The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-29
MINERS WEARY
TRAMP FROM WEST
IS MAKING FOR SAVANNAH.
CRIPPLE CREEK MAN TELLS WHY
HE is WALKING HERE.

"a
Of strenuous Life He Has Led and
Of the UnpOpularity of Roosevelt.
Left His Wife and Children in
Far West.
An interesting interview with James
stratton, IAN involuntary tramp" who
is on his way to Savannah, where he
;s said to have a brother, was printed
in the Charleston News and Courier
Yesterday. The city directory fails to
show any family named Stratton.
The interview follows:
THE life of a man who deliberately
chooses to be a tramp may be care
free and pleasant. but the man who is
compelled to be tramp is not happy
Individual said Jim Stratton, q de-
ported miner from Cripple Creek, Col.
"Tramps never have to worry about
rebellious servants. or laundry bills or
burglars or taxes or railway fare but
suppose man has a wife and a couple
Of kids and is compelled to leave them
while he goes across the continent. Re-
minds you strongly of -, doesn't
it," and looked fiercely out of a win
dow. well. am in that position ex-
actly. Wife and two little ones at Col
orado Springs being cared for by the
union, and here 1 am in South Caro-
lima and I can not return to Colorado
until the Republicans are out of DOW
er.
What do they think of Roosevelt
out there? Well, bud, Teddy couldn't
get to Colorado now-he'd be wearing
wings before he crossed Kansas. When
he refused to consider the petition the
striking miners sent him from Cripple
Creek he lost prestige and there is lit
lie love for him in that section. l was
il bull pen eight months and then
they let us out with orders to leave the
state.
Hundreds Were Deported.
Il came East in company with hun
dreds of other miners, Nasons and Odd !
Fellows and everything else you could |
think OF. | did not have a fortune |
with me when l left, and before l had |
gone any great distance I found l had |
just one lone dime with which to
travel about thirteen hundred miles, |
purchase food, and buy railroad tick |
cts. Consequence was, 1 bought a |
drink and started out on my face-and I
the rods.
Ever ride the rods? Not what you |
would call picnic When I was COM
ing out here, l was stranded in Kan
sas on the Santa Fe line. l walked |
about twenty miles to a little way sta
ton and thought 1 would be able to
crawl into an empty box car l learn
ed that through freight passed the |
town in the evening, and that it slow
ed up bit when passing the depot.
I waited until l heard her whistle,
and as soon as she came in sight
made a dash for her and caught the
rod near the engineers seat.
The train was going at good rate
of speed and 1 was jerked off my feet.
My heels ratified against the tender,
and / swung on by my hands alone
until 1 could get a foothold. The eyes
of the engineer were glued to the track
ahead and the fireman was on the
other side behind the boiler from me.
| crawled back over the tender and
swung down between two cars and in
few minutes a brakeman found me
and told me l had better try walking
awhile. l kept my grip and he pulled
his gun.
Il was so dead tired and hungry that
just crept under the car on the rods
and concluded to let him shoot.
Riding on the Rods.
He saw he couldn't hit, so he found
couplin pin, tied it to a strong Irvine
hoping that the pin, by reason of its
acquired velocity, would nip me on the
koko. We were going at the rate of
forty-five miles an hour; l was on the
rods underneath the car and that
brakeman was doing his utmost to
crack me on the head. At the first
stop 1 thought l would try walking
awhile. The brakeman asked me where
| was going and / told him had been
deported with hundreds of other miners.
When he heard that he said | could
ride as far as / liked-took me in the
caboose, too
II have worked for Marcus Daily and
Capt Clark, two famous mining men
they had a hot race for the position of
Mayor not so long ago. Both of them
were well liked by their employees, and
the death of DAILY was sincerely mourn
ed by hundreds of diggers.
I'VE did not strike for higher wages
we did not want to be forced to pa
tronize the commissary stores-stores
run by the mine owners. And when
this was refused us, we went out and
have been out almost a year And |
then we wanted better houses-why ;
man with ten children is required to .
pay SIS per month for a three-room
house, owned by the capitalists; the
roof is leaky and the foor-it doesn't
let the wind THOUGHTS of soil
house hits on the ground. We didn't
want reception room and parlor
and tea chamber. but a man is some
what crowded when he has ten chill
dren and has to lay them away in three
rooms.
Graft for UndertalSers.
Il worked under DAILY in Butte,
Mont. Ever hear of that town? Well,
it's what Sherman said war was. Right
over here is a grocery store; next door
is saloon; next is a dancing hall;
next is a free-and-easy; next is
gambling hell; then another grocery
store. Lovely town-for the under
taker. Richest gambling town l was
ever in, though.
Gov. Charles Peabody and Sherman
Bell are not popular with the miners,
and I don't imagine that their lives
would be an insurable risk were they
to venture in certain sections of the
state.
I've been a miner almost all my
life. Dug in South Africa before the
Boer War; was working in the Kim
berly diamond mines, and saw Cecll
Rhodes and DR.. Jamison frequently,
but a white man can't live In that
country / was there about seven
years, and had the fever seven times
Why didn't I leave? Well. / made up
my mind 10 leave frequently, but oc-
casionally ! would strike It rich and
would resolve to go Just as soon as