In Louisiana, young Clarence Lee’s father told him that there simply wasn’t enough food to feed the family; the boy left home the next day All began riding the rails Peggy DeHart ran away from home at fifteen, after her father struck her for cursing at a cow on the family farm
Where did people ride the rails?
They had much to learn Common places to ride were inside or on top of boxcars on freight trains or in blinds, which are locations between cars on passenger trains Some would practice riding the rails at first, catching a freight train on a Saturday and riding to a nearby town and then coming back
Who rode the rails in the Great Depression?
Riding the Rails during the Great Depression Many people forced off the farm heard about work hundreds of miles away or even half a continent away Often the only way they could get there was by hopping on freight trains, illegally More than two million men and perhaps 8,000 women became hoboes
What does riding the rails mean during the Great Depression?
During the Great Depression, people went across the country in search of work But without a job, they didn’t have money to pay for transportation The only way to get across the country, and potentially get the job, was riding the rails This is how the hobos of the Great Depression lived from day-to-day
Where did hobos live in the Great Depression?
Outside the major railroad yards there was a hobo jungle, basically a camp where hoboes got together to cook their food In many camps, there were older hoboes — “jungle buzzards,” they were called — who would build a shack and live there permanently
What is a female hobo called?
bo-ette – a female hobo
Is The Hobo Code real?
These symbols, really hieroglyphs, appeared on posts and bridge abutments, on fences and outbuildings Hobos scrawled the secret language with whatever writing implements were available—a lump of coal, chalk, a nail, or even a sharp-edged rock It was a survival code
How did hobos ride the rails?
Called “bo chasers” and “car-seal hawks,” they adopted extremely aggressive tactics They took it as their job to terrorize those who rode the rails, often by any means necessary In addition to bouncing out hobos on trains, they often threw stones at hobos or shot them
How many people ride the rails?
Many of their faces were not lined with age; they were the fresh faces of America’s youth Many were teenagers—teenagers “on the bum” They were part of an army of youthful transients, numbering roughly 250,000, who were riding the rails through America
What did riding the rails mean?
phrase Someone who rides the rails travels by train, especially over a long period of time and without buying a ticket
Is riding the rails still a thing?
Very few people ride the rails full-time nowadays In an ABC News story from 2000, the president of the National Hobo Association put the figure at 20-30, allowing that another 2,000 might ride part-time or for recreation The very first American hobos were cast-offs from the American Civil War of the 1860s
How did hobos survive during the Great Depression?
With no job and no home, men were forced to go to where the jobs were Hitching rides in boxcars along the nation’s railways, these hobos, as they came to be known, carried their few possessions with them and lived a nomadic lifestyle
Why did hobos leave signs?
Hobos signs and symbols were a unique means of communication that helped steer hobos in the right direction—towards work and away from trouble The life of the American hobo was an unpredictable and dangerous one Many hobos desired to protect their community from cruelty and steer them in the direction of goodwill
Who were the Hoovervilles named after?
“Hoovervilles,” shanty towns of unemployed men, sprung up all over the nation, named after President Hoover’s insufficient relief during the crisis
What’s the hobo stick called?
The bindle is colloquially known as the “blanket stick”, particularly within the Northeastern hobo community
What did hoboes do?
A hobo or bo is simply a migratory laborer; he may take some longish holidays, but soon or late he returns to work A tramp never works if it can be avoided; he simply travels Lower than either is the bum, who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police
What’s a hobo code?
From illegally jumping trains to stealing scraps from a farmers market, the hobo community needed to create a secret language to warn and welcome fellow hobos that were either new to town or just passing through It was called the Hobo Code
Is being a hobo illegal?
“I tell people the best way to enjoy traveling is always the safe way,” says Connecticut Shorty, a former hobo “queen,” as crowned at the National Hobo Convention that takes place the second week of August, every year since 1900, in Britt, Iowa “Hopping freights is illegal and dangerous”Mar 20, 2017
What is hobo short for?
Possibly a term for a stowaway traveler out of the Hoboken, NJ train yards, or a contraction of ho, boy, or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”) It could also be an abbreviation for homeless boy, homeward bound, or homeless Bohemian
Why does 11030 meaning hobo?
“11030” is the HOBO ZIP CODE You can spell out HOBO by drawing a line between the 1’s to make an H and a straight line down the 3 to make a B This explains what the tattoo is but it doesn’t really explain what it means The American Hobos
Who is the Hobo King?
Graham “Steam Train Maury” Graham (June 3, 1917 – November 18, 2006) was best known as five-time holder of the title “King of the Hobos”, and was later known as “Patriarch of the Hobos”
How did they bend railroad rails?
The rails are made of a type of steel that while very strong, are also quite pliable, and can be bent around curves simply spiking the rail to the ties at the starting point of the curve, and then pushing on it with long bars used as leverage in the old days, and track machinery in modern times, or even an off track
Is train hopping illegal in Texas?
But why would people risk their lives hitching a ride on a freight train today? Train hopping, sometimes referred to as freight hopping, is against the law in all US states “We started hitching and ended up in Odessa, Texas
Is train hopping illegal in Canada?
Hopping freight trains is illegal and dangerous According to the Canadian Pacific Railway’s RailSense program, you might be looking at a hefty fine “Walking on railway property is trespassing and illegal