The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man

115. Summary of a Study of Four Hundred Tramps, Nels Anderson, summer, 1921.

124. An evening spent on the benches in Grant Park; description of men and their talk.

135. A Study of Eight Cases of Homeless Men in Lodging Houses, R. N. Wood, December, 1922.

145. An unpublished paper on the hobo, “Along the Main Stem with Red,” Harry M. Beardsley, March 20, 1917.

146. Chicago’s Hobo Area, Sherman O. Cooper, December, 1917.

157. Chicago’s Hobo District, Melville J. Herskovits, December, 1919.

159. Comparative statistics for the three wards in which Hobohemia is located, 1910-20.

1. “A Day in the Jungles,” A. W. Dragstedt, a hobo who knows the jungles.

76. “Job Hunting via Box-Car in the Northwest,” Hobo News, Bill Quirke, September, 1921.

2-3. Recital of an evening spent by Nels Anderson in a flophouse, April, 1922.

70. Statistics: Bridewell population, lodging-house patrons, registered voters.

79. Report of Visit to Ten Gambling Houses in Hobohemia, Nels Anderson, January 1, 1923.

105. Casual worker, ex-soldier, twenty-eight, few days in town, lost money in gambling-house.

151. A Dozen Hotels in the Loop, George F. David, August, 1922.

4. Jewish hobo, parasitic philosophy, middle-aged, begs from Jewish agencies in all cities.

5. Transient dreamer, twenty-seven, known to many agencies in different cities.

6. Boy in teens, Jewish, moves with ease from agency to agency, good solicitor.

7. City bum, twenty-four, petty robber, works occasionally, jail experience.

8. “Fat,” a panhandler with a self-justifying philosophy, works on favorable jobs.

9. Englishman, forty-one, paralyzed arm, alcoholic, mendicant, was a bricklayer.

89. Faker, Bulgarian, forty-five, plays deaf and dumb, “works” restaurants.

90. Home-guard bum, sixty-nine, works at odd jobs, often mendicant, drinks some.

95. Ex-soldier, funds about gone, going East for work, clean, sober, “working” charities.

97. Boy tramp, eighteen, left home to avoid school, wants to be engineer, works.

98. Two young men temporarily without money and work, adjusted in a few days.

102. City bum, thirty-five, talkative, lazy and unkempt, mendicant much of time.

103. Away from family for work, gets money from wife, loafs, later returns home.

104. Jewish tramp, sells papers, tin worker, served time in jail for wife desertion.

111. Loafs, fat, unattractive, works some, not welcome home; his family sends him money.

112. Well-to-do sister ashamed of him, sends him money; he calls it “borrowing.”

113. Beggar with a philosophy, condemns peddlers who beg part of time, works occasionally.

123. Spanish war and world-war veteran, forty-six, compensation, tries to go to school.

131. Description of life with the “slum proletariat” by one of them.

152. Mendicancy in Chicago, Melvin L. Olsen, December, 1919.

155. Case Studies of Beggars in Chicago, Joseph Arnsdorff, December 16, 1919.

161. Statement from the secretary of the Mid-City Commercial Association on the hobo problem.

10. Pioneer hobo and tramp, “played all the games,” fifty-six, blames self for misspent life.

11. Belgian, fifty-eight, coal miner, lumber jack, Chicago in winter, single, seldom penniless.

12. Pioneer hobo, fifty-one, perhaps dying, miner’s “con,” away from home (Ohio) thirty years.

13. Migratory worker, single, fifty-six, ever restless, mines, sea, harvest, sheep shearer.

14. Anemic man, lung trouble, textile worker, light work only, hopes open air will help.

15. Beggar, peddler, one leg, industrial accident, justifies begging and drink.

16. Migrant, would settle down, drinks, loses jobs, single, getting old, health failing.

17. “Dope” user, weak, anemic, poorly clad, dirty, beat way from Boston.

18. Old man, seventy-eight, poor-farm and hospital experience, mendicant, lives on fifty or sixty cents a day.

19. Restless young man, twenty-four, no permanent desires, carpenter, capable, sober, congenial.

20. Restless young worker, easily bored by the monotony of a job.

26. Irish, ex-soldier, ex-sailor, twenty-seven, sings, wants to study music, ex-secretary of “Hobo College.”

27. Feeble-minded, left home in war time, odd jobs, in town often, often in missions.

28. Pessimistic, imaginative, unstable, about forty-five, fair worker.

29. Periodical drinker, quarrelsome when drunk, otherwise good worker.

30. College man, twenty-seven, ex-salesman, left wife, homosexual experience, avoids work.

31. Chronic drinker, stockyards worker, seldom migrates, many arrests, away from wife twelve years.

32. Boy tramp, sixteen, on way to Texas, from Ohio, parents dead, only brother a soldier.

33. Left home when jilted by girl, too sensitive to return, very transient.

34. Returned home after jail experience, humiliated, left home, away for several years.

35. Ex-soldier, as small-town boy left home in crisis, stayed away to make bluff good, twenty-two.

36. Boy left home in fear of punishment from father, returns occasionally.

37. Migrant because of trouble over woman, about thirty, dare not return, radical.

38. Became migratory to avoid paying alimony, dare not return, about forty.

39. Boy tramp, nineteen, egotist, traveled much, works little, gambles, jail record.

40. Oldest boy becomes runaway, twenty, other boys in family follow, dislikes father.

41. Scotchman, thirty-two, single, ex-soldier, sailor, nurse in winters, casual in summer.

42. Deck hand summers, migrant to South in winter, single, generally sober.

43. Carpenter, casual, often discharged, would settle but losing efficiency by drink.

44. Old man, fifty-eight, plasterer, fair worker but casual, has ceased migrating, sober.

45. One-time harvest hand, seldom leaves Chicago, peddles trinkets, gambles.

46. Romantic tramp, revels in wandering, carries tiny camera, seeks notice, does not work.

86. Recital of experiences of boy tramp, now a doctor in Chicago.

91. Russian, able-bodied hobo, about thirty-five, clean, sober, works in and near Chicago.

92. Boy, eighteen, on way home (Indiana) from winter in West, plans to leave tramp life.

100. Congenial, irresponsible man of twenty-five, sober, clean, very transient, works as porter.

109. Runaway boy from Hammond, Indiana, sixteen, in Hobohemia looking for work, very worldly wise.

47. City bum, twenty-three, in missions when broke, works as teamster, “got” religion once.

48. Wife deserter, drinks, loiters on “stem,” odd jobs, formerly pig killer.

49. Ex-pugilist, single, forty-five, now mission “stiff,” works on clocks in summer, alcoholic.

50. Health ruined by drink, thirty-two, light jobs, baker, farms in summer, Chicago much of time.

72. Crippled in industrial accident, sixty-two, family grown, would care for him, drinks.

78. Classification of types of homeless men submitted by Mr. Wirth of Jewish charities.

127. Classification of tramps, hobos, and other types of homeless men by Dr. Ben L. Reitman.

73. Pioneer type, fifty, seldom comes East, miner, prospector, lumber jack.

77. Man forced to be idle by hard times, learned to get along, later refused work.

83. Old man, fifty, single, winters in Chicago, farm jobs in summer, drinks some.

93. Laborer, migrant, forty-four, becoming radical on account of work shortage, had some money.

94. Ex-soldier, twenty-seven, without funds but hopeful, hustling worker.

96. Boy tramp, twenty, reformatory record, traveled much in three years.

114. Brought cattle from Wyoming to Chicago, lost all with women and drink, still happy.

134. Study of Employment Agencies and Labor Placement Problems, E. H. Koster, August, 1922.

158. The Unemployed and the Unemployable in Chicago, Rupert R. Lewis, December, 1917.

160. Statistics of the Chicago Free Employment offices for the year ending September 30, 1922.

106. Ex-soldier, released from army hospital, gets compensation, drinks much.

107. Italian bricklayer, rheumatism, gets aid from union, family in Italy, sons in war.

108. Mental case, talks to self, attracts much attention on street, loud and vulgar.

117. Teamster, thirty-six, raised in slum, unemployable with locomotor ataxia, peddles pencils.

121. Chicago boy, does not go home, needs medical attention for feet and eyes, gambles.

122. Boy tramp, great wanderer, homosexual, intelligent, two years on road.

139. Mortality statistics for Hobohemia for 1922, non-resident cases.

147. Communication of Dr. Herman N. Bundesen, commissioner of public health, concerning the health and medical care of the homeless man in Chicago.

51. Middle-aged woman, character on West Madison Street, feeds cats, scolds everyone.

52. Street faker, aspires to be actor, jail experience, free-union experience.

53. Boy tramp, going West, travels without difficulty but is often accosted by perverts.

54. Homosexual case, boy involved, man died in jail while awaiting trial.

55. Bum who works on docks and boats, involved in boy case, Bridewell for term.

81. Four boys in Grant Park, each with jail and tramp experience.

82. Case of boy in teens, tramp, “flirting” with men in Grant Park.

87. Cases of Venereal Disease Due to Homosexual Infection, Dr. Ben L. Reitman.

110. Boy tramp, nineteen, exploited by perverts, decidedly feeble-minded, on way home (Indiana).

120. Young man, twenty-two, well dressed, homosexual prostitute, loafs in Grant Park.

125. Observations upon the unnatural attachments of some homeless men and boys.

141. Wife deserter, left home to enable her to divorce him.

142. Statistics showing marital condition of homeless men.

153. The Sexual Life of Habitual Wanderers, J. L. Handelman, August 22, 1919.

56. Case of a transient voter showing difficulty hobo has of voting.

57. Hobo’s affair with police in Kansas, hobo bitter against police.

58. University of Iowa student and police, fair observer, has been hobo, letter to writer.

59. Recital of hobo and private police in Ohio, narrator has settled in Chicago.

80. Report of visit to police court, hobos tried at rate of one a minute, August 28, 1922.

85. Report of Two Weeks’ Commitment to the Cook County Jail, Nels Anderson, May, 1922.

149. Case of police persecution.

162. Newspaper clippings on the death of Martin Talbert in a Florida convict camp.

22. Marxian socialist, soap-boxer, dogmatic and undiplomatic, would educate “slaves.”

25. Dreamer, poet, migrant, critic, very changeable, good family, single, ex-soldier.

75. Pamphlet on Mike Walsh published by himself, states his policies and achievements.

126. Character sketch of J. E. How, “Millionaire Hobo,” also correspondence with Nels Anderson.

23. Tries to write saleable songs and novels, sober but gambles, single.

116. Leader in hobo organization, writes for Hobo News, carries I.W.W. card.

119. Hobo philosopher, carries bundle, sells pamphlets about self, sleeps in parks.

129. Thirty-one copies of the Hobo News containing various types of hobo literature.

150. Manuscript on “What the Hobo Reads,” Daniel Horsley.

130. Collection of hobo songs and poems made by Nels Anderson, forty-one selections.

21. Soap-boxer, scientific bent, takes self and message seriously, calls it “education.”

24. Single-tax advocate, about fifty, living away from family, sells Ford’s Weekly.

60. Notes on an afternoon’s series of talks on the soap box on Madison Street.

138. Debate, “Hobo College” v. students from the University of Chicago, “Kansas Industrial Courts,” April 12, 1923.

140. Study of “Hobo College” in Chicago, Charles W. Allen (teacher at college), 1923.

61. Co-operative movements among hobos, experiences of John X. Kelly, now in Chicago.

74. Financial statement of the I.W.W., May and June, 1922.

84. Conversation with an I.W.W. who was once a steady migratory worker, old soldier.

62. “Visit to Bible Rescue Mission,” Nels Anderson’s experience, spring, 1922.

63. Salvation Army Revival, Sherman O. Cooper.

64. Case of “X” at the Bible Rescue Mission, bears public testimony to former badness.

65. Ex-bum and wife deserter, graduate foreign university, steady man now.

66. Mission worker, “saved” twenty years ago, was alcoholic and a failure, in business now.

67. German, Madison Street bum, came into mission to get warm, got religion, left old life.

68. Ex-drunkard, often thrown out of mission, finally got converted and is a new man.

69. Young man, mission “stiff,” easily converted, became a “backslider” next day.

71. Wife deserter, mission hanger-on, clean, erect, active but avoids work.

99. Letter by Bill Quirke to Hobo News on missions in Los Angeles. He assails missions.

118. Ex-soldier in Legion headquarters, trying to get job on strength of army experience.

143. Study of Missions and Mission Characters, L. G. Brown, 1923.

156. A Study of Missions, H. D. Wolf, August, 1922.

128. Unpublished materials by Nels Anderson, covering his study of 400 tramps, 230 typewritten pages.

144. Study of 110 Runaway Boys in Chicago Detention Home, F. C. Frey and B. W. Bridgman, 1922.

148. “Outline of Program for the Prevention and Treatment of Vagrancy,” prepared by the Committee on Relief of the Chicago Council of Social Agencies, and submitted to the Executive Committee of the Council, June 13, 1918.

154. Responses to requests for information on the homeless man problem from social agencies in the larger American cities.