All Topics  
Hobo

 
Hobo

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Hobo
 
 
  Topics Hobo Topic Home

Hobo is a term that refers to migrants, particularly those who make a habit of hopping freight trains
Freighthopping

Freighthopping or train hopping is the act of surreptitiously wikt:hitch a wikt:ride on a railroad freight Railroad car. In the United States of America, this became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as 'hobos'....
. The iconic image of a hobo is that of an itinerant beggar, one that was solidified in American culture during the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
. Hobos are often depicted carrying a bindle
Bindle

Bindle is a term used to describe the bag, sack, or carrying device stereotypically used by the sub-culture of hobos. The person carrying a bindle was called a Wiktionary:bindlestiff, combining bindle with the Average Joe sense of Wiktionary:stiff ....
 and/or a sign asking for money.

The hobo imagery has been employed by entertainers to create characters in the past, two of them being Emmett Kelly
Emmett Kelly

Emmett Leo Kelly , a native of Sedan, Kansas, was an American Circus performer, who created the memorable clown figure "Weary Willie," based on the hobos of the Great Depression era....
's "Weary Willy" and Red Skelton
Red Skelton

Richard Bernard ?Red? Skelton was an United States comedian who was best known as a top old-time radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, while pursuing another career as a painter....
's "Freddy the Freeloader".

origin of the term is unknown, though there are a number of theories.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Hobo'
Start a new discussion about 'Hobo'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts

what are the good things about hobos
what are differnt things about hobos
A dialouge writing between a new hobo and a experienced hobo








Encyclopedia


Hobo is a term that refers to migrants, particularly those who make a habit of hopping freight trains
Freighthopping

Freighthopping or train hopping is the act of surreptitiously wikt:hitch a wikt:ride on a railroad freight Railroad car. In the United States of America, this became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as 'hobos'....
. The iconic image of a hobo is that of an itinerant beggar, one that was solidified in American culture during the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
. Hobos are often depicted carrying a bindle
Bindle

Bindle is a term used to describe the bag, sack, or carrying device stereotypically used by the sub-culture of hobos. The person carrying a bindle was called a Wiktionary:bindlestiff, combining bindle with the Average Joe sense of Wiktionary:stiff ....
 and/or a sign asking for money.

The hobo imagery has been employed by entertainers to create characters in the past, two of them being Emmett Kelly
Emmett Kelly

Emmett Leo Kelly , a native of Sedan, Kansas, was an American Circus performer, who created the memorable clown figure "Weary Willie," based on the hobos of the Great Depression era....
's "Weary Willy" and Red Skelton
Red Skelton

Richard Bernard ?Red? Skelton was an United States comedian who was best known as a top old-time radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, while pursuing another career as a painter....
's "Freddy the Freeloader".

Etymology

The origin of the term is unknown, though there are a number of theories. Author Todd DePastino
Todd DePastino

Todd DePastino is an author....
 has suggested that it may come from the term hoe-boy meaning "farmhand," or a greeting such as Ho, boy!. Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson

William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, Order of the British Empire, is a best-selling United States author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science subjects....
 suggests in Made in America
Made In America (book)

Made In America is a nonfiction book by Bill Bryson describing the history of the English language in the United States and the evolution of American culture....
 that it could either come from the railroad greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a syllabic abbreviation of "horich bospoiled". Others have said that the term comes from the Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 intersection of Houston
Houston Street (Manhattan)

Houston Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan Manhattan. It runs crosstown across the full width of the borough of Manhattan, from Pier 40 on the Hudson River, through the Port Authority Truck Terminal on Greenwich Street, Manhattan, to the East River, and serves as the boundary between the neighborhoods of Greenwich...
 and Bowery
Bowery

Bowery may refer to:* Bowery , an area of and street in New York City** Bowery Amphitheatre, a building in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City...
, where itinerant people used to congregate.

Still another theory of the term's origins is that it derives from the city of Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken is a City in Hudson County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 38,577....
, New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
, which was a terminus for many railroad lines in the 19th century. The word "hobo" may also be a shortening of the phrase which best describes the early hobo's method of transportation, which was "hopping boxcars". Yet another theory comes from the words "Homeless Boy," referring to the fact that most of the homeless population were men.

It may also be an inverse of the term Boho, an abbreviation of Bohemians
Bohemianism

The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities....
, a term used to refer to the Romanies, although this is considerably less likely than the afore-mentioned theories.

History

It is unclear exactly when hobos were alienated on the American railroading scene. With the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 in the mid 19th Century, many soldiers looking to return home took to hopping freight trains. Others looking for work on the American frontier followed railroads westward aboard freight trains in the late 19th Century.

In 1906, Prof. Edmund Kelly, after an exhaustive study, put the number of tramps in America at 500,000 (about .6% of the U.S. population). The article citing this figure, "What Tramps Cost Nation", was published by The New York Telegraph in 1911 and estimated the number had surged to 700,000.

The population of hobos increased greatly during the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
 era of the 1930s. With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to travel for free via freight trains and try their luck elsewhere.

Life as a hobo was a dangerous one. In addition to the problems of being itinerant, poor, far from home and support, and the hostile attitude of many train crews, the railroads employed their own security staff, often nicknamed bulls, who had a reputation for being rough with trespassers. Also, riding on a freight train is a dangerous enterprise. The British poet W.H. Davies, author of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is an autobiography by the Wales poet and writer William Henry Davies .A large part of the book's subject matter described the way of life of the tramp in United Kingdom and the United States at the time of migration and railway building....
, lost a leg falling under the wheels whilst trying to jump a train. One could easily get trapped between cars, or freeze to death in bad weather. When freezer cars were loaded at an ice factory, any hobo inside was likely to be killed.

National Hobo Convention

In 1900, the town fathers of Britt
Britt, Iowa

Britt is a city in Hancock County, Iowa, Iowa, United States and is the home of the National Hobo Convention. The population was 2,052 at the 2000 census....
, Iowa
Iowa

The State of Iowa is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It is bordered by Minnesota to the north, Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, and Missouri to the south....
 invited Tourist Union #63 to bring their annual convention to town, and the National Hobo Convention
National Hobo Convention

The National Hobo Convention is held on the second weekend of every August in the town of Britt, Iowa, Iowa, organized by the local Chamber of Commerce....
 has been held each year in early to mid August ever since. Hobos stay in the "Hobo Jungle" telling stories around campfires at night. A hobo king and queen are named each year and get to ride on special floats in the Hobo Day parade. Following the parade, mulligan stew is served to hundreds of people in the city park. Live entertainment, a carnival, and a flea market are also part of the festivities. They also win money for the parade to help them get food.

Hobo culture


Hobo lingo in use up to the 1940s

  • Accommodation car - The caboose
    Caboose

    A caboose or brake van or guard's van is a manned railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads....
     of a train
  • Angellina - young inexperienced kid
  • Bad Road - A train line rendered useless by some hobo's bad action
  • Banjo - (1) A small portable frying pan
    Frying pan

    A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a cooking pan used for frying, searing, and Maillard reaction foods. It is typically a 20 to 30 cm diameter flat pan with flared sides and no lid....
    . (2) A short, "D" handled shovel
    Shovel

    A shovel is a tool for lifting and moving loose material such as coal, gravel, snow, soil, or sand and is an extremely common tool which is used extensively in agriculture, construction and gardening....
  • Barnacle - a person who sticks to one job a year or more
  • Beachcomber - a hobo that hangs around dock
    Dock (maritime)

    A dock is a man-made feature involved in the handling of boats or ships. However the exact meaning varies between different variants of the English language....
    s or seaports
  • Big House - Prison
    Prison

    A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or internment and usually deprived of a range of personal Freedom ....
  • Bindle stick - Collection of belongings wrapped in cloth and tied around a stick
  • Bindlestiff - A hobo who steals from other hobos.
  • Blowed-in-the-glass - a genuine, trustworthy individual
  • "'Bo" - the common way one hobo referred to another: "I met that 'Bo on the way to Bangor last spring".
  • Boil Up - Specifically, to boil one's clothes to kill lice and their eggs. Generally, to get oneself as clean as possible
  • Bone polisher - A mean dog
    Dog

    The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
  • Bone orchard - a graveyard
    Graveyard

    A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones. It is usually located near and administered by a Church ....
  • Bull - A railroad officer
  • Bullets - Bean
    Bean

    Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
    s
  • Buck - a Catholic priest
    Priest

    A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
     good for a dollar
  • Buger - Today's lunch
  • C, H, and D - indicates an individual is Cold, Hungry, and Dry (thirsty)
  • California Blankets - Newspaper
    Newspaper

    A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
    s, intended to be used for bedding
  • Calling In - Using another's campfire
    Campfire

    A campfire is a fire lit at a campsite, usually in a fire ring. Campfires are a popular feature of Camping , particularly among organized campers such as Scouting or Girl Guide and Girl Scout....
     to warm up or cook
  • Cannonball - A fast train
  • Carrying the Banner - Keeping in constant motion so as to avoid being picked up for loitering or to keep from freezing
  • Catch the Westbound - to die
  • Chuck a dummy - Pretend to faint
  • Cover with the moon - Sleep out in the open
  • Cow crate - A railroad stock car
  • Crumbs - Lice
    Louse

    Lice , , also known as fly babies, are an order of over 3,000 species of wingless insects; three of which are classified as human disease agents....
  • Doggin' it - Traveling by bus
    Bus

    A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. A bus can generally seat a maximum of anywhere from 8 to 200 passengers; many more passengers than a minivan....
    , especially on the Greyhound bus line
  • Easy mark - A hobo sign or mark that identifies a person or place where one can get food and a place to stay overnight
  • Elevated - under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • Flip - to board a moving train
  • Flop - a place to sleep, by extension: "Flophouse", a cheap hotel.
  • Glad Rags - One's best clothes
  • Graybacks - Lice
  • Grease the Track - to be run over by a train
  • Gump - a scrap of meat
  • Honey dipping - Working with a shovel in the sewer
  • Hot - (1) A fugitive
    Fugitive

    A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government interrogation, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals....
     hobo. (2) A decent meal: "I could use three hots and a flop."
  • Hot Shot - train with priority freight, stops rarely, goes faster. synonym for "Cannonball"
  • Jungle - An area off a railroad where hobos camp and congregate
  • Jungle Buzzard - a hobo or tramp
    Tramp

    In British English and traditional American English usage, a tramp is a long term homeless person who travels from place to place as an itinerant vagrant, traditionally walking or hiking all year round....
     that preys on their own
  • Knowledge bus - A school bus
    School bus

    A school bus is a bus used to transport children and teenagers to and from school and school events. Children may travel to school on regular public bus services....
     used for shelter
  • Main Drag - the busiest road in a town
  • Moniker / Monica - A nickname
    Nickname

    A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. Another class of nickname is the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, and Bert for Robert, more properly called a short name....
  • Mulligan - a type of community stew, created by several hobos combining whatever food they have or can collect
  • Nickel note - five-dollar bill
  • On The Fly - jumping a moving train
  • Padding the hoof - to travel by foot
  • Possum Belly - to ride on the roof of a passenger car. One must lie flat, on his/her stomach, to not be blown off
  • Pullman - a rail car
  • Punk - any young kid
  • Reefer - A compression of "refrigerator car".
  • Road kid - A young hobo who apprentices himself to an older hobo in order to learn the ways of the road
  • Road stake - the small amount of money a hobo may have in case of an emergency
  • Rum dum - A drunkard
  • Sky pilot - a preacher or minister
  • Soup bowl- A place to get soup, bread and drinks
  • Snipes - Cigarette butts "sniped" (eg. in ashtrays)
  • Spear biscuits - Looking for food in garbage cans
  • Stemming - panhandling or mooching along the streets
  • Tokay Blanket - drinking alcohol to stay warm
  • Yegg - A traveling professional thief


Many hobo terms have become part of common language, such as "Big House", "glad rags", "main drag", and others.

Hobo code

To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. Hobos would write this code with chalk or coal to provide directions, information, and warnings to other hobos. Some signs included "turn right here", "beware of hostile railroad police", "dangerous dog", "food available here", and so on. For instance:

  • A cross signifies "angel food," that is, food served to the hobos after a party.
  • A triangle with hands signifies that the homeowner has a gun.
  • Sharp teeth signify a mean dog.
  • A square missing its top line signifies it is safe to camp in that location.
  • A top hat
    Top Hat

    Top Hat is a 1935 in film Screwball comedy film musical film comedy in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick ....
     and a triangle signify wealth.
  • A spearhead signifies a warning to defend oneself.
  • A circle with two parallel
    Parallel

    From Greek language: pa???????? Parallel may refer to:...
     arrows means to get out fast, as hobos are not welcome in the area.
  • Two interlocked humans signify handcuffs
    Handcuffs

    Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two halves, linked together by a Link chain, hinge or in the case of rigid cuffs, a bar....
    . (i.e. hobos are hauled off to jail).
  • A Caduceus symbol
    Caduceus

    The caduceus is typically depicted as a short herald's Staff entwined by two Serpent in the form of a double helix, and sometimes is surmounted by wings....
     signifies the house has a medical doctor living in it.
  • A cat signifies that a kind lady lives here.
  • A wavy line (signifying water) above an X means fresh water and a campsite.
  • Three diagonal
    Diagonal

    A diagonal can refer to a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, or in informal contexts any upward or downward sloping line....
     lines mean it's not a safe place.
  • A square with a slanted roof (signifying a house) with an X through it means that the house has already been "burned" or "tricked" by another hobo and is not a trusting house.
  • Two shovels, signifying work was available (Shovels, because most hobos did manual labor).


Another version of the Hobo Code exists as a display in the Steamtown Railroad Museum at Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania

Scranton is a city in Northeastern Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania and the largest principal city in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, operated by the National Park Service
National Park Service

The National Park Service is the List of United States federal agencies that manages all List of areas in the United States National Park System, many U.S....
.

Hobo ethical code

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri. This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body, it reads this way;

  1. Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
  2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
  3. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
  4. 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.
  5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
  6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals treatment of other hobos.
  7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
  8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
  9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
  10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
  11. 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.
  12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
  13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose to authorities all molesters, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
  14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
  15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.


Hobos


Notable hobos

  • Jack Black
    Jack Black (author)

    Jack Black, born 1881 in Vancouver but raised from infancy in Missouri, was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West....
  • Maurice W. Graham
    Maurice W. Graham

    "Steam Train Maury" Graham was best known as five-time holder of the title "King of the Hobos", and was later known as "Patriarch of the Hobos"....
    , known as "Steam Train Maurie".
  • Joe Hill
    Joe Hill

    Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel H?gglund, and also known as Joseph Hillstr?m was a Swedish American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World ....
  • Leon Ray Livingston
    Leon Ray Livingston

    Leon Ray Livingston was one of the most famous hoboes of all time, travelling under the name "A No.1". He perfected the hobo symbols system, which lets other homeless people know where there are more or less generous people, free food, vicious dogs, etc....
    , known as "A No.1".
  • Harry McClintock
    Harry McClintock

    Harry McClintock , also known as "Haywire Mac," was an American country music composer, hobo, and labor organizer, best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" ....
  • Utah Phillips
    Utah Phillips

    Bruce "Utah" Duncan Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storytelling, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an Anarchism....
  • Seasick Steve
    Seasick Steve

    Steven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American bluesman, although he prefers to be called "a song and dance man". He plays guitars , and sings, usually about his early life living rough and doing casual work....
  • Robert Joseph Silveria, Jr., known as "Sidetrack", who killed 34 other hobos before turning himself in to the authorities.
  • Jim Tully
    Jim Tully

    Jim Tully , was an United States writer. His critical and commercial success in the 1920s and 30s may qualify him as the greatest long shot in American literature....
    , an author who penned several pulp fiction books during the years of 1928 through 1945. One of his published works, Beggars of Life, was adapted as a silent film of the same name
    Beggars of Life

    Beggars of Life is an early sound film with talking sequences starring Wallace Beery as a rail-riding hobo and Louise Brooks as a girl on the run....
    ; Mr. Tully noted that the book and movie was loosely based on his years hoboing in the western U.S.


Notable people who have hoboed

  • Ted Conover
    Ted Conover

    Ted Conover is an United States author and journalist. A graduate of Denver's Manual High School and Amherst College and a Marshall Scholar, he is also a distinguished writer-in-residence in the Department of Journalism at New York University....
  • Edward Dahlberg
    Edward Dahlberg

    Edward Dahlberg was an United States novelist and essayist....
  • W. H. Davies
    W. H. Davies

    William Henry Davies or W H Davies was a Wales poet and writer....
  • Jack Dempsey
    Jack Dempsey

    Jack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey was an United States boxing who held the List of heavyweight boxing champions from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history....
  • Loren Eiseley
    Loren Eiseley

    Loren Eiseley was an American anthropologist, educator, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s....
  • Charles Fort
    Charles Fort

    Charles Hoy Fort was an United States writer and researcher into anomaly .Jerome Clark writes that Fort was "essentially a Satire hugely skeptical of human beings ? especially scientists ? claims to ultimate knowledge"....
  • Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie

    Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an United States singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, Traditional music and children's songs, ballads and improvised works....
  • Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema
    Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema

    Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema,DFC, Knight in the Military Order of William , was the writer of the 1970 book Soldaat van Oranje in which he describes his experiences in World War II, and which was made into a 1977 film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Rutger Hauer....
  • Eric Hoffer
    Eric Hoffer

    Eric Hoffer was an American social writer and philosopher. He produced ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983 by President of the United States Ronald Reagan....
  • Burl Ives
    Burl Ives

    Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an United States actor, writer and folk music singer. The prominent music critic John Rockwell has been quoted in the New York Times as saying that "Ives's voice......
  • Harry Kemp
    Harry Kemp

    Harry Hibbard Kemp was an American poet and prose writer of the twentieth century. He was known as "the "Vagabond Poet, the Francois Villon of America, the Hobo Poet, or the Tramp Poet," and was a well-known popular literary figure of his era, the "hero of adolescent Americans."...
  • Jack Kerouac
    Jack Kerouac

    Jack Kerouac was an American author, poet and Painting. Alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, he is considered a pioneer of the Beat Generation....
  • Jack London
    Jack London

    Jack London was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books....
  • Louis L'amour
    Louis L'Amour

    Louis L'Amour was an United States author. L'Amour's books, primarily Western fiction , remain popular, and most have gone through multiple printings....
  • Christopher McCandless
    Christopher McCandless

    Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American wanderer who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude....
  • Robert Mitchum
    Robert Mitchum

    Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an Academy Award-nominated United States film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s....
  • Eugene O'Neil
  • George Orwell
    George Orwell

    Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an England author. His work is marked by a profound consciousness of social injustice, an intense dislike of totalitarianism, and a passion for clarity in language....
  • Harry Partch
    Harry Partch

    File:Harry Partch Institute-6.jpgHarry Partch was an United Statesn composer and musical instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonality scale s, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation....
  • John Steinbeck
    John Steinbeck

    John Ernst Steinbeck III was an American literature. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937....
  • Steve Wold, aka Seasick Steve
    Seasick Steve

    Steven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American bluesman, although he prefers to be called "a song and dance man". He plays guitars , and sings, usually about his early life living rough and doing casual work....


Hobos in media


Movies

  • The Billion Dollar Hobo
    The Billion Dollar Hobo

    The Billion Dollar Hobo is a 1977 in film Cinema of the United States comedy film starring Tim Conway and Will Geer ....
     (1977), starring Tim Conway
    Tim Conway

    Thomas Daniel Conway, known professionally as Tim Conway , is an American comedian and Emmy award winning actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television....
     and Will Geer
    Will Geer

    Will Geer was an American actor. Geer's real name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of the character Grandpa Walton, in the popular 1970s TV series The Waltons....
    .
  • Emperor of the North Pole
    Emperor of the North Pole

    Emperor of the North Pole is a 1973 United States Film starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Keith Carradine. It was re-released under the shorter title Emperor of the North, and is better known under the latter name....
     aka Emperor of the North} (1973), directed by Robert Aldrich. . Loosely based on Jack London
    Jack London

    Jack London was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books....
    's The Road.
  • Into the Wild
    Into the Wild (film)

    Into the Wild is a 2007 in film film based on the 1996 in literature non-fiction Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher McCandless....
     (2007), directed by Sean Penn
    Sean Penn

    Sean Justin Penn is an United States film actor. He is also a filmmaker and political activist. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama for his role in Mystic River and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and Academy Awa...
    , based on Jon Krakauer's
    Jon Krakauer

    Jon Krakauer is an United States writer and mountaineer, well-known for outdoors and mountain-climbing writing....
     non-fiction book.
  • Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
    Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

    Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a 2008 in film Cinema of the United States comedy-drama directed by Patricia Rozema. The screenplay by Valerie Tripp focuses on the American Girl character American Girl #Kit Kittredge, 1934, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio during the Great Depression....
     (2008), starring Abigail Breslin
    Abigail Breslin

    'Abigail Kathleen Breslin' is an Academy-Award nominated United States child actor. The fourth youngest actress ever to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award, Breslin is best known for portraying Olive Hoover in the film Little Miss Sunshine, Nim Rusoe in Nim's Island, and the title character in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl...
    , Chris O'Donnell
    Chris O'Donnell

    Christopher Eugene O'Donnell is a Golden Globe-nominated United States actor, perhaps best known for playing Robin in the Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin , Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, Finn Dandridge in Grey's Anatomy, and more recently, Jack McAuliffe in The Company ....
    , Julia Ormond
    Julia Ormond

    Julia Karin Ormond is a United Kingdom actress who has appeared in film and television and on stage....
     and Max Thieriot
    Max Thieriot

    Maximillion Drake Thieriot is an American actor. During the 2000s, he appeared in several Hollywood films, including Catch That Kid, The Pacifier, Nancy Drew , Jumper , and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl....
    . Directed by Patricia Rozema
    Patricia Rozema

    Patricia Rozema is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Sarnia, Ontario by Dutch-Americans Calvinism parents....
    .
  • Sullivan's Travels
    Sullivan's Travels

    Sullivan's Travels is a United States comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are a more valuable contribution to society....
     (1941), directed by Preston Sturges
    Preston Sturges

    Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated screenwriter and film director born in Chicago.Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations....
    .
  • Tokyo Godfathers
    Tokyo Godfathers

    is a 2003 anime film by Japanese Film director Satoshi Kon.Tokyo Godfathers is Kon's third animated movie, which he wrote and directed. Keiko Nobumoto, noted for being the creator of the Wolf's Rain series and a head scriptwriter for Cowboy Bebop, was also involved in the film's production....
     (2003), an anime
    Anime

    is animation in Japan and considered to be "Japanese animation" in the rest of the world. Anime dates from about 1917.Anime, in addition to manga , is extremely popular in Japan and well known throughout the world....
     directed by Satoshi Kon
    Satoshi Kon

    is a Japanese director of anime films. Kon started his career as a manga artist and editor in Young Magazine, and then made his screenwriting debut with "Magnetic Rose", a section of the anthology film Memories ....
    .
  • Wild Boys of the Road (1933), directed by William A. Wellman
    William A. Wellman

    William Augustus Wellman was an United States movie director, noted for directing the film which received the first Academy Award for Best Picture, Wings ....


Books


  • All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life, by Loren Eiseley
    Loren Eiseley

    Loren Eiseley was an American anthropologist, educator, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s....
    , 1975. ISBN 0-8032-6741-X
  • The Areas of My Expertise
    The Areas of My Expertise

    The Areas of My Expertise is a satire almanac by John Hodgman. It is written in the form of absurd historical stories, complex charts and graphs, and fake newspaper columns....
     by John Hodgman
    John Hodgman

    John Kellogg Hodgman is an United States author and humorist. In addition to his published written work, such as The Areas of My Expertise, he is known for his personification of a Personal computer in Apple Computer "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central?s The Daily Show....
     - Humor book which features a lengthy section on "hobos", including a list of 700 hobo names which spawned an online effort to illustrate the complete list.
  • Bottom Dogs, by Edward Dahlberg
    Edward Dahlberg

    Edward Dahlberg was an United States novelist and essayist....
  • Evasion
    Evasion (book)

    Evasion is a book that spun off from a zine of the same name. It was published by CrimethInc. in 2003. The book is comprised of 108 pages of slightly revised text from the original zine along with 162 pages of new material....
     by Anonymous
  • From Coast to Coast with Jack London by "A-No.-1" (Leon Ray Livingston
    Leon Ray Livingston

    Leon Ray Livingston was one of the most famous hoboes of all time, travelling under the name "A No.1". He perfected the hobo symbols system, which lets other homeless people know where there are more or less generous people, free food, vicious dogs, etc....
    )
  • Hard Travellin': The Hobo and His History, by Kenneth Allsop. ISBN 0-340-02572-7.
  • Hobo
    Hobo (book)

    Hobo, or Hobo: A Young Man's Thoughts On Trains and Tramping in America, is non-fiction, autobiography novel written by Eddy Joe Cotton ....
    , by Eddy Joe Cotton, 2002. ISBN 0-609-60738-3
  • The Hobo - The Sociology of the Homeless Man, by Nels Anderson, 1923.
  • The Jungle
    The Jungle

    The Jungle is a 1906 in literature novel written by author and Socialism journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the United States meatpacking industry during the early 20th century....
     by Upton Sinclair
    Upton Sinclair

    Upton Sinclair, Jr. , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning prolific United States author who wrote over 90 books in many genres and was widely considered to be one of the best investigators advocating Socialism views....
     contains a section in which the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, abandons his family in Chicago and becomes a hobo for a while.
  • Knights of the Road, by Roger A. Bruns, 1980. ISBN 0-416-00721-X.
  • Lonesome Traveler
    Lonesome Traveler

    Lonesome Traveler is a 1960 novel by United States novel and poet Jack Kerouac. It is a compilation of Kerouac's diary entries about traveling the United States, Mexico, Morocco, the United Kingdom and France, and covers similar issues to his previous novels , such as relationships, various jobs, and the nature of his life on the road....
    , by Jack Kerouac ("The Vanishing American Hobo")
  • Of Mice and Men
    Of Mice and Men

    Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize in Literature-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937 in literature, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant worker ranch workers during the Great Depression in California....
    , by John Steinbeck
    John Steinbeck

    John Ernst Steinbeck III was an American literature. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937....
  • On the Road
    On the Road

    On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957 in literature. It is a largely Autobiography work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America....
    , by Jack Kerouac
    Jack Kerouac

    Jack Kerouac was an American author, poet and Painting. Alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, he is considered a pioneer of the Beat Generation....
  • One More Train to Ride: The Underground World of Modern American Hobos by Clifford Williams
    Clifford Williams (academic)

    Clifford Williams is an American professor and chair of the Academic department of Philosophy at Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois....
    .
  • Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression by Errol Lincoln Uys, (Routledge, 2003)ISBN 0-415-94575-5
  • Riding Toward Everywhere by William T. Vollmann, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-125675-2
  • The Road, by Jack London
    Jack London

    Jack London was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books....
  • Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes by Ted Conover
    Ted Conover

    Ted Conover is an United States author and journalist. A graduate of Denver's Manual High School and Amherst College and a Marshall Scholar, he is also a distinguished writer-in-residence in the Department of Journalism at New York University....
     - Paperback: 304 pages, Publisher: Vintage (September 11, 2001), ISBN 0-307-727-868
  • Tramping on Life (1922) and More Miles (1926), by Harry Kemp
    Harry Kemp

    Harry Hibbard Kemp was an American poet and prose writer of the twentieth century. He was known as "the "Vagabond Poet, the Francois Villon of America, the Hobo Poet, or the Tramp Poet," and was a well-known popular literary figure of his era, the "hero of adolescent Americans."...
  • You Can't Win, by Jack Black
  • Earl and Ryans Puppet Show,by Ryan And Earl


Comics

  • Kings in Disguise
    Kings in Disguise

    Kings in Disguise is a six issue comic book limited series, published in 1988 by Kitchen Sink Press. It was created by writer James Vance and artist Dan Burr....
     (1988), by James Vance
    James Vance

    James Vance may refer to:*James Vance , American comic book writer*James Vance, one of two deceased young men who were the catalyst for the Judas_Priest#Subliminal_message_trial...
     and Dan Burr


Television and radio

BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history....
 recently broadcast a one-off program about the Hobo Convention entitled "Hobo Heaven", and in 2006 broadcast a memorial to 5-time elected "King of the Hobos" Steamtrain Maury Graham, who passed away in November 2006 - or as hobos call it "He Caught The Westbound".
  • The Littlest Hobo
    The Littlest Hobo

    The Littlest Hobo is a Canada television series, based upon a 1958 American film directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The show first aired from 1963 to 1965, and was then revived for a popular second run on CTV Television Network from 1979 to 1985....
     - A movie and TV series about a dog of the same name.
  • Mad Men
    Mad Men

    Mad Men is an United States television drama series created and Executive producer#Television by Matthew Weiner. It is broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable network AMC , and is produced by Lionsgate Television....
     Episode "The Hobo Code" - The protagonist has a flashback to his childhood, when a hobo's brief visit teaches young Don/Dickie something about his father and something about life.


Songs

  • The work of Ramblin' Jack Elliott
    Ramblin' Jack Elliott

    Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an United States folk music performer.Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Elliott grew up in a Jew family and had always wanted to be a cowboy, inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, during his youth....
  • The work of Utah Phillips
    Utah Phillips

    Bruce "Utah" Duncan Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storytelling, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an Anarchism....
  • The work of Jimmie Rodgers
    Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)

    Jimmie Rodgers was a country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as "The Singing Brakeman", "The Blue Yodeler", and "The Father of Country Music"....
    , including "Hobo Bill's Last Ride" and "Hobo's Meditation," among others.
  • The work of Seasick Steve
    Seasick Steve

    Steven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American bluesman, although he prefers to be called "a song and dance man". He plays guitars , and sings, usually about his early life living rough and doing casual work....
  • The work of Boxcar Willie
    Boxcar Willie

    Boxcar Willie was an American "hobo music" singer.Born Lecil Travis Martin near the town of Ovilla, Texas, Boxcar Willie was an United States country music singer who sang in the "hobo music" style....


  • "Big Rock Candy Mountain
    Big Rock Candy Mountain

    "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a song about a hobo's idea of paradise - a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne, and similar to the fishermen's concept of Fiddler's Green....
    " by Harry McClintock
    Harry McClintock

    Harry McClintock , also known as "Haywire Mac," was an American country music composer, hobo, and labor organizer, best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" ....
  • "Cold Water" by Tom Waits
    Tom Waits

    Thomas Alan Waits is an United Statesn singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of Bourbon whiskey, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorpo...
  • "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
    Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

    "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" is an United States folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a tramp....
    " recorded by Harry McClintock, Al Jolson
    Al Jolson

    Al Jolson , born in Lithuania, Russian Empire, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and, according to PBS, the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America." His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer.? Numerous...
    , and others
  • "Hard Travelin'" and "Hobo's Lullaby
    Hobo's Lullaby

    "Hobo's Lullaby" is a song written by Goebel Reeves, and famously performed by various people including folk music singer Woody Guthrie, his son Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, and Ramblin' Jack Eliot....
    " by Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie

    Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an United States singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, Traditional music and children's songs, ballads and improvised works....
  • "Hobo" by The Hackensaw Boys
    The Hackensaw Boys

    The Hackensaw Boys are an Americana band from Charlottesville, Virginia inspired by Punk rock, Bluegrass music, and old-time music. They formed as a quartet consisting of Tom Peloso, David Sickmen, Rob Bullington, and Robbie St....
  • "Hobo Bill", "I Ain't Got No Home" and "Mysteries of a Hobo's Life" by Cisco Houston
    Cisco Houston

    Gilbert Vandine 'Cisco' Houston was an American folk music singer who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of recording together....
  • "Hobo Blues" and "The Hobo
    The Hobo

    The Hobo is a 1917 in film film featuring Oliver Hardy....
    " by John Lee Hooker
    John Lee Hooker

    John Lee Hooker was an influential United States post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County, Mississippi near Clarksdale, Mississippi....
  • "Hobo Chang Ba" by Captain Beefheart
    Captain Beefheart

    Don Van Vliet is an United States musician and visual artist, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called The Magic Band, which was active from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s....
  • "Hobo Flats" by Oliver Nelson
    Oliver Nelson

    Oliver Edward Nelson was an United States jazz Saxophone, clarinetist, arranger and composer....
  • "The Hobo Song" by Johnny Cash
    Johnny Cash

    Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll , as well as blues, folk music and Gospel music....
  • "Hobo's Lullaby
    Hobo's Lullaby

    "Hobo's Lullaby" is a song written by Goebel Reeves, and famously performed by various people including folk music singer Woody Guthrie, his son Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, and Ramblin' Jack Eliot....
    " (aka "Weary Hobo"), written by Goebel Reeves
    Goebel Reeves

    Goebel Reeves was an American folk singer. His most famous song is "Hobo's Lullaby," which has been covered by a variety of singers, notably Woody Guthrie and his son Arlo Guthrie....
    , recorded by various artists including Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie

    Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an United States singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, Traditional music and children's songs, ballads and improvised works....
    , Arlo Guthrie
    Arlo Guthrie

    Arlo Davy Guthrie is an United States folk music singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings protest song against social injustice....
    , Emmylou Harris
    Emmylou Harris

    Emmylou Harris is an United States Country music singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other highly successful, well-known artists....
    , Pete Seeger
    Pete Seeger

    Peter "Pete" Seeger is an United States folk singer, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 50s as a member of The Weavers, most notably the 1950 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" that topped the charts f...
    , The Kingston Trio
    The Kingston Trio

    The Kingston Trio is an United States folk music and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to early 1960s....
    , Ramblin' Jack Eliot and Danny Kyle
  • "Morning Glory
    Morning Glory

    Morning Glory is a pre-Code United States drama film which tells the story of an eager but unstable would-be actress whose good looks draw more attention than her acting....
    " by Tim Buckley
    Tim Buckley

    Timothy Charles Buckley III was an experimental vocalist and musician who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul music, and avant-garde rock in a career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s....
     lyrics by Larry Beckett
    Larry Beckett

    Larry Beckett is a poet and songwriter, best known for his collaborations with Tim Buckley in the late-1960s....
  • "I Am a Lonesome Hobo", "Only a Hobo" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie" by Bob Dylan
  • "Jack Straw
    Jack Straw (song)

    Jack Straw is a rock song written by Bob Weir and Robert Hunter in the Troubadour tradition. The track appeared on the Grateful Dead album, Europe '72, and was frequently performed live by the band....
    " by Robert Hunter
    Robert Hunter (lyricist)

    Robert C. Hunter is an United States lyricist, singer songwriter, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead....
     and Bob Weir
    Bob Weir

    Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead , together with other former members of the Grateful Dead....
  • "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
    Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

    Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 composition by Gavin Bryars. It is formed on a tape loop of an unknown tramp singing a brief stanza....
    " a recording of a hobo singing on a London street, by composer Gavin Bryars
    Gavin Bryars

    Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism....
    .
  • "King of the Road
    King of the Road (song)

    "King of the Road" is a 1965 song written and originally recorded by country singer Roger Miller. The lyrics tell of an individual who although living a hand-to-mouth existence, also feels free, and describes himself with joking introspection as the "king of the road"....
    " by Roger Miller
    Roger Miller

    Roger Dean Miller was an United States singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his mid-1960s country/pop hits such as King of the Road , Dang Me and England Swings....
  • "Like a Hobo" by Charlie Winston
    Charlie Winston

    Charlie Winston is a United Kingdom singer-songwriter, and the brother of Tom Baxter. Born in Cornwall, he grew up in Bungay, Suffolk, Suffolk where his parents owned the King's Head Hotel....
  • "Last of the Hobo Kings" by Mary Gauthier
    Mary Gauthier

    Mary Gauthier is an American folk music singer-songwriter. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Mary was adopted by an Italian American Roman Catholic Church couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Louisiana....
  • "Kulkurin Valssi" (Hobo Waltz) by Arthur Kylander
    Arthur Kylander

    Arthur Arkadius Kylander was Finnish American folk musician, singer, song-writer, mandolinist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World....
  • "Lännen lokari" (Western Logger) by Hiski Salomaa
    Hiski Salomaa

    Hiski Salomaa, born Hiskias M?tt? was a Finnish American folk singer and song writer. Born in Kangasniemi, Finland, Salomaa moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in 1908 after the death of his mother....
  • "Papa Hobo" by Paul Simon
    Paul Simon

    Paul Frederic Simon is an United States singer-songwriter and musician, perhaps best known for his partnership with Art Garfunkel in the duo Simon & Garfunkel....
  • "Streets of London
    Streets of London

    Streets of London may refer to:*Streets of London , 1969, written by Ralph McTell.*Streets of London , 1983, text adventure.*The Streets of London, 1929, crime film....
    " by Ralph McTell
    Ralph McTell

    Ralph McTell is an English singer/songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the United Kingdom folk scene since the 1960s....
  • "Waltzing Matilda
    Waltzing Matilda

    "Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad, a country music folk song, and has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
    " by Banjo Paterson
    Banjo Paterson

    Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson was a famous Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood....


See also

  • Freight Train Riders of America
    Freight Train Riders of America

    The Freight Train Riders of America is an United States gang of homelessness men who move about in railroad cars, particularly in the northwestern United States....
    , a brotherhood of hobos
  • Freighthopping
    Freighthopping

    Freighthopping or train hopping is the act of surreptitiously wikt:hitch a wikt:ride on a railroad freight Railroad car. In the United States of America, this became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as 'hobos'....
  • Hobo nickel
    Hobo nickel

    The hobo nickel is a sculpture art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coins, essentially resulting in miniature bas reliefs....
    , an art form associated with hobos
  • John Hodgman
    John Hodgman

    John Kellogg Hodgman is an United States author and humorist. In addition to his published written work, such as The Areas of My Expertise, he is known for his personification of a Personal computer in Apple Computer "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central?s The Daily Show....
    , humorist who writes about hobos
  • Midnight Hobo
    Midnight Hobo

    Midnight Hobo may refer to one of the following.*A 1978 short story by Ramsey Campbell*A strong liquor from the Questionable Content webcomic...
  • National Hobo Convention
    National Hobo Convention

    The National Hobo Convention is held on the second weekend of every August in the town of Britt, Iowa, Iowa, organized by the local Chamber of Commerce....
    , held in Britt, Iowa
    Britt, Iowa

    Britt is a city in Hancock County, Iowa, Iowa, United States and is the home of the National Hobo Convention. The population was 2,052 at the 2000 census....
     by the Hobo Foundation
  • Wobbly lingo
    Wobbly lingo

    Wobbly lingo is a collection of technical language, jargon, and historic slang used by the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies, for more than a century....
    , the jargon of the hobos who joined the union
    Industrial Workers of the World

    The Industrial Workers of the World is an international trade union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers....
  • "Hobo With a Shotgun", parody trailer created by the fictional Dartmouth Pictures, included in the movie Grindhouse
  • Kirby, Texas
    Kirby, Texas

    Kirby is a city in Bexar County, Texas, Texas, United States. It is part of the San Antonio, Texas San Antonio metropolitan area. Founded as an agricultural settlement along the Southern Pacific railroad, the city was transformed into a suburban community upon its incorporation in 1955....
    , the "hobo capital of Texas"
  • Hobos on Parade by Shannon Wright


External links

  • contains numerous photographs, links, stories, and academic reports about hoboes and freighthopping.
  • , by Fran DeLorenzo. Includes hobo history and a glossary of hobo signs.
  • , MP3 of John Hodgman's recording of 700 hobo names
  • , a photo documentary on hobos by Stephan Vanfleteren, a Belgian photographer.
  • Hobo letters of boxcar boys and girls of the Great Depression
  • Photographic examples of the marks that hobos leave to record their path and status.
  • - Weblog for Adam Koford's hobo themed web comic strip "Laugh-Out-Loud Cats"