Hobo knapsack code#

I know that a lot of people wish they could do the same. Anything that doesn’t fit in my pack, I can’t carry with me. Establishing roots is certainly very hard, yet that seems to be the hobo creed:Įverything I’ve owned, and everything I want in life, fits in this house, right in my pack. One can only imagine how hopping trains, or in hobo-speak, “catching out,” colored their lives and wound up in their stories.Ī colorful lifestyle indeed, being a hobo is not easy. Douglas (who supposedly hoboed his way across the country to attend law school), and famous writers Louis L’Amour and Jack London. Many famous people were hobos at one point in their life, including boxer Jack Dempsey, Supreme Court Justice William O. Perhaps one hobo acquired a few carrots from a charitable person, while another stole an onion off a box car, while another had a few potatoes from a farm he worked on briefly… From this concoction, a “hobo stew,” also known as “Mulligan/Mulligatawney stew” was born and became the traditional food of the hobo.įigure 5 A sign in Britt, Iowa advertises the National Hobo Convention. Whatever each hobo had went into a pot of stew shared by the whole jungle. Food in the jungles was made by the whole group, and while it was nothing fancy, it was very communal. While it may seem like a lonely lifestyle, there is actually a strong kinship associated with hobo jungles.

Hobo knapsack code#

Some hobo historians claim that the Hobo Code was used to let others know where to find the nearest “jungle” or hobo encampment.

For example, a sketch of a cat denoted that a kind lady lives nearby who might offer a free meal, whereas a series of parallel, horizontal lines meant a housewife would feed you if you did chores for her. Somewhat disputed in terms of authenticity, the Hobo Code consists of graffiti symbols to help hobos communicate with one another, and find one another along the rails.