Evening star., 1932-12-23
BY DANIEL ROBERT MAUE.

thousands OF. homeless, wandering
boys.
BY DANIEL ROBERT MAUE.
Within few hundred feet of where
we had alighted from the incoming Ell
Paso, Tex. train, we, my travel
ing companions and !. took the west
bound II the previous night in the
refrigerator car, of which 1 wrote yes
terday, had been miserable, this sec
ond proved downright agony. "Paciflc
Fruit Express 57l69" bruised the
bruises of ''30656."
We had been three the night before.
Now we were four, as Palmer, II, came
to US from the far end Of the train
out of Ell Paso. In our refrigerator
container we we're no more than q
bunch of humanity In rumpled cloth
Two of US untangled ourselves and
went to the Ice compartment at the
other end of the car. We soon re-
turned. More space had its advantages,
but it divided the heat Of our four
bodies; and heat had become essential
In the desert night. Finally, we c0uld
only suffer and wait.
Morning came at Yuma. We changed
there by stepping from one 1relght 70
another. We no longer sought refrie.
orator cars. Given fair breaks we woud
be in Los Angeles. Calf, by evening.
We trundled along out in the sun on
top of a box car until brake" shooeo
us down the train into gondoia.
Hey, get back there with the rest
of 'em. will you?" the trainman com
planned why don't you ride IKE
regular buns? You only make 1ooi
rtI
But he never succeeded In keeping
the top of the train clear OF young
transient groups. More came TO the
train at each stop. even at INLAND and
Indio. Calf, where. on week days. the
law may turn back the hundreoS o.
hitch-travelers moving by freight. we
were fortunate; We went In on sunday.
One-Iegged Hitch-traveler.
Three women, two children and
One-legged man went in on our 1relgnt.
How the last ever entered the gonooia
with its high steel sides do not know:
of car axles he was there with the 80
or 40 other men-chiefly young.
From the time we were IN on the
desert and first saw date palms until we
rolled along through the orange groves
and suburbs of our destination the
riders increased. 1 no longer attempted
to count noses.
Men slept If they could. Young
Wayne Bridges Of my own party lay
axles and, with his head hanging loose
". slept four hours straight. Only utter
exhaustion can sleep that way.
The trainmen did not molest US. Al
though at one station border patrol
man bawled, Its up to you older fell
lows to keep the kids of the top OF the
train"
When night came bright lights be-
tokened the towns suburban to Los An
geles. The weary transients began
dropping off whenever the freight
slowed down. We rode into the out.
skirts of the city, and at 8 convenient
Arossing my group of four dropped into
1nelter and food. d,
:. Next morning the twinlike youths
4rom Kansas and Mississippi, Wayne
Bridges and Palmer chance encounters
of hitch-traveling life, came into some
thing like their own brilliant personali-
ties Showers. food, clean beds and an
hour in the swimming tank at the "Y"
restored vigor and pride. 1rrepressible
and irresistible, they left smiles wher-
ever they went. The younger. Wayne,
the story Of the older.
Palmer Franklin Hodge had left
sisters home to search for a brother at
San Francisco. His mother died when
he was a baby. His father, according to
the boys story, had long been missing.
A grandmother cared for the child until
he was 3l2 He lived in an orphanage
until H. After that he had lived back
and forth between sisters in two States
Until some months ago he inter-
mittently went to high school and
wagons" along the Mississippi levees.
The job had run out. Family finance
at the brother -in-law's home was not
what 1t had been. Palmer decided to
leave.
Looks Forward to a Home.
Without equipment or funds; Palmer
where he turned toward the West Coast
and the brother whose address he did
not know
Me an You" Hodge adores his
brothers, particularly the "six-foot-six-
incher" enlisted in the United States
Navy and at present probably aboard
the U. S. S. Chandler.
In two years I'll have q home" he
said. my brother, when he signed
Tor his last hitch, said: Listen, Palmer,
soons I get out we'll have place Of
our own and go round and do q lot
Of things together"
Deep. quick, full Of manhood, play
full, with abundant energy and yet ma
ture, the fellow under his superficial
exterior of hardness carries his troubles
close to his own sensitive interior.
He was as easy with his knowledge
of mechanics as he was free with his
admiration of purple cactus, golden
poplars and colors over the hills. He
made up osteopathic- sounding terminol-
ogy. that he might plague our COM
panion, with an amazing facility. He
talked Of Saturday night pay check
like family man.
And there's woman" in his case
who doesn't know anything about it
yet" She's different from other girls, |
Palmer says, because she doesn't go
around on Sundays. only auto riding"
All the fellows hard-boiledness leaves |
him when he talks of the woman"
His future
I'm going to be a pilot Of one Of
those some day." he said, when an |