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Not the best photo, but here's my hobo contribution.

 

 

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The guy behind the kettle is Great Uncle Harry, named after my great uncle who was a real life hobo back in 1915 - 1925. I discovered this doing family history research. He didn't care much for the railroads. I found references that he damaged signals, and even derailed a train near Salt Lake City, the story of the latter being written about in at least a dozen or more big city newspapers across the US. No one was injured.

 

One cold night in January 1915 he hopped off a train at the Lehigh station in Ulster, PA. He and a couple other guys started a fire in a barrel on the station platform to keep warm. Another train rolls by and they decide to hop onboard. The next day they are in Elmira, NY and hear that the Ulster Station caught fire overnight and burned down. As the newspaper article reads, my great uncle confessed what had happened because he thought the stationmaster might be a family man, and he didn't want the railroad to think the stationmaster had caused the fire by not properly tending to the stove.  

 

 

 

 

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Originally Posted by Scrapiron Scher:

Hey, Frank Mullen master of scenes, isn't that hobo traveling back and forth from our layouts?

Scrappy

 

War Bond Hoboes

Yup. He knows the friendly places and puts one of legendary secret marks on something in da 'hood to let other free-spirits know where they might be welcome for a hand-out, just like in my childhood hometown and at our backdoor.

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