Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-07-27
Copyright
TEN CENTS A HUNDRED MILES.


Rai1road-An Interstate Nuisance.
Josiah Flynt's article on "The Tramp
and the Railroads." in the Century,
embOdies his experience in Investigate
ing the tramp nuisance on a single
road. To-day it is the boast of the
hoboes that they can travel in every
State Of the Union for a mill per mile,
while in number of States they pay
nothing at all. On lines where brake
men demand money Of them, ten cents
is usually sufficient to settle for jour
ney of a hundred miles, and twenty
five cents often secures nights ride
They have different methods of riding,
among which the favor1te is to steal
into an empty box-car On a freight
tram. At night this is comparatively
easy to do; on many roads it is posi-
BILE to travel this way, undisturbed, till
morning. If the train has no ''empties, ;"
they must ride on top Of the car, be-
tween the bumpers" ON one of the
car ladders, or on the rods. On passen-
ger trains they ride on top, on the
blind baggage" and ON the trucks.
Taking this country by and large, it
is no exaggeration to say that every
night in the year ten thousand free
passengers Of the tramp genus travel
on the different railroads in the ways
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, g. third of whom are
generally on the move.
In summer the entire tramp frater-
nifty may be said to be Sin transit"
The average number Of miles travelled
daily by each man at this season OF the
year is about fifty, which, If paid for
at regular rates, would cost, say, a dol
lar. Of course one should not ordina-
lily pay so much to ride in a box-car as
in a passenger-coach, but the ordinary
tramp is about as comfortable in one
as in the other, and, on the dollar-a-
trip basis, he and his SO, 1899 companions
succeed in getting out Of the railroad
companies sixty thousand dollars
y
that they all travel. Multiply this fig
ure by hundred, which is about the
number of days in a year when all
trampdom fits" and you have an
approximate idea of how much they
gain.
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 time,
| both to minimize their guilt and to
| elude capture, and the proba ability is
| that the majority Of the greater thefts
are committed by them. Tramps proper
are discouraged thieves, and I 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 all
the thefts committed by both tramps
and professional thieves, very appre-
cable loss results to the railroads.
and 1 can recall, out of my obserya-
ton, robberies whicb have amounted
| to several thousand dollars.
| According to Their Understanding.
| The maid-I found a four-leaved clo-
yer this morning. There is an old say
| ing that the finder will be married
| within a year.
The bachelor-Indeed! l was undel
| the impression that the finding of &
| four-leaved clover was an omen Of
good luck.