Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-10-23
WEDNESDAY,, ooT. aa, 1907.
raAMrs AS RAILROADS. BANp.
$2S, ,o0o,o 900 Year Is the Estimated
Cost Of the Vagrancy EVIL. Y

year, according to a representative
OF tho Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Statistics compiled recently from
1901 to 1905 show that more tres-
passers were killed on American
! railways than the combined totals
OF passengers and trainmen killed.
and that from one-half to three.
! quarters OF such trespassers are es-
timated by railway companies to be
vagrants. Undoubtedly the rail-
roads are the greatest sufferers from
the tramp evil, and yet they are one
of the chief causes of its growth.
Josiah Flynt is reported to have said
that the man VINO asks aims of you
In the streets of New York on Mon
day may make the same request of
you In Chicago on the following Sat-
urday. Most of the railroads in the
East have recognized the dangers of
permitting the, stealing OF rides on
their trains, and the majority have
adopted regular system of policing
their territory.
The Norfolk and Western in par
ticular has an elaborate plan for the
protection OF Its property. It's police
force numbers more than 200 men.
scattered over the entire system,
which is divided into districts. Zach
district has for its center some i'm
portant city or town and covering
fifteen or twenty miles of the sur
rounding country. Here lieuten-
ant Is stationed with a force propor-
tionate to the Importance of the To-
cation. The men under him scour
the yards for thieves and tramps.
and arrest suspicious persons and
keep a watchful eye on the rolling
stock. Each train of merchandise
and each passenger train, when 1t
leaves the station, is accompanied
by detective. II he is on a freight
train, his headquarters is in the cock
loft Of the caboose. At every stop
he walks over the cars and puts Off
tramps who may have tried to steal
ride and tests the seals of the car
doors. On board a passenger train
the detective rides as an ordinary
traveller, ready to help the conductor
IN an emergency, and keeping a,
sharp lookout for pick-pockets. He
also tries to prevent the riding OF
blind baggage is, on the
front platform of baggage cars with
out end doors.
In spite Of the very best of care.
a great deal of harm is done by
tramps. Trespassers often board a
train at water plug" or at a coal
"tipple," climbing upon the bump
ers Of the cars and crouching there
until the train has started. They
then pull themselves up to tho ton
or the car on a rope ladder, which
they always carry with them. Thus
they can get down to the door of the
car, the seal of which they break,
and so force an entrance. Then they
throw out what bales OF goods they
think valuable. These are collected
afterwards and taken to fence"
or store where stolen articles are
oou6uI anu SOlu.
A railroad detective has divided
railroad trespassers into four classes.
To the first class belong the men
who have money enough to pay their
fare, but prefer to save 1t and ride
on the bumpers instead. Villag-
ers who wish to ride to neighbor-
Ing town make up the second, and
the third consists of men who will
work long enough only to earn to-
bacco and grog money and then loaf
their way from one part Of the coun-
try to another. The brakemen call
tlis class "stake men," and the
itramps know them as "gray cats"
The fourth class is far the most dam
gerous, and is composed of the real
tramp, who believes that the world
owes him living and takes It In the
shape of car rides and whatever else
he can steal by the way. Ten years
OF petty thieving by these men cost
the Norfolk and Western $t50,000
yearly. This, of course, was before
the road was regularly .poIiced.
The chief recruiting stations of
crime are the dens of vagrants. Loaf
er, tramp, criminal--so runs the sim
lister scale. 1t is for this reason that
vagrancy has aroused the attention
OF such q body as the National Con-
ference OF Charities and Cnrre,tjoo