The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-04
HOME FOR TRAMPS
After Befriending Them All
Through His Life.
Reuben ROmfch Fed Hundreds
of FOrlOrn HobOes.
HOUSED THEM in BARNS
Was a Poor Boy Himself and
Never Forgot the Fact
The Weary Willies FIOcking to
His Funeral.

Lower ATacungie. Pa, May NO less
than 400 hoboes attended the funeral of
Reuben Romich here today. For over
25 years the Romich farm has been a
haven Of rest for Weary Willies from
all parts Of the world, and by some mys-
FERROUS means o. communication the
word was passed along the line that
their angel had passed away Every
train brought somebody here to mourn
with the family. The passenger trains
brought wealthy people from the city,
and the freight trains brought friends
from the Lord only knows where. They
began to arrive on Thursday, and have
been coming in droves ever since.
The Romich farm is known to tramps
the world over, and the kind-hearted old
farmer never turned one away without
food and shelter. His great barns shell
tered over 25, 600 tramps during the past
Is years. At least one man has slept in
the roomy old hayloft every night dur
ing all that time. and no less than 765
women tramps have been cared for On
the Romich farm
HAD NOT A FRIEND.
Reuben Romich was once a poor boy
and found himself on the road without Il
friend or a farthing- 1t was a bitter cold
night, and he passed a church in this
village where a lay preacher was deliy-
eriag a sermon from the text: I was a
stranger and ye took me in The old
minister made a deep and lasting I'M
preston on the mind of young Romich,
who stopped to talk with him after the
service. The preacher, thinking that the
lad lived in the neighborhood, offered 10
walk home with him.
I have no home to go TO-" said Ro-
mich.
IF my sermon touched a single heart
here tonight you should have no difficult
ty in getting a nights lodging and a
meal in the morning." said the old man
who took a fancy to the manly young
ster by his side.
III ask whoever you suggest said
the boy.
Try that farmer by the stove, ne
looks like a man with a heart"
The man pointed out by the preacher
owned the place that has since become
world famous as the 'Romich farm
His name was Sator Walker, and a
worthy son of the famous Sator Walker.
of Maryland, he proved to be-
'tOf course you and the parson can
stop at my place tonight-tomOrrow, too,
if it don't clear" was the CHEEKY way
young Romich was greeted
II was a. stranger and We took me in
NEVER LEFT THE FARM.
Romich never left the Walker farm.
When Mr. Walker died he left the place
in such shape as to enable Romich TO
guy anu pay lot II out OF the ylelQ OF lis
many acres. From that day to this no
man has been turned from the place
hungry or cold.
This place is Gods half acre. the old
man said as he pointed to one Of his
barns. which occupies nearly half an
acre of ground
In harvest time when the nearby
farmers could not hire help at any rea-
sonable rate of pay, Mr. Romich could
get all the help he needed for nothing.
Of I1.07-r
reach the farm just about harvesting
time Just to give the old man a lift
and not one of them was ever known
to ask for a cent of pay. It irritated the
old farmer to see cartoons showing
tramps at a wood pile He said that he
never paid a cent to have wood split on
his place since the war, and that some
of the regulars" regarded it as a spec
ial privilege to be allowed to earn a
square meal at the wood pile.
All the fences for miles around the
Romich farm are marked with cabalistic
figures. which mean as plain as words
can make it. THE good thing is three
miles ahead, on the right-red-roofed
barn.
A HOME FOR TRAMPs.
The big barn with the red roof viii
soon be transformed into a sort of bar
racks for tramps, as the old man has
made provision in his viii for the con-
tinuatiOn of his pet scheme of practical
charity. His entire estate, amounting
to upward of $4,000, will be used in the
work, and the county authorities viii
place the institution under the control
of the poor directors to prevent it be-
coming a nuisance and to make it as
near self-supporting as possible. The
men who can work win be compelled to
do so hereafter, but in any event they
viii not be turned away hungry or cold,
work or no work.
The old man had a big shed at the
end of his barnyard, in which the ho-
boes were expected to store their pos
sessions. No man was ever permitted
to carry matches or tobacco into his
barns, and the Willies themselves saw
to it that this rule was strictly en-
forced. Dozens of the barns in this vi
entity have been burned to the ground
in recent years. but the Romich place
was never once threatened
When he built the new church for the
mission he had painter come here
from Philadelphia to decorate the walls
and the most conspicuousdgure in the
beautiful little church is an illustration
of the Good Samaritan was a stran-
ger and you took me in
HIS FAVORITE TEXT.
When the church was dedicated he
had a famous divine come here from
New York to preach a sermon from
that text, and ne said he would like to
have every preacher in the land deliver
one sermon each year from the same.
He felt that the hand of God saved
him from the life of a tramp, and that
it was his special duty to see that none
that applied to him for food and shell
ter We're denied
Joe" Schultz. the original Happy
Hooligans" arrived here Friday morn
ing how he heard of Mr. Romicil's
death at Altoona is a mystery. but he
received the information there and
made straight pull for this spot. :" as
ne put It himself They cut the old
man out just as things was getting
easy. and we could have put his house
off the map for four whole months anca
kinder give him chance to break even
looked on that old man as about the
only aIl-white man in the country
The only time I was ever sick in nv
life that old Teller sent three miles in