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Show DAVIS COUNTY CLIPPER Tuesday, October 19, 1993 AD Story by Judy JensenPhotos by Ron Osborne T "4 4 Hes a good man, said Psycho and TRAMP I i v added the two of them had traveled to over 50 cities in that year. Kacey, 30, stood on the Ed was one of seven who agreed perimeter of the group not joining in to tell the Clipper their stories on the occasional verbal exchanges Friday. Their Salt Lake camp was with profanity where the peppered near 3300 S., a spot where the train men tried to out shout each other for stops as the crews change. Ed, 33, authority. had attended two years of college. He left a wife and children in He had been on the rails since 86. and more recently a wife Memphis, and He was torn raised in Virginia in Provo. She doesnt and children and he spoke with a drawl. Im a know this close, said Kacey. A Im fine painter. My Daddy was a trained electrician, Kacey said it painter and his Daddy was a was booe that got him where he is. said he he took as a swig painter, I had a good job. I took my $ ,000 from a gallon jug full of vodka. and cashed it and went to paycheck That jug would be drained by six of a bar. I went home in a cab and the the group in the next hour. The cabby rolled me. Thats the truth, seventh, Hatchet, was too drunk to but the cops wouldnt believe me, stand under his own power. His he said. Kacey looked like an from bulk came the layers of unkept Boy Scout leader. A friendly clothing he was wearing. He was smile and gentle demeanor hid any filthy. His long, scraggly beard trace of meanness. He was armed rtearly covered his wrinkled face. Look into my eyes, he said with a and running from the law. I carry a weapon for drunken Texas drawl. Its the he explained. Not all of protection, President thats put us here, he in the camp were armed. the men his his and made hollered way Norm produced his pen knife. Ed toward the group, falling on his face said he doesnt carry a weapon near the fire. He struggled to a because Its too dangerous. Angel sitting position to answer the wasnt armed. Psycho and Allen is Who president. question didnt say. Its Carter, he answered and the The conversation took many group laughed. No its not Carter. turns. Each wanted to explain why it who minute. tell Just a Ill you they were there. All wanted the is. He staggered to his feet and world to know they are not bums. grabbed this reporters arm. Look CASTE SYSTEMWere not deep into my eyes. Dont never hobos, and were not homeless, forget Im stupid. Never forget Im said Psycho. Were tramps, Train stupid, he said and collapsed on the Riders And Mighty Proud, he ground in a drunken stupor. None wanted the label of explained. The others laughed and ignored In the beggar caste homeless. J him. No attempt was made to move system, these tramps considered j him or make him more comfortable. themselves to be above the rest. They just stepped over him. Dont Were not like those homeless 5 mind Hatchet, said Norm, 49, Hes down at Pioneer Park. We buggers fine damn rooter. a a Hes good j in for maybe a week or town stay 3 worker. If anyone tries to hurt him downtown raising two. not Were j they have to go through me. Im hell, said Ed. kind of his bodyguard. I love him GANGS Weve got a gang like a brother. in America because parents problem Norm seemed more coherent care of their kids, said aint taking j than the rest. Refusing most of the Ed. My Daddy beat the crap out of j offers of booze, he pulled his had no gangs. We learned We me. grungy coat over his thin body. His We didnt learn to play the work. to is Seattle. He, like Ed, pinball machines, he said. Now -- had attended college for two years. its against the law to whip your Norm left his wife and two children added Norm. kids, when he found it impossible to find DREAMS Angel and Psycho a good job after he broke his back had their future planned. They are in an industrial accident. I was going to get married as soon as they making $30,000 a year in 985 as a get some money. Neither has plans heavy equipment operator. Now beyond hopping a freight train to when I apply for a job and they ask Seattle. for a physical and see the scar they Norm is not planning his future. dont want me. I can cook 10 years Ill be dead. I cant live In hamburgers, but I can make more like this for 10 years he said. To money on this hill than minimum, emphasize his point he went to his he said and added bitterly, Ask knapsack and pulled five old Hillary Clinton whats wrong with hamburgers he had dug out of a America. McDonalds garbage can. You This is what we get out of the live like this, he said and cant Crummy, said Angel as she stuffed one of the angrily proudly displayed first aid items she hamburgers into his mouth. had pilfered from the trains. Angel, Every now and then settling 23, said she left her home in enters my mind, said Ed. I down Montana eight years ago. I didnt miss my kids and my wife and I like the way my Mom was treating wish it would have worked out, he my little brother. She was an said as his eyes followed the train alcoholic and a drug addict so I track behind him. I had the dream. I split, she said as she stroked the was married. I had kids and the back of her betrothed. Psycho. with the white picket fence, house Were gonna get married, she but I lost it all because I didnt have explained. the willpower. You get depressed Her face was young, and that depression turns into impressionable and her demeanor alcoholism. was tough, but the toughness RELIGION All tramps believe seemed feigned. I dont plan to live in the Lord, said Psycho producing my life on the rails. I want to settle his picture of Jesus Christ. That led down, she said. to others pulling out tattered In the next breath she pulled a remnants of religious items. Ed small leather pouch from beneath showed a copy of the Bible his son Psychos shirt. He allowed the had given him. Angel showed a photographer to shoot the medicine verse from Psalms she often reads. bag but not his face. He is running Jesus didnt have a house and he from the law. He wouldnt say why. walked around spreading the This medicine bag is full of Gospel, said Psycho drawing what trinkets that your friends you meet he thought was a natural parallel put in it. You cant look inside or between the tramps and Christ. the medicine wont work, Angel POLITICS My dream is to said half believingly as she sat spend one hour in the White House down on Psychos lap. talking to Clinton, said Ed. All he Psycho, 30, left a wife and two can see is whats at a rally. Thats children in Seattle. I was a not America. Why is he agreeing to man. I had a professional auto-bod- y send our people to Somalia? good job, but I lost my wife. Now Why did every Jap get a check this is mv true family. he said as he cause we dropped a bomb on their motioned to the group surrounding country. Who dropped the bombs in the fire. Pearl Harbor? asked Norm bitterly. He took a healthy swig from the There are millions of homeless in bottle. His face contorted to America that could use a check, he emphasize a wicked scar which added. extended from the bridge of his FUTURE It was nearing time to nose across his cheek to his chin. to work. The lunch-tim- e go That took 50 stitches, said Angel. commuters would be exiting and Then he got this one on his entering the freeway soon. The forehead, she said pointing to a tramps needed to prepare their gash. And I got this one on the signs. See this, said Psycho back of my head, explained Psycho holding out a magic marker, this is as he parted his hair. He wore each standard issue for all tramps. I wound like a badge of honor. had a sign once that said, Too lazy What would he do if he had a work. God bless, said Ed. I did to thousand dollars? I go off for a it just to mess with their heads, he month and get me and Angel an said with a wry smile. "apartment and maybe get a job, Jobs were on their minds. Those said Psycho. The mention of the they had lost, those they hoped to word job aroused Hatchet enough to Everybody needs a little help get. groan, A job. You get a damn job? sometime and you might be next. Im gonna kick your ass if you get a Everybodys just one paycheck into his job, and he lapsed back from being on this hill, said Ed ' drunken sleep. . philosophically. Allen moved restlessly around His speech was interrupted by the fire laughing nervously but not the lonesome whistle of a Union saying much. He didnt want to Pacific train. As it rumbled by, the discuss his past or the future. He tramps jumped to their feet cheering was content to belong and to drink. wildly. Their ride to the future had Ive known A1 here for over a year. arrived. & Ml f ontinued from front pa: rT ' f . M i J1 Wtf . fuV 4" 1 i 2. f: t A mf k " nko V Verbal wars peppered with profanity are part of every A BEER day. (top) "W mW&STG Kaceys correctly punctuated sign his reveals college education, (left) "All tramps believe in the Lord. Jesus didn't have a home," said Psycho as he showed his pictures of Jesus given to him by a friend, (above) Hatchet tries to stop the reeling as he sits by the fire in a drunken stupor, (right) There are no daddies in 1 camp and no marriages on the road according to Ed. another. "This is w Irtl.-'K- Everyone is equal and no one has more rights than not L somebody's camp. This is God's country," he said. V v: jit. j, V rjf. I' f i fv-- 'J "We earned and spent $2,000 on this hill in just the last week," said Norm. : V |