John Peele

“ I had never heard of farm hands getting such high wages, and suggested to White that we work in Vernon long enough to pay our way to Arizona or New Mexico, but like all young fellows who stay in the West awhile, he had caught the fever of roving and rambling from one green pasture to another—content no where—and put up a strong kick. ”

“ I purchased a ticket via Denver and Chicago, and after a long and tedious journey, I arrived in Tarboro.
My mother was sleeping and dreaming of her boy in far off sun-bathed California, when, with a light kiss, I awoke her. I will never forget the glad cry that escaped her lips when she saw me home once again, safe and sound.
It was Horace Greeley, the great American author, who said: "Young men go West."
From what little I saw of this great, grand country beyond the Mississippi, I think it is good advice. ”

“ I forgot that I was standing on the end of a wildly rocking flat-car rushing through inky darkness at the rate of forty miles an hour. The danger seemed fading away now, and I imagined I was home again resting in my own comfortable bed. The limit of human endurance had been reached, and poor, exhausted nature gave up the battle. ”

“ A cop was called and in a moment there was a mix up. The cop pecked the fellow all over the head with his pistol, but the miner gamely came back at him with his own pistol, neither of them uttering a word. In a few minutes blood was streaming from both. The big fellow finally gave in and put up his gun.
"Come on now," said the cop, grabbing the man by the arm, and starting up the street.
I was wondering where the jail was, when to my surprise the cop released the man before they had gone a block.
The cop now came back to the depot, smiling. ”

“ Upon seeing no one near, I lifted my grip from the car door and started down town in search of a lodging place. I found a nice place at No. 128 E. First street, and the following day I got a job with the S. P. Railroad Company, trucking freight at 20 cents per hour.
Los Angeles is probably the greatest fruit market in the world. Oranges, grapes, peaches and apricots are among the principal fruits raised.
During the orange season you can buy oranges for ten cents per dozen. A careful estimate places the number of oranges grown in California every year at 900,000,000. All fruit is cheap. ”

“ White men are in demand as sheep herders, and are usually paid $30.00 per month and board.
That night I slept in the coke car, and at sunup next morning we reached the first large town in all the 200-mile stretch from Dalhart—Santa Rosa—a town of 700 population.
No one discovered the poor, thirsty hobo in the coke car. (In this country three hours is a long time for a man to do without water.) Inside of an hour the train had changed crews, another engine had been coupled on, and the long 175-mile ride across the dreary waste to Alamogordo (the next division point) was begun. ”

“ My limbs had become cramped and stiff from standing in one position during the night's long ride, and in trying to jump off the train in the suburbs of the town, I was thrown violently to the ground, sustaining a badly bruised hand and several smaller hurts.
A negro who lived near by furnished me with soap and water, though I was minus a handkerchief and was compelled to dry my face with old newspapers.
Flomaton is a small town, not more than a mile from the Florida State line, and derives most of its importance from being a railroad center. ”

“ That same afternoon an employment bureau run by Glenn & Co. shipped me for $1.00 from Fort Worth over the Fort Worth and Denver Road to Iowa Park, Tex., to do railroad construction work.
I was trying to reach El Paso, which is only 600 miles over the Texas Pacific Road from Fort Worth, but while in Fort Worth I was told it was almost as much as a man's life was worth to try to beat the T. P. road between these points, on account of the extreme cruelty of the brakemen, so I decided to go around the longest way, which would take me through New Mexico. ”

“ A toll bridge spans the river and connects the two cities.
An American collects the toll on the El Paso side and a Mexican on the Juarez side. It cost me two cents to cross each way.
While in El Paso I heard a great deal of talk about the high wages paid laborers in Bisbee, Ariz., and as it was only a few miles out of my way going to Tucson, I decided to stop over there a few days.
I shoveled coal on an El Paso and Southwestern freight train from El Paso to Douglas, a distance of 200 miles. ”

“ You're likely to get a job making "little rocks out of big ones." There are twenty-two of 'em at it now, and a night cop at the depot waiting to catch others. Now, the best thing you can do," he continued, "would be to walk from this town to Flomaton, and if you're going on to New Orleans, you'd better walk through all of Southern Mississippi to the State line of Louisiana, for if you're caught 'hoboing' in Mississippi, you'll get eleven months and twenty-nine days in prison. ”

“ All the stores are on one big Main street.
A street car line was started, but the town couldn't support it, and it went to smash.
The leaves and other rubbish had collected upon the sidewalks in great drifts.
The fine dust floating in the air came near giving me the asthma, and with a feeling of relief I wended my way back to the railroad yards.
To keep warm that night I helped the darkey fire the engine at the ice factory, which is located near the depot, until 10 p. m., when I boarded a freight train bound for Grand River Junction, ninety-nine miles away, at which place I landed about 3 a. ”

“ With the throttle open a car's length is a serious matter to the man on the ground, but I caught the third car safely and climbed aboard.
Chadbourn was left like a flash, and a few moments later we went hurling through Grice like a shot out of a gun.
The train was a through freight, and we were bound for Florence.
[Pg 37]
Crawling back on my hands and knees through the darkness several car lengths, I found an empty coal car. In this car I would be shielded from most of the cold wind, which was blowing at a terrific rate over the top of the train. ”

“ We had gone probably a mile down the track [Pg 50] and had begun to look out for a place to put in a few hours sleep, when looking back, I was overjoyed to discover a hand-car rapidly overtaking us.
Stepping into the middle of the track I signalled the car to stop.
"Hello, captain! we want to help you peddle that car across the bridge. Do you go that far?"
"Yes, I'm the track inspector, and go as far as Jacksonville," was the reply.
"Let us go?" I questioned.
"I don't know; I need two more men, but white men, as a rule, are no good peddling these cars on a long run," was the retort. ”

“ The darkies, unconcerned, stretched out full length upon the timber, and their heavy snoring soon denoted that they had passed into the land of dreams, but their lively trombone music quickly became disgusting, forcing me to seek another pile of the timber for rest. ”

“ Laborers get $1.75 to $2.50 per day, and are always in demand.
There are numerous restaurants in Los Angeles that set out a good, substantial meal for ten cents.
San Pedro is the port of entry for Los Angeles.
[Pg 120]
With the exception of Chicago, Los Angeles contains more employment bureaus than any other city in the United States.
While standing in one of these labor bureaus a few days later, I learned that a certain hotel in San Pedro wanted a hotel clerk. I gave up my job trucking freight and took the street car for San Pedro. ”

“ The town is also noted for the luscious fruit raised by the Mexican ranchers nearby.
My night's lodging was on a large pile of telegraph poles piled near the railroad.
No dew falls in that country and a good many of the people who live there would rather sleep [Pg 99] on the ground during the summer months than on a good feather bed. A man can sleep on the ground there nine months in the year without taking a cold.
I left Alamogordo the next day on a passenger train as a "coal passenger," that is, I had to help the fireman shovel coal for my fare to El Paso. ”

“ It is a good deal warmer in Tucson at all times than at Bisbee, for Tucson is 2,000 feet lower. Tucson is on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and is but a few miles from the line of Old Mexico.
Climatic conditions render it a most desirable place to live, but owing to Mexican labor competition wages are not as good as at Bisbee. In Tucson the laboring man receives but $2.50 per day for eight hours. ”

“ Judging from my companion's conversation since I had met him, I had a suspicion he was a better pool player than he was wheat shocker, but the wealthy ranch owners of Texas at this season of the year, when their thousands of acres of land are lying in unshocked wheat, are glad enough to get a man, even if he is a slow worker and from the city. ”

“ A good many men will live half their life in a place and yet never know the exact time a certain train is due, nor where it is bound, and I would have to rely on my own luck, for it was quickly apparent that he was one of the class who are never profoundly sure of anything. ”

“ Many a poor hobo has been put down in this country by a heartless brakeman, and left to die on the desert, of thirst, but, as yet no one on the train had seen me.
Once, as darkness was closing down, I heard a [Pg 98] brakeman coming, and quickly crawled into the back end of the car, where it was very dark. ”

“ I exclaimed, "I forgot those pistol balls back at the store, but it is all right, Bill"—Bill was the name he had called himself at the pump—"my little Iver Johnson is full loaded, and good for at least five brakemen. Ha! ha! ha! they had better let us go through to Florence, I guess."
Most darkies are afraid of a gun in a white man's hand, and these were no exceptions.
The third man was not long in speaking out, and as if he had just joined us.
"Howdy, gentlemen," was the expressive salutation, "going over to Chadbourn?" ”

“ Nearly everything is white labor, and its very seldom you are offered less than $3.50 to $4.50 per day for eight hours work.
The largest smelter plant in the world is located at Douglas. (Its the old plant removed from Bisbee.)
The ore train (heaviest tonnage train in the world) hauls the crude ore from the mines in Bisbee to the Douglas smelters.
I stayed over one night in Douglas, and the next morning at daylight caught the ore train with its long line of empty, iron-bound cars, bound for Bisbee.
At Osborne Junction a miner got into the car I was in. He was also going to Bisbee. ”

“ That night a Mexican living in one of the adobe houses near the railroad yards supplied each of us with a large bottle of water for the long two hundred and eighty mile journey across the desert, but in dodging the brakemen while attempting to board a Los Angeles freight train, we became separated and it was the last I ever saw of my friend Allen. ”

“ The finest kind of malaga grapes can be purchased on the streets of Los Angeles for 21⁄2 cents per pound. You can live on fruit there over six months in the year.
The winters there are no ways as cold as in North Carolina.
The rainfall is scarcely ten inches a year, making it possible for the laboring man to work out doors every working day in the year. ”

“ The word "detective" as used here is what is termed in North Carolina a town constable.
In making arrests of this kind the constable is not required by the State to show a warrant.
[Pg 72]
Southern Alabama and Mississippi are full of these detectives; and seldom it is that a man gets through without a scratch.
Sometime between 11 and 12 o'clock that day we ran into the suburbs of Mobile.
Darting from the closed doorway, in which I had been standing, to the car platform, I cautiously peeped out. ”

“ My parents are poor and I'm their only support. Having been robbed in New York and learning by letter that my mother is near death's door, I've decided to work my way to her. Pardon me saying it; you look to be a pretty square sort of fellow. Please don't refuse the chap who stands before you down and out this time."
The work of checking up had been finished, and the elderly man, after whispering something in the young express messenger's ear, crawled out of the car door to the ground. ”

“ The conductor, who was a good sort of a man, had discovered my presence on the train long before reaching Chadbourn, and so had others of the train's crew. The man in the baggage car was even taking care of my bundles, which he had allowed me to deposit in a corner of the car.
Unaware of the fact that I had been discovered, I lay perfectly still, afraid to move hand or foot, and it seemed to me the train would never start.
Several people approached the engine, including a policeman of the town and the conductor.
[Pg 28]
"Come down off that coal pile," cried the conductor. ”

“ There's an old saying, which I afterwards learned:
"To hobo the roads successfully, one has to give up all thought of life or death."
That continued hardship lessens a man's fears of death, I have certainly learned by personal experience.
With slow deliberation, I worked my way under the boiler of the engine, and among the machinery. At last I was stretched out full length under the boiler, with only one foot sticking out, which I must risk being seen. The boiler was rather warm, of course, and every moment I stayed under it it was becoming warmer. Perspiration started out in huge drops. ”

“ In some places we would go forty or fifty miles without seeing a sign of human habitation, then suddenly we would come upon a small collection of adobe huts, that is, huts built of sun-dried, mud bricks. ”

“ In a short time I left the restaurant.
It was already time for the Dallas freight to [Pg 82] leave, and I went hurrying down the track through the darkness to where the train was making up.
I came upon two brakemen struggling in a vain endeavor to close a tight car door. (From this point throughout the West the brakemen are white men.) The men were cursing and swearing at a great rate at their failure to close the door, but with the united effort of all three of us, it was finally pushed to and sealed. ”

“ Main street and Brewery Gulch are the two principal business streets.
On either of these streets, day or night, one always finds a large crowd of miners and gamblers—speaking of gambling, Bisbee is a typical Western town in this respect. There are over twenty public gambling halls there. Every saloon has its gambling hall, and in the rear a band of musicians. The doors are thrown wide open and the window shades are never drawn. ”