Wil Elrick offers a brief history of hobos and an honor code that would serve us well today.
There are multiple opinions as to where the word HOBO originated, but the most common are that it is a slang abbreviation of “homeward bound” which many people riding the rails wished that they were. The second thought it is derived from a greeting for farmhands “ho’ boy’” and the third theory is that it was from an older railroad greeting “Ho, beau”. The word HOBO did not really come into prominence until the early 1890’s, even though the “man riding the rail” image started much earlier.
The cross-country expansion of the railroads in the 1800’s gave men a new way to travel. With the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many discharged veterans began hopping freight trains to return home. Others looking for work on the American frontier followed the railroads west aboard freight trains.
The number of hobos increased greatly during the 1930s. With the Great Depression on and no work or prospects at home, many decided to travel for free by freight train and try their luck elsewhere.
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Life as a hobo was dangerous. In addition to the problems of being itinerant, poor, and far from home and support, they faced the hostility of many train crews and the railroads’ security staff, nicknamed “bulls”, who had a reputation of violence against trespassers. Moreover, riding on a freight train is dangerous in itself. British poet W.H. Davies, author of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, lost a foot when he fell under the wheels when trying to jump aboard a train. One could fall, be trapped between cars, or one could freeze to death in bad weather.
No matter the life of the hobo though, early-era hobos were known to be gracious, polite, and down right amusing when dealing with people. A national hobo convention was started in Britt, Iowa in 1900, and continues to this day on the second weekend in August. The hobos have been bound by a “Hobo Ethical Code” which was voted upon at formed National Convention in 1889. The code is as follows.
1. Decide your own life; don’t let another person run or rule you.
2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
3. Don’t take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.
7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as badly, if not worse than you.
8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children; expose all molesters to authorities…they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
Did You Know?
The main character Christopher McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp), in Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction book Into the Wild is known as a modern day hobo.
Credit: Photo—Wikimedia Commons
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