1992
Hobo King--"Roadhog"
A few summers ago I had the pleasure of meeting Roadhog
in Dunsmuir, CA. He said he was working on an autobiography that would focus on
his many years riding the rails. Although his entire talk was filled with lore,
one particular comment he made really caught my attention. I had noticed his carved
walking stick and had asked him to explain what the inscriptions represented.
Many of the inscriptions were the names of his traveling companions, and a couple
of them had already "caught the westbound" (a euphemism for died). Pointing to
a circle with a cross inside of it (see next photo), he said that if a "Bo"
(hobo) saw that carved on a fence outside a house he could be sure that "a lump"
(a good meal) could be found there. He also stressed the point that a real "Bo"
always offered to work for a meal. 
