Show I TRAMPS ON TRAINS I I Peculiar Ways of That Gentry in Stealing Rides I f A lU P BAlLROAD ACCIDENT I The Geologists Coming Pushinc Work on the G S L H S R H Abend Enmbllncs Did you over notice the different tricks resorted to by the tramps to steal a rido over the railroad If you have not you are one of the exception because on almost every passenger train one will see the cunningness cun-ningness displayed by the tramp In this part the west he experiences a very rough time of it and it has reached the point where an amateur bum finds it more convenient to ride on a freight train where a small sum tipped to the brakeman will secure a car over one division and if his money Holds out he need not even miss a connection A short time ago a conductor on the Union Pacific attempted to put off some of the professional tramps at a desert station This of course they did not iiILe andstartcd to wade In but tho trains crew was too much rr them and one of tho toughs in being pitched off had one foot severely mashed There is a number of different classes of this element Some have become Bustee and are heading home others looking for a job and lastly tho professional profes-sional He is more expert and consequently travels almost exclusively by passeeger train They are hard to keep off and one generally goes ahead at each station sta-tion to keep these travelers off of the blind mail and baggage cars They are called blind because there are no doors for the trainmen to go out on the platform and shoo them off Even with this caution almost every train carries tramps They will ride on top of the coaches at times but this is not of frequent occurrence occur-rence as they are more easily caught The truck is the most common place and while tnc train is going at a rapid speed tho bum will grab the brace rods and swing under then as soon as the train stops gel out and when the train starts again crawl undor l > y doing this He avoids being caught by the trainmen who examine the trucks at each stop The majority of the tramps carry some money but are very miserly with it Boarding bosses along the railroad have quit feeding these people unless they pay Then is the time when they will flash a livea ten or a twenty dollar bill but never gold as this is too cumbersome and might tempt a follow partner to steal Where several are traveling together they are very careful not to show aiiy money and will lie like troopers abou being broke At frequent intervals the bum will parry a stock of jewelry and cutlery and sell the goods for about onefifth of their cost which shows very conclusively the goods were not purchased Such an outfit as this was picked up very nicely in Wyoming a short time ago It seems an establishment in Rawlins was broken into and robbed telegrams were sent in all directions among which was one sent to the sheriff at Rock Springs A telegraph operator at a station between these points heard the message mes-sage In a day or two a crowd of bums were at his place and offored him borne jewelry but he did not buy Finding Find-ing out they were bound west he said ho could get them out all right and the next train that come alone he put the conductor con-ductor on the car was opened and the bums crawled in and shut the door The operator fastened it and telegraphed the sheriff at Rock Springs giving him tho number of the car and train and when it reached there the gang were arrested with the stolen goods still in their possession and the man from whom the goods were taken did not even thank tho poor operator I happened to stop off at a point on the Union Pacific where a branch leads to the north and at this point the timber around the tank seems to have received its share I of autographs from this traveling element In fact there is not a foot of the Woodwork but what bears the trademark of some overland traveler Some are cut into the wood while others use common chalk and pencils The writing and marking of different characters occasionally will be found fancy work which shows the sculptor was indeei an artist When a cripple is found working his way along ones sympathies are easily aroused and he has very little difficulty in going over the line but when he does try to beat his way it is almost as graceful as if he were not maimed I witnessed a lad of not over seventeen years of age with but one leg swing under a passenger train How he could do this would seem almost al-most a miracle Women tramps are few and far between but two tourists from California passed through Ogden last week who said they were not begging but they were and probably pro-bably by this time are beyond Cheyenne as they went out over the Union Pacific afoot In another instance under my observation ob-servation were two women sometime ago going to Montana They claimed to be tho widow and daughter of a G A R man and succeeded in obtaining a small pittance to carry them on north and the last heard of them was in Montana where they were arrested ar-rested and proved as two lunatics To show the names adopted by some of these tramps we quote Hobo Downey BW moaning bound west Keystone Fat New York Kip Buffalo Shorty Diamond Dot Canada Jim Baltimore Joe Frisco Tim Chinese Face Kid Pacific Slim Baldy Kid Denver Irish and a host of others and by these names they travel the union over LAVAII R SAYGE |