Tramping with Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life

Hoosier: a "farmer." Everybody who does not know the world as the hobo knows it is to him a "farmer," "hoosier," or outsider.

Horn, The: a triangular extension of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, running from Red Oak, Iowa, southwest some twenty miles, and then northwest to Pacific Junction on the main line.

Horstile: angry, unfriendly, hostile.

Jigger: a sore, artificially made, to excite sympathy.

Jiggered: "done," beaten. When used as an exclamation, as in "I'll be jiggered," it means "I'll be damned," or words to that effect.

Jocker: a tramp who travels with a boy and "jockers" him – trains him as a beggar and protects him from persecution by others.

Joint: practically, any place where tramps congregate, drink, and feel at home.

Kip-House: a lodging-house.

Kip Town: a good lodging-house town.

Leather: a pocket-book. "To reef a leather" means that the pickpocket pulls out the lining of a pocket containing the "leather"; this is frequently the best way of capturing a pocket-book.

Lighthouse: one who knows every detective by sight, and can "tip him off" to his comrades.

Main Guy: the leader.

Mark: a person or house "good" for food, clothes, or money.

Meal-Ticket: a person "good" for a meal.

Monikey: the tramp's nickname, as "New Orleans Blackie," "Mississippi Red," etc.

Mooch: to beg; also, to "light out," "clear out."

Moocher: a beggar. This word is the generic term for tramps in England.

Mug: noun, a fellow; verb, to photograph.

Mush-Fakir: an umbrella-mender. The umbrellas which he collects are frequently not returned.

Office: to "give the office" is to give a signal to a confederate. It is usually done by raising the hat.

On the Hog: on the tramp; also, "busted," "dead broke."

P. A.: Pennsylvania.

Paper: stocks and bonds.

Pen: a penitentiary

Pennsylvania Salve: apple-butter.

Pennyweighters: jewelry thieves.

Peter: a safe thief. "Knock-out drops" are also "peter."

Phillie: Philadelphia.

Plug: a fellow; synonymous with "bloke" and "stiff."

Poke-Out: a lunch; synonymous with "hand-out."

Pound the Ear: to sleep.

Prushun: a tramp boy. An "ex-prushun" is one who has served his apprenticeship as a "kid" and is "looking for revenge," i. e., for a lad that he can "snare" and "jocker," as he himself was "snared" and "jockered."

Punk and Plaster: bread and butter.

Push: a gang.

Q.: the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, popularly known as the C. B. & Q.

Queer, The: counterfeit money.

Repeater, or Revolver: an old-timer; a professional criminal and a "blowed-in-the-glass" tramp.

Ringer: a bell.

Rube: a "hoosier," or "farmer."

Saps: a clubbing with weapons made from saplings; synonymous with "timber." (See below.)

Scoff: noun, food, "nourishment"; verb, to "feed," to "gorge."

Scrapper: a victim of either tramps or criminals who "puts up a fight."

Screw: a prison turnkey.

Set-Down: a square meal.

Settled: in prison.

Shack: a brakeman.

Shatin' on me Uppers: to be "shatin'" on one's "uppers" is to be "dead broke."

Shove: a gang.

Shover: a man who passes counterfeit money.

Side-Door Pullman: a box-car.

Sinker: a dollar; synonymous with "ball."

Slope: to run away.

Slopping-Up: a big drunk.

Snare: to entice a boy into tramp life.

Sneaks: flat or house thieves. A bank sneak is a bank thief.

Snipe: cigar-butts – the favorite tobacco among hoboes.

Song and Dance: a begging story or trick.

Spark: a diamond.

Spiel: something to peddle. Hoboes often carry needles, pins, court-plaster, and the like. On meeting one another, they ask: "What's your spiel?" ("What are you hawking?") (See "graft.")

Spiked: upset, chagrined, disappointed, disgusted.

Squealer: one who gives away the gang.

Stake-Man: a fellow who holds a position only long enough to get a "stake" – enough money to keep him in "booze" and tobacco while he is on the road. The tramps call him a "gay-cat."

Stall: the pickpocket's companion.

Stiff: a fellow; synonymous with "bloke" and "plug."

Sucker: a victim of both tramps and criminals.

Throw the Feet: to beg, "hustle," or do anything that involves much action.

Timber: a clubbing at the hands of the toughs of a town unfriendly to tramps. (See "Saps.")

Tomato-Can Vag: the outcast of Hoboland; a tramp of the lowest order, who drains the dregs of a beer-barrel into an empty tomato-can and drinks them; he generally lives on the refuse that he finds in scavenger barrels.

Toot the Ringer: ring the bell.

Turf: the road, or low life in general.

Turf It: to be on the road.

Yap: noun, a farmer or "hoosier"; verb, to say or to tell.

York: New York city.

1

So long.

2

Live well.

3

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad – called "The Dope" because it is so greasy.

4

A peddler of bogus jewelry.

5

In Germany and England the tramps usually eat their set-downs in cheap restaurants or at lodging-houses. They beg money to pay for them, rather than look for them at private houses.

6

It is most interesting to talk with Eastern tramps in the West who are homeward bound. If they have been in the West long, and look rather "seedy," and you ask them where they are going to in the East, they invariably reply: "Gosh! P. A., o' course. We wants to fatten up, we does." And there is no better place for this than Pennsylvania.

7

Dr. Berthold is a well-known statistician, writer, and authority on matters pertaining to German labor colonies.

8

The "bible" is tramp slang for the hawker's little parcel of things which he is supposed to peddle.

9

The Horn is a bit of railway in Iowa, extending from Red Oak southward for about twenty miles, then northwest for twenty more. It is used principally for long trains, as the main line from Red Oak to Pacific Junction is too hilly.

10

Doctor.

11

Sacramento.

12

Nickname.

13

Kansas City.