| Show Hoboes and Gypsies 7 I During the hardly a freight train came through that did not have up to 20 men and older boys upon it riding free on flat fiat cars or peering out of or orthe the open doors of box cars These were the unemployed and md the 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 the they could and eke out outa a miserable existence They were not tramps but there may my m y have been 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 an institution that persisted well into the twentieth century Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- Perhaps haps there are still hoboes but they are not called hoboes Though unshorn and often dirty they do not walk the railroad tracks nor steal rides on freight trains It is not known just when the first Gypsy caravan came cameto cameto cameto to town but at the turn of the century it might well be said We Ve have the tramps with us always but the Gypsies come only once a year Wending down from the north the Gypsies Gypsies Gypsies Gyp Gyp- sies generally camped below the creamery by the creek and after a few days quietly departed depart depart- ed and wandered on to Manti and to points south The tramps had no special season but probably probably probably proba proba- bly were more pestiferous in late fall and early spring 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 formost formost formost most tramps seemed to have an aversion for manual labor A request that one could pay for his dinner by chopping a little wood Everybody by ne necessity necessity necessity ne- ne had a wood pile most likely would result in a broken 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 adversely ad adversely adversely ad- ad 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 in insensible insensible insensible in- in sensible to kindness and they who treated them sympathetically sympathetic sympathetic- ally and kindly were 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 join join- ed their ranks One ma 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 The out-of- out works and hoboes works are not genuine vagabonds vagabonds vagabonds vaga vaga- bonds they really want work and they have no sympathy for ho hoboes oes The latter are real tramps The 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 some of or them are discouraged criminals criminals criminals crimi crimi- nals men who have tried their hand at crime and found that life Ufe on the road comes near- near est to the life that they hoped to lead They have enough talent to do well as beggars better generally speaking than themen the 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 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 a nest near a water tank Tramps gain possession of boys by stopping in a 2 town and gaining acquaintance with slum children They tell children all sorts of stories about life Ufe on the road how they can ride the railways for nothing shoot Indians and be a al al The tramps continue to excite the Imagination of boys and some dark night there isone isone Is Isone one less boy in town On the road the boy Is called a sun and his protector a Jocker The majority of are between ten and fifteen years of age and each is compelled by hobo law to let the jocker jockey do with him as ashe 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 any Gypsy wanderers they 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 recruiting recruiting re recruiting re- re grounds the trouble troublemaker troublemaker troublemaker maker of the cities and the problem of the police the Utopians Utopians Utopians Uto Uto- pians and the politicians On the other hand the Gypsy has elevated himself and largely m l r. r adjusted to his American en environment environment environment en- en and he has become semiskilled semiskilled semiskilled semi semi- a respectable skilled or 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 lie 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 chUd 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- many ways and besides the 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 an 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 or 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 h handicraft mostly fl flower 0 w e r 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 tov Cross my palm with silver silver sil silver sil- sil ver and the bigger the piece of sliver silver ver the better the lie fortune fortune fortune for for- tune but some of the s 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-off clothing and went barefoot In summer and always there seemed to be too many kids It was told that Gypsies stole children as if they did not have enough of their own Some Sometimes times bad children were threatened threatened threatened threat threat- ened that If they were were- not good they would be given to the Gypsies But if it 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 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 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 treated very badly Henry VIII ordered them out of England But they made the best out of a bad situation and they survived vedA 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 comes from the Gypsy Only nine books in hi are known to exist translations translations 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 very useful useful useful use use- ful members of society S. S S C. C C ROSS From Supplementary Ephraim Ephraim Ephraim Eph Eph- raim History |
