Hobos Part Two

Two Great Hobo Books

Bindle Stiff - Hobo who is content to walk from town to town; takes his name from the roll of blankets he carries which is known as a "bindle."
Box - a safe.
Brass Peddler - hobo who trades in cheap jewelry.
Crib - a brothel.
Gay Cat - an amateur tramp who goes to work when his begging courage fails him.
Gumps - chickens.
Hop - opium.
Jungle Up - to rest, wash, and eat at hobo camps.
Monoger - variation on "moniker" (a nickname).
Mulligans - hobo stews which contain a wide variety of ingredients.
Telegrams - holding suspects without formal charges.
Town Whistler - local constable.
Yaffled - arrested.
Yegg - professional safe blower.

"Jack Black calls his book You Can't Win. Well, who can? Winner takes nothing. Would he have been better off having spent his life at some full-time job? I don’t think so. He has recorded a chapter of specifically American life that is gone forever. Where are the hobo jungles, the hop joints, the old rod-riding yeggs, where is Salt Chunk Mary? Where is the Johnson Family? As another thief, Francois Villon, said, "Where are the snows of yesteryears?"

--Willam Burroughs





"I crouched quietly in the patch of tall weeds. Around me fell the shadow of the viaduct that carried a highway over the railroad yards. From the edge of the yards, I squinted as I watched the railroad cars being switched from track to track. Cars and trucks were rolling over the viaduct, but what occupied my attention was the dark, cool corridor underneath it, where I hoped to intercept my train."

You Can't Win by Jack Black

Rolling Nowhere by Ted Conover