The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-04-28
~Terradelphia, tile Lost
Wreck Of O Phuanthropist' Aim to
Help HObOes.


OUT in what used to be the swamp,
~ beyond the railroad, on East Car
roll street, Trenton, n. j., one of
the biggest and -handsomest fac
tories stands four stories high
among surroundings Of grimy coal
yards and the accumulated refuse OF
railroad junk. Throughout the day
the buzz of its industry sounds in the
ears of a man who sits in a little
shanty back of one of the coal yards
pouring over his ledger with but one
dominant thought that runs through
all his labor; how he may once more
come into possession of the big factory
that he built and owned and lost and
make it q home for the thousands of it's
former dodgers now scattered over the
length and breadth of the continent.
The man is Thomas M. Terradell, and
the factory building with it's surround
ings was formerly a community which
was to prove to the world the indus
trial worth of the ~so-calIed worthless
and all but succeeded.
Fifteen years ago, TerradeIl, then a
man of 80, was an engineer on the
Pennsylvania railroad. He had already
seen life in many phases. AS a school
boy in Trenton he had blacked boots
and sold papers to pay for his books
and clothes. Thereafter he had been
an ironFmOlder, a jockey, a circus man,
a. rpanet~nN amI "a so1Tr-aG "a II A-nIn-
wondering from place to place and
constantly thrown in with the floating
population of trampdom. When he
went into the employ of the railroad,
as a fireman first, and then as an en-
gineeF, he found himself still in a posi-
ton to see much of tramp life, and a
certain fellowship which he had always
felt for the knights of the high road,
developed into a strong desire to be OF
some lasting benefit to them. In his
years of experience and association
with the tramp fraternity he came to
the conclusion that the hobo, as g
class, was not a cumberer of the earth.
but an unfortunate misfit, who, under
the proper conditions, might be made
Of use to himself and the community.
How to establish the proper condi-
tons was the problem which Terraden
set himself to solve. The tramps them
selves gave him little aid; their ideas
were vague beyond the firm conviction
that a permanent settlement for aged
and wornout tramps, where beds and
food could be always found ready
would be a grand thing for all con-
cerned. This wasn't precisely Terra
delIs idea. He had no mind to set up a
home for the idle. What he wanted to
do was to make the tramp work and
feel satisfaction in his work. While
he was still celebrating on the matter
he himself was incapcitated for. work
by of the accidents incident to his
business. His locomotive plunged off
an embankment one day, and when
they got the engineer out from under
the wreckage there wasn't much left
of him that was in place and unbroken.
For months he was in bed, and after he
was able to be up his health was so
shattered that it was impossible for
him to return to his old occupation.
and he supported himself by odd Jobs.
All this time the scheme for the re
demption of the hobo was growing and
solidifying in his mind, and to the idea
OF making something of this life for
the tramp was added the hope of pre-
pairing him for the next, for TerradeU
had Joined the church, and had
thrown himself into religion with the
1ervor characteristic of the man in
whatever he did. Though without reg
uiar employment, he contrived to get
together a few dollars and, with the
faith which afterward enabled him to
achieve such amazing results, set out
to build a tramps' home. For a site
be selected a bit Of swamp land near
the railroad and the canal, partly be-
aus it was along these thoroughfares
that his experience taught him the
tramp would travel; partly because the
land was so worthless that nobody
cared TO claim the ownership Of II a.
that time. To build some sort Of a
shelter was the next consideration
lumber was beyond TerradeIPs means.
BE waited for something to turn IN.
At turned UP in the river In the shape
81 @ raft Of old telegraph poles which
mad broken loose from its moorinqs
and was floating down stream to the
great grief Of the owner, who cursed
his luck and wondered what he was
ever gaing TO do withit. Great was bis