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
Peggy is a one-legged man. Stumpy is a legless man. Wingy
is a man with one or both arms off. Blinky is a man with
one or both eyes defected. A Dummy is a man who is dumb or
deaf and dumb. Some of these types do not beg. They make a
livelihood by peddling or working at odd jobs. A Nut is a
man who is apparently mentally deranged.
The Hop Head is an interesting type. He is usually in a pitiful
condition, for he has small chance, living as he does, in the tramp
class, to get money to buy “dope.” Frequently he resorts to clever
and even desperate means to secure it. One type of dope fiend is
the Junkie. He uses a “gun” or needle to inject morphine or heroin.
A Sniffer is one who sniffs cocaine. More frequent than the drug
habit is the drink habit.
The tramp class has different types of predatory individuals and
petty or even major offenders:
The Gun is a man who might be termed a first-class crook.
He is usually a man who is living in the tramp class to
avoid apprehension. He may be a robber or a burglar.
The Jack Roller is a tramp who robs a fellow-tramp while he
is drunk or asleep. There is a type of “Jack” who operates
among the men going to and from the harvests. He may hold
them up in a box car with a gun or in some dark alley. He
is usually called a Hi-Jack.
Among other types of tramps are:
The Mission Stiff who preys upon the missions. He will
often submit to being converted for his bed and board.
The Grafter is frequently a man who is able to exploit the
private and public charity organizations, or the fraternal
organizations.
The Bad Actor is a man who has become a nuisance to his
people and they pay him money provided he does not show
himself in his home town.
The Jungle Buzzard is a tramp who lives in the jungles from
what he can beg. He will wash the pots and kettles for the
privilege of eating what is left in them.
From the point of view of abnormal sex relations there are several
types of tramps:
A Punk is a boy who travels about the country with a man
known as a jocker.
A jocker is a man who exploits boys; that is, he either
exploits their sex or he has them steal or beg for him
or both. The term “wolf” is often used synonymously with
jocker.
Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit.
From the economic standpoint, migratory workers are employables and
unemployables. Between the extremes there are individuals of every
shade of employability. The ability of a man to support himself
is presumed to be related to his ability and to his opportunity
to work. The tramp problem has been interpreted first of all as
an unemployment problem, but this does not take account of the
unemployables.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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