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Show jplay Time of the Hobo Is at Hand 1 bad I JIHk t Hio hobo i3 at hand. ' jR AlfA n da ys of the ram-mtXt ram-mtXt WLonis of the foot of 'MS,th0 SJffil amateur, rtn the .bottom mid 16 mWif-H II d"ft5 into the fe st,Mho city, town or 1mm-5g 1mm-5g to ho bis temporary pWn iiHity train of ears .Kind" ,? -A",!? he "swings un-e? un-e? KimiirB," or "decks SW on1 ?,is wanderings ' WkJSoi Aofossor Edmo.id tafiff'cVUniersity may .bo M?I 0iln'binfli;ntVamp population SSL is about. '500.000, UfL,B Slimiitos that three-Ene three-Ene autnrit" L; , vonnrcrs under IK aaSfS-fun. They i 'mS 3:6 i Sh responds to that "WGa ut,1Ai rd is for adventure illftS w o have .hit upon nMfSf tS5m all that is fullest jKrfk ofnf no" tabilitics t taking nm renpor. and often-'M.HSSne often-'M.HSSne the wager. They pAB with danFcrst 1011 m rni f icowboyinK and n hun-niti hun-niti as CP nc to war. JMH SS Teskoninc is cor-ZMfttfWnOO cor-ZMfttfWnOO of these ying; MK roll I this summer. Most tal'H S will lmyo graduated fe Vmch school of experience. B&Ct but few become habit-H'tZi habit-H'tZi ii by the small per-Wa per-Wa through the years who iff vast anorit have EffXe ordinary walks of life. Hr Have Bidden the Bods. T rtorcs of business and pro- nMdcn the rods, lncy fei-of fei-of it for their associates them the unbelieving ha! S credit a story that he SoU from the blind bag-oUrowed bag-oUrowed brnkeman if told J d dignified deacon in fluonable church? let with uliiates a year from Wan-eZe Wan-eZe theso men are to bo erv walk of life. They ah the wildnoss of their youth rann dnys of summer come ome evening while they doze ,t. porches of their comfort-they comfort-they are suddenly aroused ant and melodious toot of a ins and awake to an almost rie desire to scramble aboard tray aprin into the land of ma romance. 1 are the men who yesterday isndouts at your back doors, rife regarded them as poor, unfortunate creatures, ask-On ask-On the contrary they were adventurers that the coun-r coun-r known. The Indian fight-rdftvsjed fight-rdftvsjed prosaic lives com- iheirs. Nor was their life to them any more than the actor who plays the down-iind down-iind the footlights is hunnl-im. hunnl-im. It was a part of the ad-d ad-d ther cloned in it. The tho first woman from whom 1 thB "cats" that, he was I tho hospital in St. Louis e was trying to get home to 3onncil Bluffs. It was an in-It in-It ,?ot results. ITo used the 1 throughout the season, he towns to fit the situation udsnlp and Hazard. , what aro the adventures, ps, tho hazards of theso n'our-thc n'our-thc wavwnrd, are not often There "is the fantastic tale told and often credited to ation of the fiction writer. Mowing incidents are blunt fled jnat as they have hup-jnEt hup-jnEt as they mav happen to foajhjf the 000,000 this sum- from front to Tear of a and underneath, are two par-of par-of iron, a foot and a half connected at one point by boarl The whole is but a the trround. A man may lie e hut, never with comfort, train is in motion he is safe from his arch enemy, the brakeman, and sure of ride to tho next stop. Tho rods ar0 the last resort of tho man who m anxious to j:et over tho road and can find no place to ride. He "swings Un-dor. Un-dor. ' aftr the tram is in motion. A California fruit train was east bound and passing through Arizona. A dozen boy tramps wore making a special cflort to ride the train for it was on a schedule equal to that of a pnssoneor. nil tho cars wore iced and sealed and there was no chance of getting inside. The only show for a ride was on tho bumpers between the cars, on top and easily acccssablu to tho brakeman, or iindorncath 011 the rods. Most of tho boys rode underncatii. When tho train stopped t lie brakeman chased th0 youngsters young-sters from their hiding places and tried to keep them from getting on as it pul od out.. The result was an all dav battle and hard riding underneath. Slept on the Rods. One of the lads had nover gouo under before. IL was gTcat sport, but hard work. The train was duo at Albuqttor-0110 Albuqttor-0110 at 9 o'clock but was two hours late. Pho raw lad underneath got desperately tired. The dust and grime was something some-thing frightful. The great freight train hammering over the joints of tho rails at a rale of fifty miles an hour mado a fearful din. All was darkness. The ground but a foot beneath sped by like a last running stream. Tho realization realiza-tion that a more fall from a train moving mov-ing so rapidly meant death was mado more vivid by a menial picture of tho result of all the cars behind passing over ones bod-. Yet so heavily did the fatigue fa-tigue of it weigh, upon the -amateur hobo that ho went to sleep on his insecure in-secure resting plnce. He never knew how long ho slept. When ho awoke it was to that frenzy of fear that overpowers over-powers one when coming out of slumber slum-ber in strango surroundings and not be-I be-I ing able to realize where he is. He gripped the rods in a frenzy of fright in which his memory groped in tho chaos of the din about h'im to find something some-thing familiar that would make him understand. Finally memory came back to tho normal and ho realized where ho was. Likewise he appreciated the danger dan-ger he had .been in while sleeping on the rods beneath the train and a greater fright came to him than he had felt before. be-fore. Being game, however, and the danger past, his spirits were in no wise dampened and ho rode on to other experiences. ex-periences. A cross .continent express stopped at 8 o'clock in the evening at a town in Colorado. This town seemed to have accumulated a superabundance of tramps and all were anxious to got out for the "bulls" were unfriendly and tho rockpile threatened. "When tho passenger pas-senger steamed out and gathered speed the tramps swarmed from behind other cars in tho yard, from back of tho water wa-ter tank, from along the right of way. Most of them aimed for tho blind baggage, bag-gage, a.platform in front of the bagga'go car which is ,iust behind the engine on these trains. Some few who missed this boldly chose a car step which bristled no brakeman, swung aboard and scram- - - - - bled up tho little ladder which leads to tho top of tho car. This act in tho parlance par-lance of tho profession is known as "decking her." Tho top of a passenger train offera no bed of roses as a resting place. Tho slope is uncomfortably gTcat and the lop is brokon .byono portion that is a foot or two higher than tho other. Thero is not room to lie down without the danger of rolling off. So precarious is tho footing that tho brakeman cornea up to run tho tramps off no oftoner than is necessary. "When ho appears there is a scrambling down ladders, .often a hurried passage through a car and up again at the other end. The train must be stopped and time lost in putting the trespassers off. On tho night in question ques-tion the hoboes were so numerous that tho crew could not ignore them and waged a battle throughout tho night in ridding the train of thorn. Menntimo tho amateur tramp" had done an unconventional thing in tramp land a tiling so simplo that it was successful. suc-cessful. Ho crawlod from the blind bag-, gago upon the tender among tho coal I and wont to sloop. His hiding placo was so easily found that no tramp of oxporionco would have chosen it and no trainman would look for a tramp there. Whon tho liroman camo back to tako water ho saw tho lad, but tho fireman's business is to shovel coal and not to light tramps. So ho merely stopped over tho prostrate form with a ' ' good for you, kid. Lio low," and tho amateur rodo eafo through tho night. Just as day broko tho train stopped for wator snd tho brakeman and conductor mado their lust fight in an attompt to got rid of their uncrofitablo passongors. Tho conductor wont forward to provont tho dislodgod tramps from going up tho right of way and swinging on as tho train paBsod. Thon, when sho had I gained considerable speed ho swung onto the. engino and started back over the train. This was the undoing of tho amatour, for in passing over the tender, the conductor stoppod on him. Psycol-ogically, Psycol-ogically, from the standpoint of the tramp, this was tho worst possible moment mo-ment for such a thing to happon. The conductor was in a nasty mood because of the. trouble the trampa had given him. But finally ho was congratulating congratulat-ing himsolf .upon having gotten rid of them, landing tho amatour threw him into a whito rage. Took Desperate Ghanco. "Get to blankcty blank out of here," he ordered hoatodly. "I am on my way." responded tho tramp scrambling down onto tho blind baggago. But having gone thus far there was no further retreat except by leaping from tho train and by this time it w.'is running Cull speed. The conductor still admonished in language moro picturesque pictur-esque than complimentary. Tho boy protested pro-tested that tho train was going too fast for alighting and that under the law ho could not bo put off unless tho train was stoppod. But tho conductor's temper tem-per was aflame. Ho would show tho tramp whether ho would get off or not. Ho. was six feet above on the tender. This was piled high with huge chunks of coal. The conductor began heaving those in his frenzy upon tho tramp. Thero was no wa' of gotting back at him. Tho tramp had his choice of .lumping from the train or being- beaten to death with coal. Ho choso tho former for-mer alternative. Ho knew something about getting off a fast moving car. Ho got low down on tho step, placed himself him-self so ho would land feet first, face front, almost as flat as a board lying on tho ground, and turned loose.. His feet ploughed into the ground, his lejrs crumpled up. his body catapulted itself in a slide down the right of way that removed much epidermis from tho projecting pro-jecting portions. But lauding right broko his fall and no sorious damage was done. Tho experienco was a bit rough but ho caught a freight three hours later little the worse for wear. Bido in tho Empties. But tho life is not all this strenuous. The old heads refuse to-rido outside and do not leave a town until they can comfortably com-fortably stow away in a box car. It is often easy to get inside an empty. Even loaded cars though sealed, are not cntiroly inaccessable. To break a seal is a penitentiary offenso but. hard to prove. There is tho big sliding door at tho side and tho litlio door at tho end and near tho top of tho car. A seal may be found broken or even a door open for precaution cannot always keep a long train hobo tight. A broken brok-en seal may bo mended by a confederate who remains on the outside so as to appear ap-pear in tact. Whenover thero is a haven ha-ven of refuge of this sort in a train tho news of it goes abroad and soon there is a merry party assembled. Conviviality Con-viviality is tho order of tho day, stories aro told, and tho dope on the bulls of hundred towns exchanged. For days tho party may go on unbroken. Tho stores 11 of the car may bo drawn upon for food. S ! j If thero is nothing that can .be cate"n ml tho trip may still be continued for a M ) couplo of days for the riding is good fl, and' the matter of tho "eats" is not im- m portant. tni When "Bowed Up." ' Then, too, there is sport to be had jiffi when the tramps aro "bowed up" or 'jm! j camped botween rides. In Colorado ) Hj Springs thero is a creamery that gives I Hi away buttermilk. In San Antonio thero 1 ml is a browory that keeps on tup a keg Jjmi 1 of its product for tho visitor, no mat- vi ra: tor how lowly. In I3l Paso there is a , graft upon the municipality that is open vj ji to all hoboo3 and which hns been worked 'rftjj ; j! by ovory tramp familiar with the south- fill eru routo across the continent. It is SI! this way. Policemen aro paid $2 for M each arrest and conviction, but draw no im salaries. When a party of a dozen : tramps gets bowed up under tho cotton- bSB! woods down by tho Bio Grande, the wise Kfl head among them goes to t.h bull and St! ; tips it off. Ho agrocs to deliver twelve OTj vags. He gets his hoboes together un- iffij! dcr tho cottonwoods, they being in tho rBi conspiracy, and the camp is raided. They m aro all taken into police court and plead lam 1 guilty to vngraney and are given twelve IK I. hourB to get out of town. Tho bull gots n55 his $24. He totes fair. Each tramp SIM 'j gots $1, the mnn who arranged tho trade JjjlJI - gets $3, and tho bull is $0 to the good. Iffi "Everybody is happy. Tho 'boos get to- 9j 1 f bacco, Homo rattlesnake medicine, and iftSli i possibly a taste of some favorite dish rUf. that has hung to tho edgo of the mind fffl for a month or two, and aro on their 9 j The amateur gets close 'to real things. 9 ' He gots 'an insight into lifo from tho M ! standpoint of the under dog. Ho learns ffra 1 to meet emergencies. He has a lifo in- s ' surance ngainHt boing a cad. He be- m j comes the brother of all mankind. Tho 31 j 3 weak ones among him drift into habit- 9; i ual tramping but theso would not havo m j boon worth while nnyway. A great many i I of them are killed and buried by the tracks, the folks back home nover know- M 1 ing what befell them. He starts fires fl and does other damage that costs tho S J railroad companies $25,000,000 a year. rR j But he pays for this with .his lifo. Al- Ql J together it ib something of a big, vital' j thing that these tramps perform. Their fl 1 school is graduating ,ienl mon ovory jfl 1 year. In that dolicar'o, ethical question. m as to their boing a menaoo to civiliza- 8 ! tion and the dregs of it, there might be fl ; another side. At any rato thore aro fl 1 400.000 of them matriculating these 9 early summer days. M 1 |
