The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-09-26

/ I know Cook has. He has never rode
/ on brakebeam, but 1 know he would
/ believe my story if I told it to him"
Whenever A No, 1 has an opportunity
he gets some police official or railroad
officer to write on a card that A No. /
has presented himself at such and such
a place. During his twenty years of
[ tramping a No. has prevented many
railroad wrecks. and he has some I'M
questionable credentials from Erie and
other railroad officials.
Sheriffs and police officials have also
written Acknowledgements of their in
debtedness to him for information
These papers. together with a history
Of his life which he is selling, make
tTamping much easier for him than for
the ordinary homeless Outcast.
This book contains pictures of the
author riding on the brakebeam, on top
of Pullmans, under vestibules and on
the COwCatcher. It also advises boys
not to take a tramping trip, for "once
tramp, always a tramp" is a truism.
Friend of Jack London.
The most interesting part Of the vol
luminous stories A No. I tells is about
his trip from New York to san Fran
cisco in company with Jack London in
1894. For beating their way across the
continent in eleven days and six hours.
A No. has gold medal from Richard
K. Fox, and he says Fox paid him ST.
600, which was promptly invested in a
cemetery lot and tombstone at Cam
bridge, Pa. A No. I says ne could
have made the transcOntinental trip
sooner if it had not been for London al
ways being hungry and insisting on
missing trains whenever he saw the
e L
He says London could eat eight meals
a day and then clamor for more. which
is something Of a contrast from the
millionaire author with an appetite so
eccentric the stores of his private yacht
contain nothing to tempt it. A No. 1
has an autograph letter from London
wishing him good luck On this trip
the pair had been put off a freight train
near Lima, o., and were compelled by
the police to walk out of town.
It was rainy night, and after tramp
ing about ten miles, they saw a light
beneath a shelter made of brush. A
negro tramp had supplied himself plen-
tifully with chickens and was cooking
them. He invited the white men to
share his repast. Then and there the
negro explained his races peculiar
ability to get chicken.
TAU 10 OLCal CnlCkCns
wen you wants a chicken be sure to
notice which way the wind is coming
FROM" said the negro. Mr.. Chicken
always sleeps with his head toward the
wind, so his feathers will not be ruff
fed. Eff you know the way of the wind
you can tell where his throat is, and
you kin grab him without his making a
boiler. 1 never seed a white man Wit
white men 90 hungry while colored men
do not"
A No 1, who will not tell his name
says he never steals chickens nor begs
His income from his book, he SAYS, is
quite sufficient to clothe and feed him.
He carries a gold watch and wears a
$40 suit of clothes. but he has overalIs
to protect them when he goes tramp
ing.
Il expect to be killed in a railroad
accident he said. ''Ninety-nine Der
cent Of deaths among tramps comes
that way. Sometimes they are thrown
on the moving train and killed by
brakemen. Then there is an unknown
man supposed to have been walking on
the track and struck by the engine. A
grave in the potter's field is the end of
the story. OF course, the high officials
of the road do not know what their
men do, but I know that hundreds of
men are murdered ia Just this way.
Others become SO weak from hunger
that they fall asleep ana let 90 their
hold while riding. few are killed in
lights with gangs Of yeggmen, and oc-
casionaliy one Of the yeggmen is blown
to small bits by the nitroglycerin he
carries to open safes.
Hard to Become Beaaar.
THE average man who has always
been self-suppOrting will go on an aver
age of three days before he will beg"
continued A No. /. often he becomes
insane from hunger. I want to say a |
word to persons who occasionally feed a |
tramp or give him a dime. You hear |
great deal about tramps who refuse to |
work. Well. when a man is hungry. he /
has the delusiOn that the whole world is |
against him, and he is so weak and down |
hearted that he has no ambition, and /
sometimes no strength, to perform the /
task. Feed him first, then give him the /
work, and nine times out of ten you will /
get value received.
Another thing I want to impress upon |
the charitably disposed II you give a 4
tramp a meal or a dime, you have given /
the equivalent of about s. if you sent il /
to an organized charity. Any intelligent /
man who will read reports of charity or |
CARNATIONS will quickly learn that five |
dollars are spent in distributing one dol |
lar and then it seldom goes to the really |
needy, but to professional pauDers who