And still more are completely different, even if the information being relayed is similar. Several look the same, but have a different meaning. with those in England and the gypsy signs used in Sweden. Carl Liungman's Dictionary of Symbols makes a connection between the hobo signs in the U.S. The origin of the signs, like the Hobo name, is lost to history, but some of the symbols and their meanings have been documented. A symbol on a mailbox, fence post, signpost, or tree told other hobos what to expect in the town or from the homeowner. Mysterious and temporary, these signs helped hobos move more safely around the country looking for work. However, hobos' paths crossed infrequently, so the hobo community developed a written communication system of signs. Knowing where to go or whom to avoid was important to these travelers. In other places, they found those who were friendly and willing to help. In some places, hobos who drifted into town were not always welcome. Although very few in number, women hobos faced the fear, and occasional reality, of assault in addition to the dangers and hardships the male hobos suffered. However, during the Depression, the prejudice and ill-treatment they endured came more often from the law rather than from their brethren hobos. Black hobos faced additional discrimination. All hobos felt the anger of local residents who thought hobos were lazy tramps looking for a free handout or were taking work from local men. Still, despite the inherent hazards, thousands of hobos in the Depression made "rail riding" their chosen form of transportation.Īmong the hardships of the hobo life were the attitudes and prejudices hobos faced from the townspeople and farmers they met along their way. Some hobos found places on trains to hide from the "bulls" who policed the cars, only to be crushed when the freight shifted. Others became locked inside box or refrigerator cars, their bodies found weeks later. Many hobos were killed or injured while trying to board or jump off a moving freight train. Not only is hopping a train illegal, it is extremely dangerous. But that life also came with hardships and danger. The hobos sought not only employment, but also the freedom and independence the life allotted them. A hobo's life could be exciting and dangerous, fulfilling and lonely, easygoing and difficult. They traveled to work and worked to travel - the lifestyle of a hobo. Tramps, as defined by the hobos, are people who travel, but prefer not to work, and bums neither travel nor work.Īlthough inextricably linked with the trains, some hobos traveled by car, others on foot. In fact, they travel around the country as workers, not only because they enjoy the freedom, but also to earn a stake to get them through the winter. In the 1880s, they began to distinguish themselves from "tramps" and "bums." Hobos have a work ethic. They take pride in this attribute and often travel with the implements of their trade. One trait hobos have in common is that they travel and work. Thousands of men in search of work took to the rails and roads. The situation repeated itself with the Great Depression of the 1930s. Jumping on slow-moving freights, they moved across the country following the different harvest seasons or working in mining or lumber camps. The Panic of 1873 and the depression that followed led men to climb aboard the freight trains in search of work. The laborers moved west with the track that they laid. Between 18, 35,000 miles of new track was laid across the country, much of it as part of the Transcontinental Railroad. Many Civil War veterans couldn't, or didn't want to, return home and took jobs with the expanding railroads. Most modern hobos, however, trace their lineage to the building of the railroads and the end of the Civil War. Though not called hobos, but frequently referred to merely as tramps, men had long been traveling around picking up work. But the history of hobos began decades earlier. However the term "Hobo" originated, it came into common usage by the end of the 19th century. Few, if any, of these explanations seem adequate. There are even those who say it comes from the Latin Homo Bonus, meaning good man, or the French haut beaux, the highest of the handsome. Others claim it came from the soldiers returning from the Civil War, who were "Homeward Bound." Some suggest it is from the congenial greeting "Hello boy" that changed to "Lo boy" and "Lo bo" and finally to "Ho bo." Others think it came from the word hoosier, meaning a rustic individual, a frontiersman. Some say it comes from "Hoe Boy" because many migrant workers traveled with a hoe or other farming tool. The origins of the term "Hobo" cannot be traced.
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