Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1900-06-14

THE TRAIL THAT ONE MADE TO GUIDE
THE OTHER.
Ii Enabled "ADpetite BILL" After His
Term In Jail Was Done, to Unerr-
tnGly Follow His Partner From
Cincinnati to Houston

/
our part of the country" said sugar
planter, and I've made something of a
study of their peculiarities. The old
Idea that they carve marks and signs
on fences that can be read by all other
members of the fraternity is pure hon
sense, OF course, but | have known sew
eral instances in which one tramp
would leave trail, so to speak, for the
! guidance of partner who might not
put in an appearance for months
The first case of that kind | ever
! encountered was rather amusing.
was riding, one spring day, down a
road that passes through my place.
when | noticed n typical hobo indus
triously carving sort of hieroglyphic
on big post standing near the fence.
! The mark consisted Of a square and
triangle side by side, and he was Just
putting on the finishing touches as l
arrived.
My curiosity was at once aroused,
and | determined to find out if possible
exactly what the thing meant, so pro-
ceeded to collar the fellow, and after a
little vigorous blutfing 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
the direction of the point of the TRAN
gle.
His partner, according to the story
which | dragged out of him piecemeal.
was doing n six months jail sentence
for slugging a policeman in Cincinnati
and when he got out ON Sept. would
strike SOUTH following n trail of cary
ings on water tanks, depots, barns and
fenceposts. When the first tramp
struck good place to loaf, he proposed
TO stop and wait for the other to catch
up.
What's your partners nameT l
asked
cts 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 funny looking wart on one side
| of his nose
Il was satisfied from my prisoners
manner that he was telling me the
truth, 50 | took him up to the house,
| gave him a good dinner and sent him
on his way rejoicing.
"Now for the sequel" continued the
| planter. "One afternoon in the fall |
was driving home from the station
when | passed a very dilapidated hobo
with red stubhle on his chin and a gun
! ny sack under his arm, and some In
! stinct told me that Mr.. Sparks. alias
| Appetite Bill had at last arrived.
| He seemed to be looking for land
marks, and when he reached the big
| post | saw him stop, scrutinize the
| carving and then start off with new
and confident step. That settled it,
! and drove ahead and intercepted him
at the house, half a mile farther on.
"IIello, Billr l said. How's your
| appetite this evening"
Appetizer he stammered and gave
such violent start that he dropped
his gunny sack.
why, yes said |. Perhaps they
didn't feed you very well at Cincin-
natl
AT the word Cincinnati he turned
! livid and glared around with such evil
dent intention Of boiling that | made
haste to explain
"Don't be alarmed l said. 4 met
| your side partner a few months ago,
and he told me to look out for you 1t
| took me some time to disSipate Bills
! suspicious, but when | finally succeed
| ed in convincing him that 1t was all
! right he told me a most interesting
! story Of his journey across the coun-
| try.
"A professional hobo will follow the
| track Of another hobo with an accura-
! cy that is curiously suggestive Of wood
| craft. All the way down from Cincin-
natl Bill had never once lost the trail,
| and before he left | gave him an ad-
! dressed postal card and got him to
promise me he would put 1t in the mail
at whatever point ne caught up with
| his partner. Less than a month later
received the card, bearing a Houston
| (Tex.) date mark; so | presume it was
| there they met.
| Both Of these tramps could read and
/ write and | asked Sparks particularly
why his friend didn't use some brief
message in place Of the hieroslyph.
He replied that it would attract too
! much attention, and other hoboes
would be likely to add misleading
words, while the little square and tri-
| angle passed unnoticed.
"Since then | have encountered two
other nearly similar cases, in. each of
which tramp was leaving cipher
| trail for crony to follow when he got
out Of Jail, and l infer that the prac-
tice Is tolerably common. At any rate
| It is n curious feature OF tramp life
which | have never seen mentioned in
my Of the numerous papers and maya
zine articles that have appeared on the
subject during recent years. New Or
| leans Times Democrat
/ Easily Fixed.
4. Inv IYFat This q flor