The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-24

l =. ..
| 1891
! 1t is a popular notion thai tramps
have mysterious sign language in
which. they communicate secrets to one
another in regard to professional mat
tiers. 1t is thought, for instance, that
they make familiar chalk and pencil
marks en- fences and horse blocks, in
dicating to the brotherhood such things
f, as whether a certain house is good
or rot, where ferocious dog is kept,
at what time the police are least likely
or most likely 10 put in an appear
! ance. how late in the morning barn
can be occupied before the farmer will
be up and about and where a con-
yenient chicken coop is located.
Elaborate accounts have been written
| in newspapers about the amount OF in
formation they give to one another in
this way, and many persons believe
that tramps rely on sign language
in their begging.
1t is we'll to state at the outset that
this is a false conception of their
methods. They all have jargcns and
LIMOGES of their own choosing and
making, and they converse in them
when among themselves, but the re-
ported puZziing signs and marks which
are supposed to obviate all verbal
speech are a fabrication so far as the
majority Of roadsters are concerned.
Among the Blanket Stiffs,'' in the
far west, and among the ''Bindle Mem
''Mush Fakirs," and ''Turnpikers," of
the middle west. the east and Canada,
there exists a crude system OF mark
ing good houses, but these Migrants
do not belong to the rank and file of
the tramp army, and are compare
lively few in numbers. i..ssGl.,..s
= l,a< ne.
marking referred to is occasional
rather than usual. Probably one OF
the main reasons that the public has
imagined that tramps use hieroglyphics
in their profession is that when char
ity is shown to one of them the gfver
is frequently plagued with a visitation
from a raft of beggars.
This phenomenon, however, is easily
explained without recourse to the sign
language theory. Outside of nearly
all towns of 10000 inhabitants and more
the tramps have little camps or hang
outs" where they make their head
quarters while working the community.
Naturally they compare notes at meal
time, and if one beggar has discovered
what he considers generous house, he
tells his pals about it so that they may
also get the benefit of its hospitality.
TIE finder of the house can not visit
it himself again until his face has been
forgotten, at any rate he seldom does
visit it more than once during
weeks stay in the town, but his COM
panions can, so he tells them where 1t
is and what kind of a story they must
tell.
Tramp Theories of Begging.
Although the hoboes do not make
use of the marks and signs with which
the popular fancy has credited them,
a hGr Of mr. fzrfS
theories about begging and large
variety of clever rrses to deceive people
and it is we'll for the public to keep
as up-to-date in regard to these mat
tiers as they keep in regard to the pub
lies spmpathies. Not all tramps are
either clever or successful, the road
is travelled by a great many more anna
teurs than professionals. but it is the
earnest endeavor OF all at least to make
living, and there are thousands who
make something besides,r
Roughly estimated there are from
so 1000 to 1900 tramps in the United
may be classed as first class, tramp5.
There is a second and a third class and
even fourth. but 1t is the "A Nc l
men, as they call themselves, who are
the most interesting.
The main distinction between these
tramps and the less successful men,
bers of the craft is that they have
completely conquered the amateurs
spueamishness about begging. 1t seems
comparatively easy to go to back
door and ask for something to eat,
and the mere wording of the request
is easy, all too easy, but the hard
part of the transaction is to screw up
courage enough to open the front gate
The beginner in tramp life goes to a
dozen front gates before he can brace
himself for the interview at the back
door, and there are men 10 whom a
vagrant life is attractive who never
overcome the 'tenderfoot's' bashful-
ness.
IL was once my lot to have a rather
successful professional burglar for
companion on a short tramp trip in
the middle west We had come to-
gether in the haphazard way that all
tramp acquaintanceShips are formed.
We met at railroad watering tank.
The mans sojourn in trampdom, how
ever. was only temporary; it was a
good hiding place until the detectives
should give up. the hunt for him. He
had planted his money elsewhere,
and meanwhile he had to take his
chances with the '.'boes."
He was not man who would ordi-
narily arouse much pity, but a tramp
could not have helped having SYM 4
patty for him at meal time. At every
interview he had at back doors he was
seized with the 'tenderfoot's'' bashful- !
nese. and during the ten days that our
companionship lasted he got but. one
square meal" His profession of rob-
Der gave him no assistance.
Il can steal" he said. Ego into houses
at night, and take my chances in a
shootin' scrape, but I'll be d if
can beg. 'Tain't like swipin'. When
We swipe We don't ask no questions.
an We don't answer none. In this
business ye got to cough up yer whole
soul jus to get lump (h1nd-out)- I'd
rather swipe.'
This was the testimony of practically
all beginners in the beggar's business;
at the start thieving seems to them a
much easier task. As the weeks and
months psss by, however, they become
hardened, and discover that their
nerve needs only to be developed to
assert itself, and the time comes when
is SO valuable that they do
not feel justified in asking for it. They
then definitely identify themselves with
the profession and build up regulations
as ''tirst-class" tramps.
him how this reputation can best be ac-
hiw this reputation can best be ac-
quired. One man, for example. finds
that he does best with graft" Pc
culiarly his own. and another discovers
that it is only at a certain time of the
year, or in a particular part of the |
that he comes out winner. The
tramp has to experiment in all kinds
Of ways ere he understands himself or
his public. and he makes mistakes even
after an apprenticeship extending over
years of time.
How "Gags" Are Invented.
In every country where he lives,