The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-02-13


slender rod TO hold TO. The train
had hardly pulled from the station
before my friend lost his grip and
fell and was instantly killed.
East Of the Mississippi river. 1t Is
comparatively easy to travel for II
you slip a brakeman bottle OF
whiskey or a nickel or two he Will
let you ride TO division point. but
west Of the Mississippi the hobo has
tough going. On some roads in the
East l have been permitted to ride
in a box car with my feet hanging
out, smoking a cgaret and talking
to friends Of the road.
Brakemen's Noses Keen.
In the West if you get into box
car the door must be shut. One can
not even smoke, for the brakemens
noses are so keen that one Whit Of
cigaret smoke is sufficient for detec-
ton. Then In the West IL you are
caught they will probably take away
any money you have and throw you
off the train in no gentle fashion.
While a group Of us were makirJ
our way from st. Joseph to Kansas
City last July the freight conductor
and brakeman came along and asked
what we were riding on. Some Of US
had few cents, myself having ex-
actly one nickel. At the point of a
gun they searched our pockets and
took this money away from US. The
total was sixty cents.
1--WE all accepted our fate with the
exception OF two russians, who fol-
lowed the conductor and demanded
their coins back. lie threatened TO
beat their heads of and they grabbed
a bolt and hit him over the head and
knocked him of the train, almost
killing him. The result was that the
whole crowd got thirty days on tho
rock pile, with the exception Of the
Russians, who went to the state pris-
on for three years.
'.At one place in Illinois there Is
big negro whose duty it is to watch
and search trains. both passenger and
freight. When he gets a hobo he
takes him to shack and searches him.
IL he gets any money he lets the hobo
20. If he doesn't no beats him up and
makes a charge of trespassing, which
always results in a thirty day SEN
tence to the county farm.
South for The Winter.
AS the weather grows colder the
hoboes work to tho South, but there
is one county in southern Arizona
that, until recently they made the
greatest effort to avoid. This county
had a deputy sheriff whose fayorite
game was to ride through the coun-
ty on passenger or freight trains
looking for hoboes. When he found
one he simply threw him off-it did
not matter how fast the train was
going. The latest report / heard from
some of the boys was that he had
been shot through the heart and that
his last words were: 81 have nine to
my record, but the tenth got me-"
Down in that section Of the country
hoboes have to carry bottles OF drink
ing water when they travel, for at
some of the division points the only
way to get water Is to pay for It.
And q hobo, even II he has a road
stake when he starts, stands good
chance Of losing it at any time. AT
every desert division point a restau-
rant is run either by the railroad or
n catering company. and these places
sometimes give a hobo a chance TO
work for meal. OF course when
there are not jobs enough to go
around, the one lucky enough to get
the work tries to steal enough to pro-
vide for his fellow 'bocs.
Southern Sunshine"
In the southern states, especially
mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Tex
as, they have their county farms and
road camps, and constables and deputy
sheriffs receive from 81 to $3.50 a
| head for rounding UP hoboes who go
South to bask in the famous southern
sunshine. Instead Of basking they are
nut to work in one Of these places
with fifteen pound balls and chains to
their feet. In Florida, when you are
sentenced for .yagrancy, the turpen-
tine man pays your fine and has pos
session of you until the amount OF the
fine is worked out.
AS for the hobo's eating, he gets
bis food where he can. 1t may be a
back door hand out, Il may be a meal
in the county jail, but II is more Ike
" to be a meal received as scant pay
for an hour or two Of hard labor. In
bargains between farmers and hotel
keepers on one side, and hoboes or
the other, the, man Of the road gets
the worst of 1t ninety per cent OF the
time.
Sign Language Bunk. 'e -
You have probably heard lot about
the mysterious sign language thai
tranps are supposed to have, BY
which they indicate by a mark on the
front gate whether or not the pick
ings in any particular house are good
or not. This sign stuff is the worst
bunk that ever happened. There y
no such thing in the hobo life and
never was. Any one who says there
is lies.
As a rule the 'bo Is as Clearly In
Ibis habits as his surroundings will
permit. OF course there are some who
make no effort to wash up and be
clean, but on the other hand there are
many who take extraordinary care oil
themselves. have seen them, for in
stance, making big fire in desert
ed spot along some railroad and strip
ping and washing in zero weather
Public baths are regularly patronized
by the wanderers.
1t looking for the pleasant side oil
this free but not easy existence we
find it in the "jungle" which is es-
tablished whenever few hoboes find
themselves together. Generally, the
Jungle is near the railroad track with
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