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1. A hobo is an itinerant worker, a tramp is an itinerant non-worker and a bum is a non-itinerant non-worker.
2. A hobo was a member of a distinctive sub-culture of homeless, travelling workers in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were particularly associated with the railroads, as they had the reputation for freighthopping - hitching free rides from place to place in the baggage cars of trains.

The population of hobos increased during times of economic trouble, and their numbers increased greatly during the Great Depression. With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to travel and try their luck elsewhere.

Nowadays there are few railroad-riding hobos left, though there are still small numbers of them.

Life as a hobo was a dangerous one. In addition to the problems of being itinerant poor far from home and support, and the hostile attitude of many train crews, the railroads employed their own security staff, often nicknamed bulls. These showed little mercy to hobos they found. If that wasn't enough, riding on a freight train is highly dangerous. One can easily fall under the wheels or get trapped between cars, or freeze to death in bad weather. When freezer cars were loaded at an ice factory, any hobo inside was likely to be killed. Hobos tended to band together for protection and formed an informal 'brotherhood'.

1 Hobos in fiction

• James M. Cain: The Postman Always Rings Twice
• John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men
• Upton Sinclair: The Jungle (the part where Jurgis escapes from Chicago)
• Emperor of the North Pole : Film starring Lee Marvin, Keith Carradine and Ernest BorgnineErnest Borgnine (born January 24, 1917) is a United States actor. Born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut, he joined the United States Navy after high school and stayed in for ten years. After a few years of drifting, he attended the Randall Sch.

2 Nonfiction about hobos

• Ted Conover: Rolling Nowhere (about modern-day hobos, published 1981)
• Jack LondonJack London probably born John Griffith Chaney ( January 12, 1876 November 22, 1916), was an American author of over 50 books. Personal background Jack London was born in San Francisco, California. Jack London's biological father is believed by Clarice St: The Road
• Jack Black: You Can't Win
• Lloyd Morain: The Human Cougar
• Anonymous: Evasion, published by CrimethInc
• Catching out : 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U documentaryA documentary is a work in a visual or auditory medium presenting political, scientific, social, or historical subjects in a factual and informative manner. Among the most popular forms of documentary are: Documentary film Radio documentary Documentaries. about modern hobos; IMDB