn't believe the soldiers would like to
II q y lllil iiio hn hNAtANh II ohI
they told him they hadn't bathed them
selves since they had been in camp, and
ordered him to hustle off his clothes or
they would save him the trouble, Stripped,
the hobo showed a good form, but the sur
geons pro tempore said they were afraid
he had weak lungs and the way they beat
on his chest to sound his lungs was enough
TO disorganize the tramp's constitution.
They pulled his ears to see II his hearing
was all right. stretched his mouth a half a
foot to get a good look at his teeth, sounded
taps on his shoulders to see If he had any
nerve and then announced that he had
passed. Tramp No, 2 was given an even
more rigid examination, and to his utter
dismay he was also told that he would bt
accepted for service.
Make Their Escape.
During the examination the train passed
Nicola and the tramps made an effort tC
jump off there, They said they wanted tC