| Show 1 Hoboes and Gypsies During the hardly a freight train came through that did not have up to 20 men and older boys upon It riding free tree on flat cars or peering out of the open doors of box cars nese bese were the unemployed and ando the ho o victims of the Great Depression men and older boys with little to look forward to and nothing to do except to move from place to place beg for a living sleep where they could and eke out outa a miserable existence They I were not tramps but there may mayI I have b been en some hoboes among them In 1890 the people of Sanpete learned that the coming of the railroad was not an unmixed blessing With the coming of the railroad came the tramps anI an I Institution that persisted well into the twentieth century Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps imps there are still hoboes but they are not called hoboes I Thou Though r unshorn and often dirt dirty Y they do not walk the railroad I tracks nor steal rides on freight trains I It is not known just when j the first Gypsy caravan came cameto cameto II to town but at the turn of the I century It might well be said i We have the tramps with us always but the Gypsies come comei i only once a year Wending I down from the north the Gypsies Gyp Gyp- i sies generally camped below the cre creamery mery by the creek and after a few days quietly departed depart depart- ed and wandered on to Manti ManU i and to points south The tramps I had no special season but probably probably proba proba- bly were more pestiferous In late fate fall tall and early spring I Perhaps some of the tramps could have been unfortunates out of work as some of them claimed claimed claim claim- ed to be but their number could not have been large for fori formost formost i most tramps seemed to have I an aversion for manual labor f A request that one could pay payi i for his dinner by chopping a little wood Everybody by ne neI necessity necessity ne- ne I had a wood pile most J likely would result in a broken I. I axe handle Maybe It was sheer laziness perhaps It was pride and there are none so proud as they who will not work and probably It was against fraternity fraternity fraternity frater frater- rules The nearer one lived to the railroad tracks the more ad adversely adversely adversely ad- ad was was was' one affected by these knights of the road by their begging stealing and sleeping in the farmers' farmers barns Yet they were not entirely Insensible in insensible insensible In- In sensible to kindness and they who treated them sympathetically sympathetic sympathetic- ally and kindly were never never ad adversely adversely adversely ad- ad affected by tramps During the warm weather the tramps used two campsites one north of town along the Sanpete tracks and one south of town in a small hawthorn grove near neara a stream and beside the Denver Denver Denver Den Den- ver and Rio Grande tracks Young children were afraid to walk very far from town on the railroad tracks for fear of them Yet they had little to fear However some of the bigger boys were brave enough to visit the hobo camps and to listen to the wild tales that the hoboes could tell However no Ephraim boy was spellbound spellbound spellbound spell spell- bound and no Ephraim boy joined Joined joined Join join- ed their ranks One may wonder how the tramps originated and how they were recruited One Josiah Flynt who made a rather extensive study of tramp classes in the United States England and Germany had this to say There are two kinds of tramps in the United States out-of- out works and hoboes The out-of- out works are not genuine vagabonds vagabonds vagabonds vaga vaga- bonds they really want work and they have no sympathy for hoboes The latter are real tramps They make a business of begging a very good business business business busi busi- ness too and keep to it to the end of their days but bu some of them are discouraged criminals criminals criminals crimi crimi- nals men who have tried their hand at crime and found that life on the road comes near- near 2 est to the life that they hoped to lead They have enough talent to do well as beggars better generally speaking than the themen themen themen men who have become tramps simply as drunkards they know the tricks of the trade and are more clever in thinking out schemes and stories All genuine genuine genuine gen gen- tramps in America are however J pretty much the same as far as manners and philosophy philosophy philosophy phy are concerned and all are equally welcome at the hang hangout hangout hangout out Practically It Is any corner corner corner cor cor- ner where they can lay their heads but as a rule It is a lodging house a freight car or r a nest near a water tank Tramps gain possession of boys by stopping in a town and gaining acquaintance with slum children They tell children all sorts of stories about life on the road how they can ride the railways for nothing shoot Indians and be a al The tramps continue to excite the imagination of boys and some dark night there Isone Is Isone isone one less boy in town On the road the boy is called a pros sun and his protector a Jocker jacker The majority of are between ten and fifteen years of age and each is compelled by hobo law to let the Jocker jacker do with him ashe as ashe ashe he will Somewhat as did the hobo the Gypsy has likewise lost his identity as such and has mostly disappeared from the rural scene The horse drawn Gypsy caravans no longer are seen wending our highways If there remain wanderers they thay travel by motor The tramps have ceased walking the railroad tracks and his counterpart counterpart counterpart coun coun- mentally as like himas him himas as are two peas In a pod has popped up in the old hobo re recruiting recruiting recruiting re- re grounds the trouble troublemaker troublemaker troublemaker maker of the cities clUes and the problem of the police the Utopians Utopians utopians Uto uto- pians and the politicians On the other hand th the Gypsy has elevated himself and largely adjusted to his American en environment environment environment en- en and he has become a respectable skilled or semiskilled semiskilled semiskilled semi semi- skilled craftsman When the Gypsies came to town the news spread rapidly and a crowd of men and boys soon gathered to Inspect them to hear what they had to say and perhaps trade horses for often the Gypsies had extra horses with them and they could trade shrewdly If there was anything the Gypsies understood outside their crafts It was horses The Gypsies seemed to scorn direct begging and seldom came in serious conflict conflict conflict con con- with the law but as a matter of precaution just to tobe tobe tobe be safe saIe everyone locked his hishen hishen hishen hen house Unknown to most people was the fact that these rather small and mostly Illiterate people with an average mentality of a child of ten and who did not be believe believe believe be- be lieve In education as It might lure their children from Romany Romany Romany Ro Ro- Ro- Ro many ways and besides they were always on the move and their children had little opportunity opportunity opportunity to attend school these people had a tribal organization tion of their own and they punished punished punished pun pun- severely any infraction of the Romany code They even had a king for in 1883 Gregory Gregory Gregory Greg Greg- ory Kwiek of Polish origin claimed that title The present king Is Matthew Kwiek Of course the title is politically meaningless Immediately after establishing establish establish- ing their camp they fanned out over the town the children peddling the products of Gypsy handicraft mostly flower stands and baskets made of willows If anyone bought it mostly was because of pity The women sought clients for their telling fortune-telling and wonderful wonderful wonderful won won- fortune tellers they were too Cross my palm with sil silver silver silver sil- sil ver and the bigger the he piece of silver the better the fortune fortune fortune for for- tune but some of the were almost prophetic The Gypsies were supposed to be a gay and carefree peo peo- They loved bright colors and the women wore heavy but hardly expensive Jewelry The children mostly wore off cast clothing and went barefoot in summer and always there seemed seemed- to be too many kids It was told that Gypsies stole children as If they did not have enough of their times bad children were threatened threatened threat threat- ened that if they were not good they would be given to the Gypsies But if the Gypsies seemed to tobe tobe tobe be a gay and carefree people it could hardly be It was said that the Gypsies were always hungry and that their Idea of Heaven was a place where there always was plenty to eat Plying trades which me members of established society found ei either either either ei- ei ther too humiliating or too unprofitable un unprofitable unprofitable un- un profitable their meager earnings earnings earnings earn earn- ings could hardly satisfy their most simple needs and they were beset by disease es especially especially especially es- es tuberculosis but as they remained mostly out-of- out doors they remained fairly healthy But when death struck what were they to do Furtively Furtively Furtively Fur Fur- bury their dead and weep There was once a story that thata a Gypsy child was buried burled somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where below the old creamery Coming out of Northwest India some thousand years ago they wandered westward and spread out over Europe As a rule they were were treated very badly Henry VIII ordered them out of England But they made the best out of a bad situation and they survived They have a language of their own related to the ancient Sanskrit containing about one thousand words plus a few borrowed from other languages during their wanderings wanderIngs wanderings wander- wander Ings and they in turn loaned some to other people The word pal from the comes Gypsy Only nine books Iri in are known to exist translations translations translations I of the Gospels and the Acts Needlessly to say the Gypsies have never made any contribution to art science literature or social tion But modern society Is assimilating them and they are beginning to become become- very useful useful useful use use- ful members of society S. S C C. C ROSS ROOS From Supplementary Ephraim Ephraim Ephraim Eph Eph- raim History |
