The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless ManAnderson, Nels
General
The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man
Anderson, Nels
Chicago (Ill.) -- Social conditions; Tramps
Everything went fine for about half an hour. I was drying
my shoes and socks and Sully and I were talking about where
we were going and what to do. It was at the time of the
Steel Strike, and Sully was planning on going up there to
get a job as a “scab herder.” He said that by that means he
would get in with the company and that he could work some
“sabotage” in the interest of the workers. At that time I
was traveling and selling literature, and holding street
meetings in the interests of the I.B.W.A.
All of a sudden something hit me in the back between the
shoulder blades. I looked around quickly and there were two
“bulls.” We were on railroad property and I knew we were
in for it. Sully ducked and went over the fence. I had my
shoes off and couldn’t run. One of them gave me another tap
on the back with a black jack. “What are you here for?” “I
am drying my shoes,” was the only answer I could think of.
As I hurried to get my shoes on one of them slapped me on
the side of the head. I jumped and ran while they cursed me
and told me never to let them catch me again. I met Sully
an hour later and together we cursed all railroad “bulls”
as cowards and sneaks.
Sometime after that I was told by a friend that Sully was
an employee of the Pinkerton agency. I did not believe it
but before a year was out I heard it from two or three
sources. I made an effort to find out and I learned it
was true; that he was in their employ at the time we got
chased. Then it came to me why he went back to talk to the
switchmen and how he got away without being hit. He was
traveling with me because he was trying to get a line on me
as an agitator.
These stories are typical of those that any experienced tramp can
tell.
The private police “talks by hand” because it is the most practical
method at his command. The argument of the club coincides most
admirably with the mood he is in when on duty searching trains and
keeping trespassers off railroad property. He is a hunter and the
tramp is his prey. If it is a game to the police, it is no less so
to the tramp. One lad who had been caught a time or two said: “I
get a lot of ‘kick’ out of riding trains out of a place when I know
the ‘dicks’ are trying to keep me off.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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