Hazen Savage and Ralph Stetson Reminiscences

Excerpts from an interview with Hazen Savage and Ralph "Buster" Stetson at Stetson's house, West Hartford, Vt., Jan. 23, 1988. Conducted by Cameron Clifford.

HS:

[comments abt section of rd to W Hartford where the RR, road, river come very close together at remote spot.] One time my great-grandfather got held up by a highwayman there one night way back, you know, in the old days....This fellow hid in the brush there and as [my ggfather] went through [the highwayman] got right out and grabbed the horse and the bridle...[but my ggfather got away]....That weren't uncommon....

[One time when my father was a young boy a hobo or tramp tried to kidnap him on the railroad that ran by the house at the bottom of Jericho Hill between Hartford and W Hartford.] There used to be a spur [side track along the RR] down below Oakes' field...and back in them days the search light was...oil and you had to light it every night...so my father and [his brother] George used to go down there at night and light that...lamp...so one night he was coming back up from there and he happened to look back and this guy was chasing him like hell. [My father] run like hell and he got up to the bridge [at his parents' house] and run down into the house...and told my grandfather. He says, "There's a man chasing me all the way up." [My grandfather grabbed his rifle and went outside and] the fellow had just started back down the track and [my grandfather hollered to him, he said, "Mister, if I ever see you again, I'm going to kill you." he said, "You've got ten minutes to cross that railroad bridge [over the White River. He shot off a round and] my father said he run.

[One of the tricks of the tramps] was to steal a kid...and they'd burn 'em with acid and have 'em beg for them....The kid would get money where the tramp couldn't, see....And I always figured that was what they guy [who chased after my father] was up to....

I got a book...[about] this guy [who] was a rich man's son and college graduate...[who] started out with $17...[and] traveled every railroad n the United States [and] wrote under the pen name of A-Number One [when marked as a Monica I believe it was written "A No.-1" – David Hammond] [about his time as a tramp]. [His mark, A-No. 1] used to be on the [RR] bridge down where we are now when we first moved down there [in the early twentieth century].

...the difference between a hobo and a tramp [is] a tramp will steal and beg, but a hobo...[will] work so long, get...money, and then...go bumming...riding on the...boxcars and then when that's gone they stop and work again....

As far as the hobo is concerned, there used to be a guy come to my grandfather's every winter and cut wood for about two weeks [and there was] one that used to come to George Hathorn's [and ] help fill the silo. Good men, you know....But, they enjoyed this travel life and they'd earn enough money so they could be two or three weeks without working anywhere and then they'd stop somewhere and earn another bundle [of cash] and keep on the road again....

RS:

I remember these [tramps]...used to come up here [and] mother used to feed 'em.

HS:

Oh, we fed a pile of 'em down there [where we lived].

BS:

One [tramp or hobo] came here one time adn mother give him a little bag of something [and we saw him go] down the road and throwed it over the bank. Next time that he come...[Dad said,] "If you're hungry and want something to eat," he says, "I'll give it to you, but," he says, I won't give you any to throw over the bank..." He sat right...on the couch and ate the whole goddamn business and then he took off.

[In 2008 or 2009 I saw a man throw a baloney sandwich into the middle of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, in Washington, D.C. He was ragged, and half a block from the Friendship Place homeless drop-in center, walking back up towards Tenley Circle. – David Hammond]

HS:

We had the same thing happen down there....I figure this one we got that time didn't think – I guess it was sandwiches and a glass of milk – probably didn't think it was enough, or else he was up to some other deviltry, you know....

[On tramps and hobos being vengeful:] They claimed that if you didn't feed 'em they'd burn your barn, but I never knew that happening....They did have signs...to tell whether you would feed enough, there's no question about that.

BS:

There's always three or four of 'em and they'd get together [and]...find out three places where they'd get stuff to eat. That's the way we'd get a new one come around....First you knew you was feeding a new one.

HS:

You see they had their marks so...another one could tell where there's someone would give them a handout, you know...or if they had an ugly dog, they'd have a sign for that, you know. Right down to a fine point, you might say, you know.