The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-01-24
Reported That Number Of Laborers
at Hannibal Cement Works are
Coming Here to Work
On Dam.
POLICE AND THE TRAMPs
With the First Warm Days Of
Spring, Large Numbers Of
Hobos VIII Come Here to
Worry and Work.

At Hannibal, a number of Greek
and other nationalities of laborers
arc quitting their jobs at the immense
cement works of the Atlas cement
plant to come to Keokuk and Hamil-
ton to work on the dam. Last night
number of these swarthy laborers
arrived in. the city and this morning,
left for the Illinois side of the river to
secure employment. At 1885 six
Bulgarians arrived from ST. Louis,
among the men secured by George
Brant of Hamilton, the well known
citizen of that place, secured by Mr..
Cooper to secure laborers to work on
the DAM
Each man carried his bedclothing
under his arm. Among the number
are several well dressed young for
eigners with the older men who have
come here to find Employment. With
spring, the influx of these men will
probably become too great for the
water power company to handle and
there will be many who will not
secure work, for men are being put on
just as they are needed.
After the bunk houses have been
built, it is the intention of the quar-
termaster to keep the men divided
according to their nationality. This
plan is tried wherever the Greeks.
Bulgarians, spaniards and others
work together, to keep them from
quarreling among themselves.
Some gangs of foreign laborers,
such as this vicinity will have to con-
tend during the time the dam is being
built. are easy to handle If they do
not drink, while others who use the
fiery stuff sometimes quarrel among
themselves and are lfnmanageable.
Now for the Hobos.
The bum problem in Keokuk is
going to be big one to handle this
spring and summer said an officer
In conversation with representative
of this paper today. "As soon as the
weather gets little warmer, we will
have our hands full, keeping these
fellows who light here. on the move
for they are costly to the city and
the citizens
Already, 'Keokuk is becoming a
rendezvous for tramps, Familiarity
known as hos and on several oc-
casions the police station has had to
harbor these fellows over night, CIV
ing them supper and breakfast and
then turning them out with instruc-
/ tions not to turn up here again. But
these are generally the class of fell
lows who would rather spend fifteen
or thirty days in Jail than do a half
hours work
Each morning, afternoon and night
sees number of hobos arrive in the
city and as fast as they are spotted
are asked their business and moved
along. Many of them who have no
intention of doing such a thing say
that they have come here to work on
the dam. Asked where they came
from, they usually give the last sta
ton at which they stopped. Burling-
ton, Quincy, Hannibal or some other
city within half hundred miles.
Some of the tramps who come here
seeking work. however are sincere in
what they say and go across the
bridge, many of them, and are put to
work. Many of them however, do not
have red cent in their pockets and
the toll men who cannot admit anyone
on the bridge unless they have the
necessary coin for passage, have to
turn them down many times If they
remain in the city over night, supper
and breakfast amounts to forty cents,
the rate of twenty cents a meal be-
ing charged, SO that with eight or
ten of these fellows a day, the tramp
board bill runs up quite rapidly
To handle the tramp problem in a
satisfactory manner, it will be neces-
sary to increase the number of po-
lice officers.