Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-11
THIS TRAMP RIDES
ON THE FINEST
TRAINS
ALSO USES SOAP AND is OTHER,
WISE UNLIKE ORDINARY
WEARY WILLIEs'-GoES
FIRST CLASS.
New York Eerald.


being thrown into commissions at the
sight of soap he actually carries bar
with him on his travels.
He was a portmanteau. He carries a
brush and comb. He wears suit of jeans
over his clothes to prevent them from
being soilcd.
He keeps a diary. He always has a
toothbrush in his pocket. He carries a
watch so as to make sure of catching
trains.
Instead of drifting aimlessly north and
south, like the wild birds do, this tramp
travels strictly on schedule. He scorns
freight trains and rides only on fast pas s
senger trains
The Bloomington tramp that washes Is
Eddie Simms- While he is only twenty
one years old. he has already been around
the world, has been in every section of the
United States, and has made extensive
Jaunts in China, Japan. the Philippine Is
lands, Germany, Belgium, England,
France and Australia.
But he never paid cent of fare in his
life. There is probably no tramp in the
country so expert in the gentle art of
beating soulless railroad corporations out
of free rides.
He rides under the cars on the brake
beams, on a seat swung from the air
brake pipes. on the blind ends of baggage
cars or on top of the cars.
Only once has he been "ditched.' as
tramps call it when they are thrown off
a train. That was last summer. when
he was visiting at his home in Blooming
ton.
The Chicago and Alton bears the repu-
tation of being the hardest railroad in the
world on which to beat ride. While
running up to Chicago one day Eddie"
was exhumed from somewhere under the
brake beams and ANONYMOUSLY hurled
OF the car. The reputation of the Chica-
go and Alton was maintained. The most
expert ride stealer In the world could
not get ahead of the Chicago and Alton.
The conductor put in an application for
a gold medal
Boy Tramp Dismayed.
The boy tramp that washes was so
ashamed of himself that after he returned
home to Bloomington he sneaked down al
leys and was ashamed TO look honest men
in the face.
But instead of leaving Bloomington af-
ter few days stay, as he had at first
planned, he determined to devote the next
two months to riding on the Chicago and
Alton railroad and indicating his fair
name. which was temporarily trailed in
the dust.
So he beat HIS way on the Alton to
Kansas City. aud to st. Louis and up and
down and back and forth. but he did
not consider that he had retrieved his
reputation and fairly cleared IL of shame .
and reproach until he had ridden in day.
light from Bloomington to Chicago on
the train from which he had been ditch
ed and on the day when w b ,a.ne.
the Alton detective, was h:=-ef on the
train
After vindicating himself before the
world and the railroad companies, as well
as before his wandering brethren. Eddie"
Simms was ready to start on another
long tour, and he has just left Bloom
ington.
Eddie" speaks German perfectly. con-
verses in Spanish and has a working
knowledge OF Japanese Among others.
he can sing the entire Japanese national
hymn and knows many of the proverbs
of the country.
Wherever he is he manages to keep in
touch with current events - reading the
newspapers and he steps over from
one country to another to see all the
events of interest. He does rot get in
toxicated,, ana avoids accidents by re-
fusing TO ride on second class trains.
His first attempt to beat a train was
in September, 1887. when he went from
Bloomington to Atlanta and return. He
did not follow the occupation till. in 1885,
he took an experimental Pan-American
tour, going from here to Newport News
to attend the launching of the battleship
Illinois, then to Richmond. Washington, ]
Baltimore. Niagara Falls. Detroit, Chi
cago and other places--a ride OF 1870
miles and visits to many places of inter-
est at a cost OF s2.11.
Worked at Harvesting.
In 1899 he went to ST. Paul and Mime
apolis. then to Grand Forks. N. D.. into
the harvest fields, where he worked at
$3.50 a day, and then $50 miles back to
St. Paul in order to catch through train
20 Spokane.
He wanted to ride in the coal bin of
the dining car, and he was obliged to wait
three days in order to get the particular
car he wanted, and then he took the best
ride in his life. four days and four nights
to Spokane. From Spokane he rode the
trucks of the same train to Seattle, where
he worked while In a logging camp there
and then stepped down" to Portland.
There he signed as fireman on the
steamship Queen Natalie and made a
round trip to Hong Kong. via the Japa-
nese ports. He had never shoveled coal
except into the heating stove at home, but
after few days he got along all right.
Having returned to Tacoma he rode the
blind baggage down to San Francisco and
made a trip to the Philippines and back.
Then he went across country to New
York, where he shipped as a fireman on
the English ship Red HilI-a lime juicer
bound for Australia
At Adelaide he worked in livery stable
for 80 shillings a week, and then went
to Melbourne and through the bush coun-
try to Sydney.
The bubonic plague was giving much
trouble at Sydney, and he took the North
German Lloyd steamer Koenigen Louise
via Melbourne, Adelaide, Freemantle. to
Columbo. Ceylon, and then through the
Red Sea and the Mediterranean and up the
west coast Of Europe to Bremerhaven,
where the crew were paid of and dis
charged.
He then made tour Of Germany, Wis
iting an uncle at Hamburg. where he left
his seafaring clothes, took a train for
Kiel, beat his way to Lubbock, Rostock,
Stettin; visited Berlin for three and half
days, and took in all the places of inter
est, Their, on to Leipsic. Frankfort on. the
Main, Cologne on the Rhine. Aachen.
Brussels, Ostend, Vevier and Lille.
He beat his way on the Paris Rapids to
Calais and crossed the Channel 10 Lon
don by working one watch as a fireman.
He remained awhile IN London seeing the
sights and then put in a month demon
strating how easily an American tramp
can ride free on all railroads
He slowed away for home on the st.
Louis and arrived in New York on July
18th of this year He beat his way up and
down the coast, and then went TO Bloom
fnetou for visit to his old home