When a town has a railroad policeman who is “hard,” the fact is soon noised about. A few years ago, Galesburg, Illinois, was known throughout the country for the “bad” colored policeman who guarded the yards. The hobo who could tell a story of an encounter with the big “nigger bull” had an exploit to be proud of. For some time Green River, Wyoming, boasted a “hard bull” known to the “floating fraternity” as “Green River Slim.” As the reputation of a “bad” policeman travels ahead, so the information about his tactics and methods. Where he may be found, how avoided, how he watches the trains, are usually common knowledge to the average “bo” before he reaches a town. ATTITUDE OF THE PRIVATE POLICE The _Hobo News_ for April, 1922, reprinted an article “The Hobo; a Real Problem to the Railroad,” by T. T. Kelihor, chief special agent of the Illinois Central Railroad. The article was given space in the _News_ in order that the hobos might see how the “bulls” regarded them. It was followed by a caustic criticism from the editor who charged that the writer “like the rest of his fraternity cannot distinguish between Hobos and Bums and Tramps and Yeggs.” The railroads of this country are the chief sufferers from this cancerous social growth. There is no property right or other rights of the railroad that the modern hobo feels called upon to consider or respect. Millions of dollars’ worth of railway property and merchandise in transit are destroyed and stolen annually by this class. The actual value of merchandise stolen is only a small part of the loss of merchandise in trains. The average hobo realizes that he is not provided with means of carrying away a large amount of bulky goods. Consequently when hobos enter a merchandise car, they break open a great many cases and dump or throw out the contents on the floor in searching for small, compact, valuable goods that they can carry off concealed about their persons. It often happens that they will not take more than $50.00 value in valuable articles, but they will destroy and damage $500.00 worth of goods by destroying the original containers and soiling the contents by trampling on them on the dirty floor of the car and otherwise damaging them. The amount of property the tramp actually steals and destroys is not known. He probably is blamed for more damage than he does. Those who speak for the hobo class claim that most of the goods stolen from cars is taken by train crews who shield themselves by pointing to the tramp, who is already an outlaw as far as the railroad is concerned, because he steals rides. Aside from the loss of property, Mr. Kelihor calls attention to the great loss of life attributed to tramping.