Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1900-04-27
a TRAMP AND HIS PAL
THE TRAIL THAT ONE MADE TO GUIDE
THE OTHER.

memDefb OF the maternity Ia pure noN-
sense; of course, but I have knSwn sew
eral instances in which one tramp
would leaves trail, 30 to speak, for the
guidance 1of q partner who might not
but in an appearance for months. !
The frst case of that kind I ever
encountered was rather amusing. 1
was riding. one spring day. down q
road that passes through my place,
when i noticed q typical hobo, indus
tNously carving a sort Of hierogiyphic
q big post standing near the fence.
The mark consisted Of square and
triangle side by; side, and, he was lust
putting ON the finishing touches 40 I
arrived - 81 sf4rg. gts /: r. att
my curiosity was at once aroused,
and I determined to find out II possible
exactly what the thing meant, SO I pro-
ceeded; to collar the fellow, and after a
little vigorous b1uf1ng he told me he.
was putting up directions for his part-
ner, who would be along some time in.
the fall. He assured me that the marks
meant nothing in particular, except
that he had passed and was going in,
toe direction of the point of the TRAN
Ellis partner, according to the story
which I dragged out. of him piecemeal,
was doing a six. months Jail sentence
for smuggling a policeman in Cincinnati
and when he got out on Sept. 1 would
strike south, following a trail Of carv-
&gs on water tanks, depots, barns and
fenceposts. When the first tramp
struck a good place to loaf, he proposed
to stop and wait for the other to catch
UP.
whats your partners name?' I
asked.
X"'It's by rights William Sparks said
the hobo, but everybody calls him
Appetite Bill" on account of his al
ways being hungry. He carries a sack
to pack grub in and has red whiskers
and: a funny looking wart on one side
of his nose: IS .s
M@I was satisfied from my prisoners
MANNER that he was telling me the
truth, so I took him up to the house,
gave him a good dinner and sent him
- his way rejoicing.
""Now for the sequel" continued the
planter. Zone afternoon in the fau I
wssi driving home from the station
when I passed a very dilapidated hobo
Nith-r red gstubble on his chin and a gun
ny sack under his arm, and some in
stinct told me that Mr.. Sparks, alias
appetite Bll,' had at last arrived.
He seemed to be looking for land
marks, and when he reached the big
post I saw him stop, scrutinize the
carving and then start of with a new
and confident step. That settled 1t,
and ! drove ahead and intercepted him
at the house, half a mile farther on.
"A'Hello, Bill I said. 'How's your
appetite. this EVENING"
"a'Appetitef he stammered and gave
such q violent start that he dropped
his gunny sack.
"'Why, yes,' said 1. Perhaps they
dldn't feed you very well at Cincin-
natl
AT the word Cincinnati he turned
Hvid and glared around with such EVIL
dent intsntion Of boiling that l made
haste,to-exphin. r
It"ttDon.t be alarmed I said. I met
Iour a&dAs partner q few months ago.
and he told, me 10 look out Tor YOU II
took me some time TO dissipete BINS
91spicaens, hut when / finally succeed
ed IN esnvincing him that It wa all
right he told me q most interesting
STORY Of his journey across the coun-
u.
"a professional hobo will follow the
track Of another hobo with an accura-
cy that Is. curiousiy suggestive Of wood
craft. AL the way down from Gncin'
natl Bill had never once lost the trail,
AND before he left I gave him an ad.
dressed postal card and got him to
promise me he would put it in the mail
at whatever point he caught up with
his partner. Less than a month later ]
received the card, bearing q Houston
fTex.) date mark; so I presume 1t was
there they met.
VV"Both of these tramps could read and
write, and I asked Sparks particularly
why his friend didn't use som brief
message in place of the ~hieroglyph
He replied that it would attract toe
much attention, and other hoboes
would be likely to add misleading
words. while the little square and tri
Angle passed unnoticed.
Since then I have encountered two
other nearly similar cases. in each OF
which q tramp was leaving a cipher
trail for a crony to follow when he go1
out of Jail, and I infer that the prac
tice Ia tolerably common. At any rate
S is a curious feature Of tramp life
which I have never seen mentioned II
any Of the numerous papers and maya
zine articles that have appeared on the
subject during recent years."-New Or
teams Times-Democrat.
Easily Fixed.
Awful affair at our hotel this after
noon. Cook got angry and cut the enc
of a walters nose of with a carving
knife. But one Of the guests fixed II
up all right"
"How?'
."He gave the waiter another tip"
4
Every nan is his W ancestor, anc