Did you ever meet a Hobo back in the day and what do you know about them?

Question

These are great first hand stories.

Answer 1

Yes, I guess I could say my dad was a reformed hobo!! He and his brothers ran away from Indian boarding school when the government put them there and rode the rails!! They went all over the U.S. It was during the depression and times were really bad!! It seems as though it gets in their blood!! My cousin got killed hopping a freight 20 years ago!!! We used to watch that show with Lee Marvin in it playing a "train tramp"!!! Good question!!

Answer 2

I had an uncle that left home with his guitar in 1924, at the age of 14, for the purpose of riding the rails.

He ended up in Nashville, Tennessee, playing in bands, singing and also a very good comedian.

He got word his mother died. He hitched a train, but he didn't get back in time for her funeral.

There were 14 kids in the family and the older kids, told him she died of a broken heart because he left her. He really was her favorite.

He began drinking a lot and played and entertained around the state, but rather than pay for a train ticket, he continued to hitch a train. He told us that a lot of men those days, liked the life of being a Hobo.

He eventually married and had six kids with two different wives.

All of his brothers played guitar and other musical instruments and played together on those occasions when he set down roots for a time..

I was about five years old when my father took me to visit with his 1st wife and kids.

He/my uncle, could play the piano too and the Harmonica at the same time and also sing in between and stop for a short time to tell us something to make us laugh.

When we entered their one room house, he sat there at the piano, that sat on a dirt floor, just enjoying his life to the fullest.

By that time it was about 1940.

A year later he left his wife and kids and road the rails again for a few more years.

In 1949, he returned, divorced and remarried.

Music was in his soul and he was an alcoholic.

He had two more children with his 2nd wife and again he left to ride the rails.

He died in 1979, in a shack made of card board, that he shared with another Hobo, along side the rail road.

It's ironic that, in spite of how he lived, he was loved by his 13 siblings and 50 + nieces and nephews. He was a fun loving alcoholic, never mean. He was one of a kind.

He truly was an entertainer and was way, too much fun to be around, in those periods of time when he really tried to live life as it should be.

I have always heard that there are a select few who love the life of a Hobo. Riding the rails is in their blood.

Answer 3

Yes. We lived near a large train terminal and during lay overs, the hobos would stay in this small wooded area nearby. Even though our parents told us not to go near them, we would ride our bicycles over there to look. It was usually like a big campout to us kids. We always wanted to be hobos because they would tell us how they traveled all across the country for free.

Answer 4

Never met as such but when I was little, they would sometimes come to my grandmother's door. They never asked for food but would ask if she had any work they could do. She would give them some outside chore like chopping wood or raking leaves and would always fix them large plate of hot food if we had leftovers from a meal or a couple of good sandwiches if not. Always gave them plenty of cold water and iced tea or coffee - whichever they wanted. When they finished their chore she would always fix a basin with warm water and soap, towel and washcloth so they could wash up before eating.

This was during the depression and there was a railroad track nearby. I think the word was passed among them that she was a soft touch. They always seemed appreciative and were never a problem. My granddad ran a country store near the house and he did the same if he had simple chores for them but generally he sent them to the house so Grannie could give them a real meal. We never had much but I don't think anyone hungry was ever turned away.

Boy, that one brought back memories.

Answer 5

My grandfather told me he was a hobo for awhile, he saw a lot of the USA that way. It was before he was 18 and settled down. I do believe he said he was 14 when he left home which would have been about 1912.

Answer 6

Many came to the small town where I lived in Oregon during the summer, most were drunks and 3 that I knew were once professional men, one was a lawyer and another a doctor and one a CPA, they lost their families and all to booze. They would work during harvest season and move on and come back the next year. There were areas with little one room cabins and tiny little trailers for them to rent by the month. They never went in bars but drank cheap wine.

Answer 7

I had a hobo themed birthday party one year and my som and I were hobo's for halloween once. Unlike homeless people (which they really were) they were magical and to be envyed. They rode the rails and camped and ate hobo stew. They accounted to no one and lived the free and easy life.

Answer 8

Yes. I grew up out west [U.S.] and there were hobo camps all up and down the rail tracks. We used to take the trains all the time and see their camps with their cook fires burning at night.

I found out by being an overly curious and pesky child that many of these people were war vets who were out of work and many in ill health. How did I find out? I asked them. They weren't just in the country.

My parents never could keep me leashed.

Answer 9

MET THEM WHEN I WAS YOUNGER 1950'S AND 60.
THEN I ARRESTED THEM IN THE 68-73. AS VAGARANTS. TRANSIANTS, BUMS.
THEN I CARED FOR THEM IN JAILS AS THEY MADE GOOD TRUSTEES. 73-86. FOUND MANY WERE DOWN ON LUCK AND BAD TIMES.WWII VETS, BAD MARRIAGES, BOOSE, LOST JOBS AT CORPORATE LEVELS AND HIT THE BOTTLE THEN LOST EVERYTHING AS WORLD FELL APART ON THEM. HIT THE BOTTLE AND STAYED IN THE DUMPS. SOME 3,000 I MET MAYBE 400 CAME BACK TO SOCIETY AND MADE A LIVING AGAIN. MANY NEVER RETURNED FROM THE WAR STILL LIVED IT EACH NIGHT. LIKE WATCHING A JUNKIE COME OFF DRUGS, DONE THAT MORE THEN I WOULD LIKE TO TELL ABOUT.