Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — TRAMPS AT WASHINGTON, D. C. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAMPS AT WASHINGTON, D. C.

Of Late Years They Gather There in Great Force. Washington, D. C., has been for years a favorite winter resort for tramps, but since the famous march of Ooxey’s army it has become a veritable mecca, whither all the bums and hobos turn in

fall. Tramps are of two kinds: The unfortunates who want to work and can find no job, and the vicious, who would die sooner than work. Of this latter class are almost all the thousands that are now gathered at the nation’s capital. On the Potomac flats whole companies of them “camp out.” They gather boards and boxes and erect shelters, where they contentedly sit and discuss ways and means to beg or stqal food. They frequently resort to intimidation when all else fails, and seldom have to go hungry. Gangs of them go on foraging expeditions, and when they return to the flats

with their booty, the pot is made to boil, while the crowd intently watches the culinary proceedings. After dinner the hobo feels that he Is a great man, and he lights his pipe and struts with all the self-importance of the “big-headed” society man. His pipe smoked, he goes out on an errand of a different nature. He has had food—now he must drink. He “works” the avenues, streets and residences until he has collected a quarter of a dollar. If he is social he returns to his chums and the “growler” travels to the saloon of ill-repute, where slop is sold instead of beer, until funds have disappeared or the crowd is so drunk that no one can carry the can. Often the man with the can is over-

come by the way and is found by his fellow bums serenely sleeping besidfe a fence. . Only when the weather is bad do the hobos seek the shelter of the police stations, and even then they are apt to depart with muttered curses if told that a bath would precede a bunk. The real hobo avoids cleanliness as the fawn flies the hunter. And now in conclusion: There are several hundred thousand of these hobos in this country. What shall be done with them?

ON THE FLATS.

WATCHING THE POT.

BY THE WAY.