A visit with author Dandi Daley Mackall

The illustration at right is my version of a hobo mark found in Dandi Daley Mackall's glossary in her book, Rudy Rides the Rails : A Depression Era Story. I've seen other versions of cats as marks and the common thread seems to be 'kindness" or "kindhearted".

I thought I'd include a mark with this entry because Ms. Mackall talks about this very topic as she shares how she came to meet Rudy and what inspired her interest in hobos. Enjoy!

Dandi Daley Mackall wrote:

"When I was a kid, I remember my grandmother telling me about the hoboes who hopped off the freights in our little town of Hamilton, Missouri. She said they’d walk up the tracks, past four houses, and head straight for her house. She’d always give them something—usually a piece of pie; but she wondered how they knew. Then a friend showed her that the big tree in front of her house had a carving on it, the face of a smiling cat.

Years later (and a couple of hundred books later), I thought about the symbol and started researching other hobo signs. Then I got hooked. I read and read about the Depression and the hoboes. I hopped onto Internet bulletin boards and joined discussions. I “met” groups of modern hoboes, lots of college and seminary professors, who spend summers hopping freights across the country. Several of them told me, “You have to talk to Rudy Phillips, perhaps the oldest living hobo who rode the rails in the Great Depression.”

So one Sunday, I called Rudy in Shawneetown, IL. We talked for over an hour that day, and Rudy delighted me with stories of hobo jungles and “catching the blue,” “riding the cowcatcher.” After that, I phoned him every Sunday, and we talked—he talked, and I listened. I sent him a tape recorder and tapes and a mailer, and he talked for hours, recalling the smell of the boxcar, the routes and changing stations, what people were wearing—all the great details. Finally, my husband and I journeyed to see Rudy. I spent a whole day with him, and he was even better in person. Rudy was 90 when I was working on this book (and my husband said as we drove home—“90 years old, and the guy was hitting on you!” Rudy gave me the dictionary of hobo signs that appears in the back of the book, along with definitions and terms, which I’ve defined in the glossary. He knew all about the book I was writing, although he died just before it came out. I dedicated the book to Rudy, who “caught the Westbound,” the term he used for his old friends passing on to a better life.

After the book came out this past year, I was invited to join in the International Hobo Convention in Britt, IA. It was wonderful to meet so many who knew and loved Rudy—what great people, and what a terrific heritage. Many of the hoboes—like Mama Jo and Hobo Santa--now have ministries to the homeless.

Dear Dandi,

Thank you so sharing this beautiful story! I've included a link to the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. Dandi will be among the celebrated guests at the next convention in July, 2008. Good luck, Dandi, and thank you, again!!

Becky

http://www.hobo.com/ Hobo Museum Britt, Iowa

Rudy Rides the Rails : A Depression Era Story

Rudy was just a teenager when he hopped his first train. He hoped to find work so he could send some money home. He also hoped to be one less mouth for his folks to feed.

Rudy Rides the Rails : A Depression Era Story tells a fictionalized account of real life hobo, Ramblin' Rudy's journey to California and back. The story follows the lad as he leaves his Ohio home and journeys across the country, meeting hobos, finding work where ever he can, and learning the hard lessons on how to survive riding the trains.

Author Dandi Daley Mackall does a good job detailing the perils Rudy faced, such as catching cinders from the trains' stack, out running rail yard 'bulls' and finding work.

What is particularly fascinating is the book's treatment of the hobo marking system. Hobo culture used a relatively simple set of 'marks' or signs as a way to leave messages to future hobos who happen to travel the same path. The sign of a cat's face meant the home or business was kind, while a rectangle with a dot in the center meant the place was hostile or dangerous. They used arrows to show directions, circles with X's to show where one could get a handout and an empty zero to indicate the house offered nothing. Mackall includes a grouping of the marks in her glossary.

Another unique aspect of her book is her use of jargon common among hobos. The 'Sally' was the Salvation Army, 'Cali' was California and 'Casey' was Kansas City, Missouri, just to name a few. The jargon is peppered throughout the book and gives the story an authentic flavor for the era it describes.

Chris Ellison's illustrations also lend authenticity to that by-gone era when at one moment a boy could be running in a field and riding in an empty rail car the next. His thick brush strokes accentuate the billowing steam from the engines and the starkness of wooden trains.
Despite the fact that Rudy Rides the Rails is laid out as a Picture Book, its rich detail and engaging illustrations will make it an interesting story for readers of all ages.

Watch for a wonderful account of the history of this story when I share a letter from Dandi Daley Mackall in my next post!

Becky

Dandi Daley Mackall website :http://www.dandibooks.com/

Chris Ellison website : http://www.sleepingbearpress.com/authors_illustrators/chris_ellison.htm

Book information : http://gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=k12&titleCode=SB56&type=4&id=226349

Hobo Marking Systems

"I never told you about, some of the tramps we used to have, did I? The ones that came to be well known around here were all odd characters. I suppose you might say some of them weren't right, though that's matter of opinion. Maybe they was smarter than folks who looked down on them. Maybe they got more satisfaction out of life in their own way than some who were better off."

Connecticut Clockmaker as interviewed by writer Francis Donovan 12/31/38 (?)Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection.

Photograph: Two hobos walking along railroad tracks, after being put off a train. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Riding the Rails and all that that entails!

I'd purchased Rudy Rides the Rails by Dandi Daley Mackall (Illus. Chris Ellison) a few weeks ago. It is another picture book set during the Great Depression that was published after my book came out and which I plan to review.

Simply by its title, the reader knows what the book will be about. So it comes as sheer coincidence that I spent the better part of last week and the weekend reading about rail riding and hobo life during the 1930's. I was conducting research for another project, reading such works as Sister of the Road (an autobiography of Box-Car Bertha), The Tramp in America, Boy and Girl Tramps of America,(author Thomas Minehan actually road with the train-hopping hobos and offers amazing insight), and works by noted writer and sociologist, Nels Anderson (see bibliography below).

Mackall's book touches on many of the themes i.e. the various ways a person could ride a train, hobo jungles, begging.

What is fun about her book, for me, at least, is that the hobo she features in her story actually rides a train through Waterloo, Iowa, a city just east of where I live. She also has her main character travel through Britt, Iowa, which bills itself as home to the National Hobo Convention. The city of Britt even houses a museum. http://www.brittiowa.com/

I'll expand on this topic in the next couple of entries!

Becky

Anderson, Nels On Hobos and Homelessness. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Bruns, Roger A. Knights of the Road : A Hobo History. New York : Methuen, 1980.
Cresswell, Tim The Tramp in America. London : Reaktion Books, 2001.
Minehan, Thomas Boy and Girl Tramps of America. New York : Farrar and Rinehart, 1934.
Reitman, Dr. Ben L. Sister of the Road : The Autobiography of Box-Car Bertha. New York : Harper Colophon Books, 1975.