The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-01
WAY OF THE BLANKET STIFF"
4 WANDERING WORKERS. STORY
OF LIFE ON THE ROAD.

section FOreman's Grandeur-HOn-
est Men Who Never Beg, hut often
"Hit the Road" for WhiIe-TaIes
Told Around Comprehensive High
Art of Stealing Rides-A wild Trip
the Roads Under a Passenger
Car.
Chicago, Sept. eff you see man in
the Rocky mountain or Pacific. coast
states carrying a bundle of blankets you
may conclude that his hands are cal
loused. Those who hire foot loose labor
ers in these states furnish them with a
place to sleep, if the conditions are such
that men Will not sleep in the open. The
laborer furnishes his own bedding,
Tramps call such laborers' blankets stiffs
and gay cats. Blanket stifs call them
selves such sometimes. They also call
themselves hoboes. They call tramps pro-
fessional hoboes, buns, stiffs and thor
Oughbred stlffs.
A blanket stiff may follow one kind of
work only. In that case he travels to To-
cations where he thinks he can do best;
or he may hunt a climate to suit his
clothes, in which case he is probably less
particular about the kind of work he does.
Wandering Workers.
Some men go TO the Dakotas for harvest
and winter in Oregon and Washington.
Many enter Colorado every summer from
the South. More than are welcome go into
Southern California and Texas every WIN
ter. Some seek a cool summer and go only
a few hundred miles to comparatively
cool winter climate. few save enough
in summer TO keep them in city for the
winter. Others, perhaps most. simply go
from one job 10 another, blowing in and
going belly up between jobs. A few.
though. instead of going belly up start up
TO look for work while they have Colo
RADIO stake left. A Colorado stake is s.
and bottle of whisky or six bits and
plug of tobacco.
The most ubiquitous blanket stiff is the
railroad section hand. He is about the
poorest paid laborer in the West too. He
is always ready to bundle up his blankets
and hit the road a welt, as most blanket
stiffs are. Section men are called snipes,
ferries, tsrriers and chaws. The section
foreman is called a king snipe, Having
fun control of crew of from one to twive
or more men he is the butt of many jokes.
His sleep is supposed to be filled with Wis
ions Of, switches and frogs, broken rails,
low joints and wrecked hand cars. Such
him.
The "xIng" and "Queen."
I'm a king and never wore a crown"
Take the hand cyar off tn thrack. Now
put her on again. I'll show yez who's
boss here"
A king who had two men working for
him fired one of them. Turning to the rest
of the force he said I've got some more
of yeZ spotthed."
An old queen is reported to have said to
an old king in the dead of night: Listen
to thin min, a slapin and snorin'. An tn
rain rallin' out there on our thrack!"
Another queen told her husband of two
travellers thus: The Michigan Schlm an
the Montreal Sharty were here tn day.
They cut their montegalions on tn wather
tank. I told 'em ye wanted min, but tn
Michigan Shlim said he wor goin' a
Inounchin' in Frisco An the Montreal
Sharty said he was goIn' down near Los
where he cud sape under a Tucson blan-
lIet and shake his brikfast off a tree. An
tn passenger came along an away they
Wint. Some wor ridin what the call tn
thrimmin's; an some were on tn trucks
of her; an some were ridin' tn whustle
an the aisle eyes whukers."
Tucson is an Arizona town. He who
uses a Tucson blanket" f1ops on the desert
with the stars for covering. An eagle eye
Is a locomotive engineer.
In his song. Jerry Go Oil the Car" the
Poet Riley gives one verse to the section
foreman's last words. 1 hope my quota
ton is correct.
LET a spike maui rest
Right on my chest,
And the gauge and the old claw bar.
And when | am dead
Lay a frog at my head
And tits Jerry go oil the car"
The Poet Riley is not to be mistaken for
any other Riley. He is not Three Finger
Riley nor One Eyed Riley, nor Gunny
Sack Riley, nor Box Car Riley. He is Jim
Riley, the poet. All of his songs are con-
nected with sections or railroad grading
camps.
Hard Work and Small Pay.
1t does not rain in higher Colorado tx
cept in summer The rain falls on forma-
tions on which much snow has alternately
thawed and frozen. So it happened that
we always knew when ii had rained be-
cause we had to work till trains could run
again. Two thirty-six hour stretches with
one nights, sleep between was the worst
1 happened to catch. I knew of one case
where a man was discharged because he
refused to buck snow more than three days
and three nights without sleep. 1t is not
fear of discharge that keeps men at work.
l think il is the inherited habit OF. labor
and each mans wish to show that he is rs
tough as the others. Poorly paid as they
are section men do lots of work when
handled properly. But they are ready to
quit at the slightest provocatiou.
One chilly morning we were carrying
stones TO turn the water away from A track
il was running under We were rather
careful. A road master yelled Throw
EN- in there. DON'T be afraid of hurting
EN-" A swede turned in close TO him and
dropped nat sided rock with awkward
carefuIuess. The Snow water caught the
roadmaster between the collar of his rub
Der coat and his ear. Otto walked away
with a wooden look on his face, but his
eyes dubbed slightly. He said after
wards "IIe looked at me like hell. But
he didn't said dam word"
Where there is danger from falling rocks
and slides night track walkers are kept on
duty. This is dreary job, especially in
these frosty attitudes where the track oft
ell runs for miles through narrow canyons
beside roaring river. Night track walk
ers are not always entirely sane.
An Irishman said once when we were
dicousefne our Mace i'm society that the