The Autobiography of a Super-TrampDavies, W. H. (William Henry)
General
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp
Davies, W. H. (William Henry)
Davies, W. H. (William Henry), 1871-1940; Poets, English -- 20th century -- Biography; Tramps -- Biography
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was an easy road to beat. I had taken
with me a good lunch, with a small flask of whisky, so that I might
attend to travelling for twenty or thirty hours without suffering
thirst or hunger. At the end of thirty-six hours I got off a train,
now being hungry and thirsty, at a small town, having by then
traversed half the distance between Chicago and Baltimore. Without
staying any length of time in Pittsburg, I caught a train for
Connesville, and, arriving there in a few hours, had to dismount and
wait the next train for Cumberland, in the State of Maryland. A train
was now being made up, consisting of flat cars loaded with iron rails,
and coal cars, also loaded. There was not much necessity on this road
of concealing oneself, so I boldly mounted a coal car, and there I
sat, exposed to the elements, and to the curious gaze of people at the
various small towns through which we passed. What surprised me not a
little was that I seemed to be the only man that was beating his way
on this train, whereas, this being such an easy road, most trains had
a number of tramps, some of them having two score or more. It did not
take me long to notice that these people at the different stations
and villages stared at me with something like awe, had pale faces,
pointed at me in an unusual manner and whispered to each other. Now,
between Connesville and Cumberland, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
crosses the Allegheny mountains, and often the train, if heavy, can
scarcely crawl up, after which it runs down at a terrific speed. We
had just mounted a steep elevation, had reached the top, and the train
men were making fast their brakes for the steep incline on the other
side of the mountain, when my attention was drawn to a large number of
people assembled in the valley below, some distance ahead. I then saw
that the mountain side was covered with coal, and between forty and
fifty trucks lay in a heap at the foot of the mountain. This train had
apparently, through some cause or another, jumped the rails, and the
cars had rolled over and over from top to bottom. When I reached
Cumberland, still being stared at, and pointed out at the various
stations and villages on the way, it was not long before an
explanation was forthcoming. I, it seemed, had followed a train that
had killed forty-four men--two brakesmen, the engineer, conductor, and
forty tramps who were beating their way. On coming down the mountain
side, the brakes had refused to work, the fireman had jumped off in
time to save his own life, and the others had all been precipitated
with the train into the valley and killed. It had run with such a
reckless speed that it could not possibly maintain its hold of the
rails. And this accounted for my being the one traveller on this
train, and how horror-stricken the people had seemed at my temerity,
which, of course, was no more than ignorance of the mishap. After this
ride I never again felt comfortable on a train, much preferring to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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