Posted on 05/06/2021 7:23:04 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
When my father died in the mid 1970s, I found in his things a membership card in the ‘International Migratory Workers Union – Hoboes of America’. It’s exactly like the one pictured above, save the name and membership number.
Jeff Davis was apparently a vaudevillian and self-styled, long-term ‘King of the Hoboes’. He founded the ‘Hotels de Gink’, which were basically homeless shelters for itinerant men.
Jeff Davis appears to have been a patriotic man, and legend has it that he created his ‘hobo union’ in part to counter socialist outfits like the ‘Wobblies’ (q.v.) of the time .
This was the Jeff Davis instruction to itinerant men - ‘hobos’:
_______________________________________________________
Decide your own life, don’t let another person run or rule you.
1. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
2. Don’t take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
3. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
4. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
5. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.
6. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as badly, if not worse than you.
7. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
8. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
9. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
10. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
11. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
12. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
13. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
14. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
15. If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!
__________________________________________________
I was trying to figure out how my father came by this odd ‘membership’. And then I recalled that he had spent time in New York, and among his activities was romancing a showgirl; and I also noticed Jack Dempsey’s name (if it's the same one) on the card.
My father had been an amateur boxer who won the Golden Gloves, and fought one professional fight at Madison Square Garden. (He lost that last badly, and gave up fighting – he was handsome enough to have made it in Hollywood, and probably didn’t want his face messed-up; But Anyway, The War intervened.)
One of his Golden Gloves was buried with his stepfather, who had worn it for years on his watch chain; and my father had given the other to the showgirl. When they broke up and Daddy asked for it back, Showgirl claimed to have ‘lost it’.
Decades later, she admitted to him that she had lied, and still had it. (I’m still irritated by that; but I have a replica on my charm bracelet.)
If anyone else knows about this ‘Hoboes Union’, I’d love to hear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_de_Gink
http://historycollection.com/look-life-hobos/
http://crosscut.com/2013/11/hotel-de-gink-seattle-boarding-house-homeless-men
No mention of trains?
Fascinating.
I love the way he was so proactive about protecting children.
Just #10 & #11.
Well, I suspect that Jeff Davis never jumped trains.
But a lot of real ‘hoboes’ didn’t either. They back-packed around.
I remember my Grandmother telling me about ‘hobo codes’ that itinerants would write on the sidewalks, barns, etc., letting others of their ilk know that this was a good place to get a meal - or a place to stay away from.
he was obviously a benevolent traveler like the guys at the L.O.O.F
they all have codes
Bump
What is L.O.O.F.?
Did you even read the excerpt? Rules 10 and 11 both directly reference trains.
I was caused to wonder if there might have been some personal experience or witness behind that...he certainly seems vehement about it.
legion of odd fellows
The Hobo Convention occurs in a small town in Iowa every year. https://www.britthobodays.com/
My senior citizen friend remembers attending the Hobo Convention in Britt in the 1930’s. Yes, the always elected a king.
travelers
Relative to #4 of Jeff Davis’ ‘rules’, a lot of the old hoboes seem to have been gifted in certain arts involving carving and constructing art objects from waste wood - which art became common during several depression eras. Some surviving items are apparently pretty valuable, now.
It’s interesting that this is now called ‘Tramp Art’, even though it wasn’t only ‘tramps’ who engaged in it; and there are even little museums dedicated to it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramp_art
I saw something about Britt in my searches. Thanks!
I once learned to make ‘apple dolls’ on a trip to the Eastern Shore - apparently this idea first came from the American Indians.
You peel an apple, carve a face into it, and then let it dry.
Over time, it shrinks, and winds up looking like a funny old person. Then you wire it with a body - spine, legs, arms - and make clothes for it which you stuff. Great fun for kids:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_doll
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Apple-Doll
yup, wood is the same but does not shrink
thanks for the post! very enlightening “Americana.” and brings back memories of my dad.
apparently hobo traveling was a common means, by no means, of travel for my dad’s generation. he used it to do a year at Kent State back before he went to the Pacific as a Marine. funny, told me once he also tried his hand as an amateur boxer in the service. had a few bouts on island venues and gave it up after encountering a “pro,” a guy whom he said was so quick he couldn’t even hit him. said the guy couldn’t knock him out, though.
also a handsome guy back in the day too, apparently he was the poor boy, hired help, at a Kent State sorority house for whom all the girls made a play for before he left for the war.
boy, it strikes me, he’d done more, and had more adventures, before he was 25 then i’ve done all my life. and he was just getting started. greatest generation indeed. or maybe the most fearless generation, nothing to lose generation?
shoot, we boomers better man up after the mess we’ve made of everything. i’m sure my dad is looking down and shaking his head.
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