The Washington herald., May 31, 1913
Hobo King Reaches Capital on
The Pilot of a “Jack O’Brien”
-. , , , — ,. . – .
He Says He Keeps Himself fit By, Taking Turk
ish Baths and Having His Face massaged.
” He Writes ‘Poetry 9 but Didn’t Recite It.
The King of the Hoboes lw Into
town yesterday. Here’s how he Jejcrlbes
his arrival:
“I blew Into this burg on a Jack
O’Brien, holding her down on a pilot.
The Iron horse crawled. The snacK
made me bite the grit. A Hgntmng-oug
put me hip to the buttons. A nicer
came along, and 1 Doaraea a sme-aoor
Pullman, but a railway bull ditched me.
1 pipes a great big harness bull. He
dogs me and four-flushes with his smoke
wagon.”
The Hobo King Is a stetson hobo,
which, by the way. Is the lasrword In
Hobodom. He has been jl hobo, he ex
plained last night, ror more than
twenty-six years, and in that time nas
seen this country from end to end.
“1 took to the road when 1 was a kid,
he said, “yhen I began 1 was Just a
poor beggar hobo. 1 learned to cook in
a hobo Jungle (hobo camp) outside a
city. Then 1 became a stage hobo.
That’s a guy that works at his traae in
a city until he’s gotji stake betore he
takes to the road. Now I’m a stetson
hoho. That is, 1 am seir-supporting.
The hobo king supports himself by ad
dressing girls seminaries, exclusive
clubs, university boys; by selling choice
recipes ito hotels and lovers of good
lands; occasionally by putting on a
hobo specialty at the flutters In towns
which the lslts, and also by supplying
Information to men who hae tales to
tell of hobo land
Though he has spent his life on the
road, the hobo king has acquired many
of the parts of a good education. He
Ray that he attends the besi plays,
the best concerts and lectures that are
running in town where he sojourns.
He also claims to be a friend of many
of the country’s leading educators.
The hobo king has shaken hands with
William Jennings Bryan and with Will
lam Howard Taft. he sas. He uses the
best of English, and, though he has
twenty-six years of Irregular road life
behind him, he looks fit and fresh for
twenty-six seasons more. He said that
he kept himself freh by use ot Turkisn
baths and face massages
The hobo king Is a poet. He admitted
that his poetry was one of his main
sources of revenue. One day in Augustus
he sold a recipe tor making enne con
carne in a new way to tne nest notel in
the city. “Mulligan” I his favorite dish.
Dodo.” (baked hen’ In iclay. Is another
dish whlch the king claims Is-better than
anything yet discovered. . by the quick.
lunches. .
Citizens. of Hoboland.” on authority of
its .Kinsr, are divided into three castes.
There are ‘the Plain” hoboes, i all such as
have the wanderlust;”the bums”, generally
victims of dope and drink, and the
tramps, mostly cases of lost ambition.
The hobo and the bum beat their way
over the land on the freight trains, while
tramps beat It orar the . “stems” (thor
oughfares). Tramps are not as classy
as bums and hoboes fn Hoboland.
In lingo native to the sons of the road.
J the king thus told of his experiences thus
tar at uie japitair m
“I battered the main drag (Pennsyl
vania Avenue)- A lhe wire came along
tne stem. He naa a nitty sky-piece.
tailor-made suit of rags, brown kicks,
yellow squash (watch), and a spark.
“That guy had rocks on all his mud-
nooics. i pringca mm wiui my gag
(meaning that he told his little story).
“He was my meal ticket. He yanked
out of his bank a big leather full of
Jltnles, demons, sinkers, and bucks
(nickels, dimes, nalves, and dollars), we
beat It Into a beanery and had a regular
Jungle feast. The hash sllnger threw us
meat with sand and gravel, Java, Ger
man fried spuds, and dummy (bread)
with real salve (butter).”
The king did not disclose his name. He
raid that he would lecture before the
Boy Scouts today and probably will be
In the Capital for several days. He In
tends to visit the Corcoran Gallery of
Art and the Smithsonian Institution.
Hobo”s
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