Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-07-12
TEN GENTS A HUNDRED MILES.
What 1t Costs a Tramp to Travel by
Railrond--An Interstate Nuisance.

What It Costs a Tramp to Travel By
Railrond--An Interstate Nuisance.
Mr.. Josiah Flynt's article on ~ q,
Tramy and the Railroads" IN the Gen.
tury embodies his experience In inves-
tigatng the tramp nuisance on single
road. He estimates that ten Thousand
tramps ride free on American railroad
trains every night Of the year.
To-day it Is the boast Of the hoboes
that they can travel in every state OF
the Union foy mill per mile, while IN !
number Of states they pay nothing at
all. On lines where brakemen de-
mand money Of them, ten cents is US
TALLY sufficient to settle for journey
of hundred miles, and twenty cents
often secures nights ride. They
have different methods Of riding,
among which the favorite Is to steal
into an empty box car on freight
train. At night this is comparatively
easy to do; on; many roads 1t Is posi-
BILE to travel this, way, undisturbed,
till morning. If the train has no
"empties," they must ride on top OF
the cars, between the bumpers" on
one of the car ladders, or on the RODS,
On passenger trains they ride. on top,
on the "bllnd baggage" and on the
trucks. $500. .t
1t is no exaggeration tosay that every
night in the year ten thousand tree
passengers Of the tramp genus travel
on the different railroads in the. -"ys
mentioned, and that. ten thousand
more are waiting at watering tanks
and in railroad yards for opportunities
to get on the trains. / estimate the
professional tramp population . at
about sixty thousand, third OF whom
are generally on the move.
In summer the entire tramp frater-
nifty may be said to he "in transit"
The average number Of miles traV-
elled daily by, each man at this sea-
son of the year is about fifty, which,
If paid for at regular rates would cost,
say, a dollar. Of course one should
not ordinarily pay SO much to ride in
box-car as in passenger coach, but
the ordinary tramp is about as COM
Portable in one as in the other, ana,
on. the dollar-a-trlp basis, he and his
9,999 companions succeed in getting
out of the railroad. companies sixty
thousand dollars worth Of free trans.
portation every; day that they all
travel. Multiply this figure by hun.
dred, which is about the number Of
DAYS in a year when all trampdom
."6its," and you have an Approximate
idea of how much they gain. g.;.,
Another serious loss to the railroads
is that involved In the disappearance
of goods undergoing transportation
/ and in claims for personal injuries.
Some tramps steal, and some do not'!
but every year considerable thefts are
made from freight cars, and tramps, or
men posing as such, are generally the
guilty parties. Professional thieves
frequently become tramps for tme'
both to minimize their guilt and elude
capture, and the, probability is that
the majority of the greater thefts are
committed by them: Tramps proper
are discouraged thieves, and l have
seldom known them to steal anything
more valuable than fruit from freight
cars and metal from idle engines. In
a years time, however, including oil
the thefts committed by both tramps
and professional thieves, q very appre-
ciable loss results to the railroads; and
I can recall, out of my personal OBJ
servation, robberies which have
amounted to several thousand dol
lars.