Catching the Westbound

What do these people have in common?

THE HARDROCK KID       
MOUNTAIN DEW
SLOW MOTION SHORTY         
CONNECTICUT SLIM
PENNSYLVANIA KID       
HAFEY ZALE
A MAN CALLED JOHN       
IOWA BOB
LORD OPEN ROAD            
CARDBOARD
HOBO HERB               
SLIM JIM
TEXAS BOB                  
Fr. JOHN BRICKLEY
CALAMITY JANE               
STICK CHICK
HOBO JOE           
CINDERBOX CINDY
HOBO QUEEN DERAIL       
SALLY LADY
FISHBONES           
LIBERTY JUSTICE
PREACHER STEVE               
FRY PAN JACK
IOWA BLACKIE              
 ROADHOG USA
RAILROAD RANDY             
ALABAMA HOBO
SIDEDOOR PULLMAN KID       
GRUMP
HOBO MINSTREL              
MILWAUKEE MIKE
STRETCH

They are all still riding the rails, they all caught the Westbound. For the last time.

They are all buried in the Hobo cemetery in Brit Iowa.
Check out the shoes. Bet he took it on the arches more than once.

The hobos may seem like an unsavory lot, but the hobos did live by a code. The Hobo code. They had signs they would mark to signal other hobos.

The hobo sign left at the entrance to this house (c. 1934) means a hobo can get something to eat inside. 

 

other signs, marked in chalk, or with a pen-knife on a fence-post included these:

 /// means this is not a safe place.
/\ means a beating awaits you.
WXN Dog is barking, do he bite?
△△△△ Kind woman, tell a sob story for free food.
# you will go to jail here.
Plus so many others.


The code demonstrates that to be a successful hobo, you have to trust while being untrustworthy, and distrust while being honest.

Kinda like Han Solo.

Or Captain Jack Sparrow.

Connecticut Shorty’s father Connecticut Slim, rode the rails for 44 years before catching the Westbound in 1990. Now in her 50's she jumps the trains and travels the country.

Said Shorty “Even if people did have a family that supported them, if you start tattooing your face and smoking crack they’re going to start looking at you different."

Good point, Shorty.

So,
Every August, hundreds of hobos and hobo aficionados from across America gather in Britt, Iowa for the National Hobo Convention. I guess to toast hobos, eat fried dough and ride the Tilt-A-Whirl.


Until the whistle blows down at the train yard.



Then the music stops, and everyone shambles off.

"...So I said to the farmer, OK, but why does the pig have a wooden leg?"
"And he said, get this,

A PIG THAT GOOD YOU DON'T WANT TO EAT ALL AT ONCE!"

Shorty, I am going to kill you tonight while you sleep.