The San Francisco call., 1910-07-17


for his goal.
Sociologists estimated that the num-
Der of tramps, gay cats; crooks, etc.
(for the crooks also were involved in
the movement to an unprecedented ex-
tent) would total up close to 100000
Three hundred thousand is an almost
inconceivably great army. 1t is larger
sacked Rome under Alaric. 1t is larger
than Godfrey de Bouillon's army that
captured the holy city at the end of.
the second crusade. 1t is bigger than
most of the celebrated race movements
of antiquity, yet such is the size and
wealth of our country in the present
day that it could pass over it. thou
sands of miles, and subsist on the
charity Of the country over which it
passed without causing a ripple on the
surface of our national, life.
This vast host of tramps and near
tramps was drawn from three prin-
cipal sources, all distinct and rigidly
separate, for in the underworld, as well
as the upper, there are social classes,
and cast lines are as strongly drawn as
elsewhere.
The first of these, constituting
numerically by far the greatest class,
is the gay cat. He is the man who will
work hard and regularly for a longer
or shorter period, but is subject 20 oc-
casional fits of the wanderlust, under
the influence of which he will throw
down his tools, no matter how good his
job may be. and hike out in any direc-
tion that his fancy bids. He carries
enough money to buy his grub and
smooth the rough spots on the trail
and is looked down on by the true
. tramp, who will not associate with him.
1t is estimated that over three-Quar-
ters of all the host was made up of
gay cats. They are the easiest Of the
tramp classes to discourage from con-
tinuing a journey, and few of them got
through to Reno, most Of them falling
by the wayside when the harvest fields
OF the middle west were reached, where
work was easy and wages good. The
harvest has never been SO well sup
piled with labor before.
The second great class, constituting
90 per cent or about 10000 of the host,
was composed of real tramps, or blown
in the glass stiffs." as they call them
selves. The. stiff is a good traveller
and very persevering. Perhaps 20 per
cent of him got through The best
specimens of this class arrogate to
themselves the name good people"
The third class was composed of
"guns'-that is, criminals, yeggs, dips,
etc.-who mingle with the tramp
classes and find their promiscuity their
best hiding place from the officers of
the law These criminal members Of
the migration made up about per
cent Of the whole. or $1,000. They COM
prise q large part of the most expert
and resolute petty criminals in the
United States.
OF course, the criminal element, and
to a large extent the tramps, too, were
fvo TOD 70 Nv f1,a Of
gain. The throng of fight fans to be
dumped into the town, each with his
little roll of bills all excited and many
inebriate, offered chance without
precedent for making a cleanup. The
most powerful reaction, however, to
the great majority was genuine interest
in the outcome OF the big fight.
The average man has little idea how
keen is the interest taken in sporting
events by the underworld. The sport
ing page of his newspaper is the only
page a tramp Will deign to look at.
Cities might be burned and countries
overrun. and the tramp would know
nothing about it; but let the Horrible
Hindu fight the Desperate Dago, and
the tramp will know every detail of the
battle, and discuss it for months.
Against the combined pulls Of the
hope of gain and the greatest sporting
interest ever felt in any event. the
. tramp OH6EeO little IeSlSldHCe. from
early spring, most of him had resolved
to see the fight. When the weather
became propitious he set out.
There are three great happy" routes
by which the tramp in the east or south
travels north and west.
The first of these is via the New York
Central to Chicago, thence to Omaha,
and from there over the Union and
Southern Pacifics to the coast, via
Cheyenne. ogden and Sacramento. This
used to be the greatest avenue Of tramp
traffic in the underworld. 1t passes
through a country where habitual char
ity has rendered it very easy to batter
back doors for first class grub. All
the towns along the route are COM
paratively friendly to 'boes, and there
are no bad states to cross.
Lately, however, the New York Lake
Shore, a district for years regarded by
the hobo as his own particular private
property, has become extremely hostile.
The Union Pacific, too, has been making
strenuous efforts to cut down 'bo traffic
over its lines, and it is no longer the
happy road of old. Still, it is an easy
route to get by on, and perhaps ma
jority Of the hobo host came that way.
The second route is via the Balti-
more and Ohio, through Baltimore,
Washington, Cincinnati, ST. Louis and
thence west. The B. & O., which is
lovingly known to the DO under the
nickname "the DOPE" is the easiest
road in the world to travel on. Tramps
ride serenely in broad daylight on this
road and give the railroad bulls (po-
lce) and the shacks (brakemen) the
glad eye and the high sign without fear
Of interference. This road also passes
through a country where it is easy to
beg. but the trains are slow.
The third route comes up from the
south. from Galveston, by the Fort
Worth and Dodge City and the Denver
and Rio Grande railroads. It is a fairly
easy road to travel, and as perhaps a
majority of the real tramps spent the
winter in the south and started from
there 20 see the fight, this was per-
haps the road most patronized by the
good people"
A description of the good people" is
interesting. They are the highest type
Of tramp, and a description of them
applies on a descending scale to all the
tramp classes down to the tin can
vagabond, who is sunk so low In liquor
that he is scarcely human. Many of
the typical good people whom 1 know
are men OF education and intelligence,
which, If applied to legitimate business,
would gain them independence and even
wealth. One is accustomed to think