Remembering the Wanderers!

            Some older Millinocket residents (70+) may remember the days when hoboes (or tramps as they were sometimes called), were seen walking into town. These wanderers, (generally men), were most often seen during the warmer months. They might have “hitched” a ride on the train or walked and/or hitchhiked by road. They might do odd jobs for residents in exchange for a meal.

            The number of hoboes in the U.S. tended to increase after the Civil War when discharged veterans illegally “hopped” trains for rides home. It was known as “freighthopping.” The “Great Depression” of the 1930’s brought another rise in this way of travel as many men left their homes (by train hopping or by foot) to seek work elsewhere. Freight cars were often their choice of travel.

            An article with information from 1910 tells of hoboes in Millinocket. That summer the circus was coming to Millinocket via train and local train employees were put on “alert” for hoboes on the trains and in the local railroad yard. They were to watch for anyone who might cause damage in the railyard, enter a boxcar to sleep or to find provisions. The B & A put out notices that “offenders would be severely dealt with.”

            However, On June 15, 1910, clothing worth $38.25 was taken by thieves who pried open a caboose door. Another $13.10 of clothing was taken by someone else that same night by “a small thief who crawled through a small window of the second caboose.” These cars were sitting on the tracks at the Millinocket B & A yard.

            On another date, Fred Gates, Millinocket Chief of Police, responded to a call from the railroad station that four men had stolen $5 from a nearby railroad employee’s home. The articles states that Gates “started up the railroad tracks, fired a shot into the woods whereupon two men surrendered. Gates took them on the train to Bangor where they immediately were placed before a judge. Both claimed innocence but were sentenced to 30 days for vagrancy. The other two men had gotten away, but a special agent (J. Valley) called for the case heard the two missing men were at the round house in West Seboeis. He hopped the train to West Seboeis where he was able to arrest the two offenders. The four men were identified by the lady of the house where the $5 was stolen.

1908 B & A Train at Millinocket