People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1894 — JOYS OF A TRAMP. [ARTICLE]

JOYS OF A TRAMP.

He Sleeps lu a Coke Oven on the Feathers of Stolen Chickens. The tramps are getting to be a nuisance in the small towns along the Pennsylvania road, says tho Pittsburgh Dispatch. Special Agent Hampton Houghton says they are very shy of the tracks, for they are arrested as soon as they venture on the cars. The gang that doesn’t go south for the winter is very fond of the coke ovens. Mr. Houghton adds that a crowd of tramps have taken possession of the ovens at Gallitzin. The owners are afraid to drive them out for fear they will return and destroy property. These loafers are generally monarch* of all they survey. They usually select ovens next to others that are in operation. There is enough heat in tho walls to take the cold out of the wintry air. Here they live in peace and happiness. Several tramps were recently arrested at Gallitzin. When their haunt in a coke oven was examined it was found that they had chairs, a table, a mirror and other articles used by polite society Enough feathers from stolen chickens were scattered around to fill several beds. On these the tramps slept at night and dreamed that the millionaires in their palaces were not more favorably situated than themselves.