G
THE SUNDAY OltEGOXIAN, POKTLAM), AUGUST 21, 1921
far
Afliii
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I h&ve slept la hay lofts without the
. llKhtet feajr.n
Willie hr xnore tbeorettc&l vlstrs wr
asltaticff Xor equal ecnomio rifbta and
freedom before aoclety and tbe law, Kath
arine Jackson of Hudson, New York, and
the world, went out and settled over nlsht
tbe feminist problem, so far as It con
cerned herself. Today she Is free and lni
dependent, she wants for nothing, and ahe
calls no man master.
Katherine Jackson solved the woman's
problem by literally taking to the road
Just as any hobo would do. True, ahe led
the vagabond's life according to a strictly
feminine Interpretation; that is, she some
times traveled de luxe' and often was
known to leave one town dressed in
greasy overalls and show up In the next
wearing silk stockings and a nicely tailored
coat-suit. But she was a hobo and always
took a hobos chancea and shared the
fcabo'a luck.
This girlish vagabond Is known as "The
Queen of the Hoboes," an appellation that
was applied to her by membera of her own
profession and which was used officially
when she acted as the companion of Jeff
Davis, the "King of the Hoboes," during
the tatter's activities In behalf of the Vic
tory loan.
Why did she do ltT you wonder. Wander.
lust is her answer. What she did and how
he did It, is herewith told in her own lan
guage.
BY KATHERINE JACKSON.
v t HT do they call me the queen
l of the hoboes? That a not a
" bard question to answer. In the
first place, because I am a hobo; In
the second place, because I am a
woman and never did less or more
than a true woman would. In all my
x-perlences on the road. To the ex
tent that every true woman Is a
queen so am I a queen.
Of course, I was forced to endure
a few indignities, but most of these
were In the big cities, where any
woman, I. regret to say, is likely to
be insulted when she is by herself.
Bat in all my experiences with hoboes
I have never known one to be any-
thing but a good pal. I was never
cheated and never insulted, even in
the many cases where I was a lone
girl among a number of men and
they knew it.
My first real experience in travel
ing on my own hook was when I was
13 years old. I didn't realize it then
but I am inclined to think now that
tbe real reason I made that adventur
ous trip was because I had the
wanderlust. But at any rate, I had
good reason for going.
When I was a very little girl
lived with my mother at Hudson,
N. T. One day my father disappeared
without any explanation and we
heard nothing of him for five years.
Then a letter came from a friend of
ours saying that my father had been
seen in a little town in Austria.
then quietly made up my mind to go
and get him, and without consulting
my mother, started out.
I had a little money of my own an
I used this. How I ever got on
board the steamef without being
stopped is a mystery now. I sup
pose the officials believed me whe
I eaid I was IS. I was very large
for my age and had no trouble in
getting accommodations.
When we arrived at Trieste I was
etill far from ray destination, which
was a little village called Kevasiglet
In the Interior of Austria. In orde
to make the Journey I was forced to
sell some of my extra clothing, an
when I arrived my father had disap
peared again.
Developed Hunger for Travel.
There I was, 4000 miles away from
home without friends and without
money. But I took my courage in
my hands and started back. I ac-
complished the .trip with surprising
sw?...
...
.
i
ease. I worked in various capacities
and traveled in all kinds of convey
ances. But I finally got back to
Hudson, safe and sound and not very
much different except that I bad de
veloped an incurable hunger for go
ing places, seeing things and keep
ing out in the open.
At the time, though, I tried to per
suade myself that I was going to stay
at home and be like other girls, and
was doing that very successfully
until Tom left. Til have to explain
here that Tom was the man I after
ward married. We were very much
in love and it wrung my heart to see
him go. But he had accepted a posi
tion in Atlanta, Ga., and had made
all his plans.
I walked down to the station with
him; we kissed a tearful good-bye,
and I vowed to wait until he could
'send for me. A good many months
passed and I missed my Tom more
and more every day. One day I de
cided to go to Atlanta. I had no
money, so there was nothing to do
but take to the road.
In my European trip I hadn't bad
much experience with freight cars
because I had paid my way along by
working. But as it happened this
time, I ran Into a knight of the road,
almost as soon as I had left our lit
tle village behind. He gave me some
good advice.
"Go down near the water tank and
hide in the bushes, child," he said.
When -the train stops for water you
look for an open door. Don't jump
aboard until you see the stoker lift
ing the big hose 'pipe out of the en
gine's tank. Then you'll know that
the Job is finished and that they'll
start again soon."
I followed his advice and was soon
speeding toward New York. Late that
afternoon we passed over the draw
bridge that spans the Harlem river
and a mile farther on we stopped. I
climbed out and trudged Into New
Tork. I was in the big city several
days and picked up a few odd Jobs.
But I was soon ready to press on.
Tom Had Left for the West.
' My success in "grabbing a rattler"
at Hudson emboldened me to try my
luck again in Jersey City. But the
yards were too well guarded. I took
to the road again, but when I got
well outside the range of Hacken-
sask meadows I located a car that
was bound southward and climbed on.
Every conceivable sort of adven
ture happened to me between that
point and my destination Atlanta. In
Culpepper county, Virginia, which
was my first stop after leaving Jer
i sey, I got work on a farm. The farm
J er's ion proposed marriage to me af
S1
ter I had been there a week. I moved 1
on and thereafter during the trip
wore overalls and passed as a boy.
In North Carolina I Joined a gang of
hoboes and shared their "slum" for
two days and picked up many a trick
of swinging into a car, lying across
the rods and straddling the bumpers.
I finally reached Atlanta. With
beating heart I approached the ad
dress Tom had sent me. But disap
pointment was in store for me. The
landlady told me he had left two
weeks before for Denver to try to re
build his failing health.
Greatly pertrubed. I started out
again, after a few days" rest.
When I left home I was dressed in
a substantial cloth suit and good,
stout, low-heeled shoes. I carried a
change of linen and underclothing in
a small pack. In Virginia I ex
changed my suit for overalls but in
Atlanta, after working for a while in
THE CYCLONE
(Continued From Page S.)
its walls covered with the cheapest
of .paper a trailing vine pattern,
with pink and blue flowers. Some
how that had seemed to belong to
Edna. The bedstead and the dresser
were of the shiniest they had given
up the wedding &f home to ,pay for
that "suite."
"It'll look scrumptious when she
gets her little gim-cracks around,"
he told himself with a smile. As he
moved toward the back door he
spoke out loud: .
"It's convenient and comfortable "
he glanced around once more, "and
she'll make it beautiful! And it's all
paid for there ain't any mortgages,
or debt, thank God!"
His thanksgiving was so devout
that he took off his cap and paused,
a somber light in his steady eyes.
"She shan't never work herself to
death the way mother did," ho was
thinking. "It's been hard all-fired
hard for both of us, waiting so long
five years! But I'm glad I stuck it
out. Now we are beginning right,
anyway." At this moment he was
surer than ever of that.
The-fixity of the frozen plains was
in the sturdy form and strongly
t.'ocked face of the man, as he jogged
over the half-thawed road. Tet his
thoughts were leaping forward
tumultuously. Tomorrow Edna would
step from the train to his arms! To
morrow Edna would be his wife! To
morrow she wesjild come to the house
he had built for her! In. this hour.
the past that had so long and pain
1 fully preparedor hindered the way
Charming Katherine Jackson,
Queen of the "Rattler Grabbers,"
Who Ran Away Because She
Had the Wanderlust, Tells oi Her
Thrills and Thirsts, and Why
Men Are Not
a Serious Risk
After All.
r
W ith the aid of a sllsht Imagination, hobolns Is
Just like motoring 'cross country In one's own
private car.
restaurants, I made enough to buy a
really smart-looking suit, which I
added to my bundle. In that way I
was able to alternate as a boy and
a girl. On the road I was a boy much
of the time, but when I went into the
towns I was a girl. After starting
out I made a long Jump from Mariet
ta, Ga., to Little Bock, Ark., without
once seeing a railroad hand. From
Little Rock to Wichita, Kan., how
ever, my road was a rough one. I
was twice thrown off trains. The
greater part of that trip was made
with the kindly aid of farmers who
gave me lifts from time to time.
At Wichita I .ran into a college boy
who had been working in the wheat
fields. With his assistance I made
a rapid Jump ' straight into Denver
only to land in the arms of a police
man. I certainly pleaded hard with
the cop and finally prevailed on him
to let me loose. An hour later I was
for tomorrow, counted for nothing.
Tomorrow, for the first time, he
would begin to live.
It was 3 o'clock the next afternoon
before Lon and his bride left the
Prewitts, and started home, her trunk,
sewing machine and big box in the
wagon behind the seat. As the scat
tering bouses of the village were left
behind, Lon put his arm about Edna
t-nd searched her eyes.
"At last!" His voice shook with
the marvel of it, "Oh. Edna!"
"Yes. We are on the way home, at
last," she whispered, her eyelids
drooping, to hide tears of joy and of
madness.
In this moment the culmination of
fo many postponements, of such
scathing delays, they bad not many
words to say. They rode on in silence,
while flocks of silver-flecked clouds
sent shadows chasing across the wide,
naked prairie. To the westward a
b'ack drift hung. on the horizon. Once
Lcn remarked that it looked like rain.
"If it waits till we get home we'll
not care let it rain," Edna's laugh
rippled with new happiness as be
laughed with her. Suddenly she lifted
t-er head from his shoulder to glance
about and cry: "Why, Lon. I didn't
know there was a railroad near
here!"
"There isn't." Then he, too, caught
the roar and rumbling of a mighty
train. He turned quickly. From the
west a dense black cloud was sweep
ing toward them with the speed and
the scream of a demon train.
"Yes, it's a cyclone," he answered
Edna's gasping word, while he used
Above Sketch of Misa Jack
son by a hobo artist pal.
Left "Always watt until the
freight la ready to pull out
before you Jump aboard."
Right The view from the top
of a freiffht la better than
from a Pullman platform,
provided your eye Is cinder
proof. i
, -
- . .y..;-,.-,,....,. ,,. ;'V.f
Mlas Jackson preferred an outside sleeper when weather was
favorable.
in another man's arms but it was
the arms of my lover, Tom. this time
We were married that tall.
Right here I would like to say a
word of defense of hoboes generally.
Contrary to the general belief, he is
not a man who is running away from
work. He works all the time and at
various odd Jobs, in order to pay his
way as he goes. He performs these
odd jobs conscientiously, too. '
In many cases he is a man of edu
cation who has been disappointed in
love or business or who is simply
tired of staying in one place. In all
cases be is a man who is unwilling to
call any man master or to be slave to
any thumbnail task.
All in .all, I have traveled more
than 24,000 miles on foot, by rail and
in vehicles of many different kinds.
My invariable dodge when I am seek
ing work along the roadside is to
tell the farmer or his wife or the
C) BY
Loth hands to hold his plunging team.
He turned again toward the hurtling
mass whose ravening breath , was al
ready brushing their faces.
"Get out and lie flat on the
ground," he directed. Before she
could obey the cloud veered and
roared away to the northeast.
"It's gone over," his voice was
wavery.
"Is it going- toward home?" she
questioned anxiously.
"In that direction," he admitted.
"But a vagrant twister like that never
toes any -harm. It'll hit the ground
somewhere or peter out in thin air."
Lon drove more rapidly after this.
He pointed out the Prossers' house as
they passed a dim light within.
"I must go and see Molly soon,"
Edna said. "I feel as If I knew her
already-and the baby, too."
At last the team swung into a
swifter trot of their own accord. "We
are almost there," Baxter spoke
tensely. He had felt all the time that
he should not be sure this was his
own Edna the woman of his hopes
axd desire until he had crossed tbe
threshold of their home, until he had
beard her first words of understand
ing and appreciation.
Edna, looking ahead eagerly through
veiling twilight, made out the bulk
of the barn. Then Lon drew up the
horses so sharply that she was al
most pitched out of her seat. Drop
ping the reins with an inarticulate
sound that made. her heart stop beat
ing, he leaped' from the wagon and
run on ahead. After a confused,
c
. . o '
.'''"rV;.
storekeeper or whoever it happens to
be, that I am going to visit an aunt
In the next town ahead. This is a little
white lie. but it satisfies their curios
ity. Country folk are not nearly as
curious as those in the city, anyhow.
And their food is so much better.
Has Never Regrretted a Single Day.
Incdentally I soon learned to love
the tramp's dish which is an ag
glomeration of everything you can
find. I also learned to cook over
brushwood fires. and to heat a tin can
full of coffee with a couple of matches
while riding in a freight car. And I
have made many friends. I am
known all over America now by the
fraternity.
I have never regretted a single day
of my life on the road. Though I
would hardly advise other girls to
take it up. it is much easier on a
Is I
woman than a man. Everything
ROSE L.
frightened moment she climbed down
and ran after him. She stumbled over
a board; her feet tripped on scattered
brick.-
She stopped beside her husband, be
fore a jumbled heap, above which a
wavering broken column was sil
houetted against the sky.
"Oh, Lon,". she breathed, "the house
where is it?"
"There!" He thrust out a clenched
fist, "There! The cyclone the cy
clonethe house is gone! Our home
's gone!" The words were Jerked out
mechanically from an upheaval too
deep for expression.
They stood together before, the
ruins of their house, stunned, frozen
by the catastrophe. At last Lon spoke
again:
"It is the hand o' God. The hand
o' God has struck us, like it did my
folks! Five years gone it's the
end!" Despair, cold, blank despair
had shut down upon, his soul.
Edna did not speak. All the strain,
all the dullness, all the suffering of
tbe years seemed lumped upon her
heart. In that moment the last trace
cf sweet girlishness died in her face.
But she was here, beside her man.
His salvation was in her hands. The
rich womanhood of the pioneer moth
ers of our race blossomed into full
ness. "No, Lon," she spoke quietly and
she reached up and laid protecting
arms about his stiffened shoulders.
"No, dear, it is not the end. It is only
the beginning the right beginning
together."
A sob tore up throuefe t- Bias's
r
Katherine
Jackson, t
There are tLmea when even a hobo fcaa
to prepare a meal you Icnotr.
Traveling freight disguised as a hoy.
in her favor. It is easier to get the
kind of work a hobo wants to do and
people generally are more kindly dis
posed toward a girl than a man, I
think. Certainly they have been very
kind to me and very considerate, too.
In all my travels I have never had
reason to fear anything and I slept
in the same haystack with two
strange men one night. I have known
how to take care of myself, it Is
true, but one would expect many
more advances than I ever received.
Perhaps I have been lucky, but all
the men with whom I was ever
thrown seemed to want to help me to
the limit of their powers. Another
thing before I forget it. When a
hobo needs help he always applies to
people in humble circumstances. They
give him assistance much quicker
than the rich ones.
How old am I, you ask. Well, I am
more than 20 and less than 25. That's
close enough, isn't it? And I'm not
what you would call bad looking, if
I do say it myself. If you don't be
lieve me, look at the pictures on this
page.'
ELLERBE
tody. He dropped his head to her
treast. He gave himself to the com
fort of her touch, of her lips, as they
murmured broken words of love as
they kissed her tear-wet cheeks.
"That's right," he whispered hoarsely.
"That's right! I have been wrong all
the time. Edna! Oh, Edna, can you
ever forgive me?"
Presently,' in the humility of one
who has been chastened into recogni
tion of his own finiteness, he went on:
"Tomorrow I will go to the bank
and ask for a loan enough to build
another house."
"No, you won't, Lon!" Edna slipped
a hand into his and drew him away
from the wreck, across the rough
ground, until they reached a dimly
outlined block at the rear. They
paused before the blackness that
marked an open door, and Edna fin
ished: "We will not mortgage our place
now, Lon. I've always wanted to live
in this dugout, you know. And now
I'm going to have my wish. We will
just be contented here together until
jou get another crop and can build
HKain."
Lon Baxter straightened up. The
revulsion came:
"And that will be this year!" hs
cried, the strength and courage of
youth and love which fate cannot
conquer thrilling through the words.
"Working together like we ought
to have been doing all the time we'll
beat this god-damned country yet!
We'll build another house next fall,
ure!"
(Copyright, 1921, iy Ross U EUerbs.1