The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-05-26
A No. |, Known the Country
Over, Came on Freight
Train Yesterday
HAD TRAVELLED
514,100 MILES
Mission Is to Turn Runaway Boys
Back to Their Homes-Has Saved
Many Lives and Is Endorsed by
Wilson, Taft and Roosevelt.

The most famous tramp in the world |
a man who conceals his real name, |
but who is known to railroad men and
officials all over the country as
g \ No. ], = dropped into The Reform
er Office last evening and after giving
a hurried, but extremely entertaining,
account of his career jumped to his
feet as he heard a ponderous freight
engine putting in from the north,
courteously expressed to the writer his
said he must, don his overalIs and
make that train, on a journey that
/ already has taken him over half
million miles. He made the train and
rode to South Vernon, going from
4 there to Winchester, thence to Keene
his plan being to travel through New
/ Hampshire as he has Travelled through
4 Vermont the past few weeks.
A No. / is not fakir, but gen
uine hobo. although he does not look
it. He has a mission to perform, and
because of that mission and because
of his unique record the metropolitan
newspapers throughout the country
have published fuIl-page Illustrated
stories of his career. He is 40 years
old and since 1888. when he was 10
years old he has been tramping. He
came here on freight from Bellows
Falls, and the "a miles that he Gov
cred brought his record up to 514, 100
miles in 30 years In all that time
f he has spent only $7.61 in railroad
fare. If You see the name \ No. /
-. ~,1F nrt
: shanties, water tanks. barns or fence
along railroad rights of way, with
p the date and an arrow under it, you
may know that this famous hobo has
= been along. and the arrow viii ind
/ cate the direction in which he wa
; going.
! No one ever doubts his story, nor
/ DO they question that his fame rests
t ON actual facts He was seized with
the wanderlust when boy of 10 in
r San Francisco and ran away from
, home. To The Reformer he said the
7 woman who gave him his first mea'
;, after he left home made a tramp OF
d him. If she had refused it or tried tC
f make him 90 back home, or turnet
= him over to the police he probably
II would not now be tramping Tht
?, habit became firmly rooted and he ha
d never been able to throw it off. IL
L knows full we'll the truth of the oil,
It adage: Once a tramp, always a tramp
n, The mission of 4 No. 1 is to dis
II courage boys from tramping and iron
II running away from home, and one wa,
L in which he does it Is by getting tn
N newspapers to call attention to hi
own career to the fate that he feel
e sure awaits him and to the mistake
m that mothers make by feeding instea
of discouraging young men from ROY
ing about the country. On all the pas
seuger trains and In many news store
of are on sale three books which ne ha
}. written, the revenue from which h
devotes to sending boys back to thci
- homes and to the future usefulnes
They are Life and Adventures {
A No. /. Hobo Camp Fire Tales, an
The Curse of Tramp Life.
Whenever he meets a runaway be
= upon his journeys he gives him GOO
talk that is almost certain to maxi
-e the lad homesick and then buys
, ticket to send him home to his parent
&c Although gripped by the subtle pow'
of the wanderlust, the barrenness
which he realizes, he knows the year
nings of boys for home and friend
Z There is something about him ASH
from the distinction which his remar