Evening star., 1924-12-26
H|GHBROW HOBOES
FIGHT FOR LUXURY
Refuse to Be 0usted From
Hotel With Free Food and
Hot Baths.
By Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
CHICAGO, December 26-Battling :
grimly for their first honest-to good
ness heaven, 800 first-class graduate
hoboes are still on top of the fight
that's being made to drive them ouf
of the paradise they've cornered in
the really swell Grandville Hotel into
cold, cold world.
It's a struggle of first magnitudr.
this attempt of the determined weary
Willies TO hold the ground they gain
ed when two magnanimous lords
turned over to them the Grandville.
one of the South Sides up o-date
hostelries, with all its luxuries. And
now the courts, and only the courts.
stand between them and their negro
adversaries. who have spent most o.
two weeks trying to make their lives
miserable.
Three hundred hobo inhabitants
even If every single one is a holder o.
the A. b. H.-hobo bachelor of arts
degree from the Chicago Hobo Col
iege, are too much for negro dignity
especially since the Grandville IS
planted conspicuously at $500 Grand
boulevard, right in the very center cE
aristocratic negro streets.
HobOes Determined.
we don't want to be a party 10 =
race riot, or anything like that. but
we are determined to maintain thess
quarters for the hoboes who hold de
grees from our college and are in Chi
cago," DIR. Ben L. Reitman, presldenf
OF the hobo institution and leader O.
the group seeking aid for migrant.
declared today. 1T isn't our intentiol
to move. just because these peoply
feel that what they call white trash
is not good enough for their district
Every hobo we put on the stand
in this case they've brought to evict
US by having the negro owner 0:
the hotel foreclose on the mortgage
Ia an accredited university graduate
We are ready to let them take tes
timony In Latin If they want. Ou,
hoboes come from Harvard, Yale and
other leading colleges. They'll show
what type of men are among the
migrations."
The 'boes have something to figh'
for, too. They've found Utopia II.
the Grandville, where, free OF charge
they've had steam-heated rooms witt
bath, maid service, bell boys, ele
vators, tasty cuisine and everythin-
that goes with the modern hotel
Garb Strange Contrast.
Every night for three weeks 81.
graduate hOboes, qualified as first
class 'boes by meeting all require
ments Of riding the blinds, foraging
when in distress and general re
sourcefulness, have found nightly
lodging at the hotel. Four deep they
have cuddled under the beautiful
linen covers of the hotel, after Their
evening bath and a satisfying repast
Early each afternoon, singly and IL
groups, they can be seen saunterin.
up grand boulevards to the loungtnl.
rooms of their richly furnished pal
ace. Their rags for ma strange con
trast 10 their surroundings.
These neighbors cause all the
trouble" DR.. Reitman said Every
20 minutes some one of them calls
the police. Then some one else will
call the fire department They have
the health department out here twice
a day. The building department is
trying to make us build escapes and
they kick about having 800 men in q
hotel built for 100. Besides all this.
I've been discharged from the posi-
ton 1 held for years in the health de
partment of Chicago because of my
activity on behalf of these men. On
top of that a negro paper is infiaming
the colored people in the black belt.
The situation is threatening.
''Of course, the courts may evict Us.
ditch to keep their heaven-the best
place they have ever imagined they'd
run into