Charles Elmer Fox - Tales of an American Hobo (Singular Lives, Iowa Series in North American Autobiography)

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title	:	Tales of an American Hobo Singular Lives
author	:	Fox, Charles Elmer.
publisher	:	University of Iowa Press
isbn10 | asin	:	0877452520
print isbn13	:	9780877452522
ebook isbn13	:	9781587290695
language	:	English
subject	Fox, Charles Elmer, Tramps--United States--Biography.
publication date	:	1989
lcc	:	HV4505.F68 1989eb
ddc	:	305.5/68
subject	:	Fox, Charles Elmer, Tramps--United States--Biography.

Page i Tales of an American Hobo

Page iii SINGULAR LIVES The Iowa Series in North American Autobiography Albert E. Stone, Series Editor

Page v Tales of an American Hobo By Charles Elmer Fox Preface by Albert E. Stone Introduction by Lynne M. Adrian UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS IOWA CITY

Page vi University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright 1989 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Wood engravings by Beth Krommes http://www.uiowa.edu/~uipress No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fox, Charles Elmer. Tales of an American hobo/by Charles Elmer Fox; preface by Albert E. Stone; introduction by Lynne M. Adrian. p. cm.(Singular lives) ISBN 0-87745-251-2, ISBN 0-87745-252-0 (pbk.) 1. Fox, Charles Elmer. 2. TrampsUnited States Biography. I. Title. II. Series. HV4505.F68 1989 305.5'68dc20 89-5055 [B] 99 00 01 02 03 P 5 4 3 2

Page vii In Memory of Them All Boxcars rattling in the rain, The age-old song of a speeding train. It takes me back to the long ago, To Mulligan Shorty and Bug-eyed Joe. I've sat with them by many fires, When the days came to an end, And heard a steam train whistle moan As she came around the bend. Off on some distant mountain grade In the wee hours of the night, The cracking exhaust of a steamer at work And her piercing yellow light. As the embers of the fire glow faintly And the long hours of night pass on, I think of old friends and the steamers I loved, For all are now dead and gone. Charles Elmer Fox

Page ix CONTENTS Preface Albert E. Stone xi Introduction Lynne M. Adrian xv Tales of an American Hobo Charles Elmer Fox 1

Page xi PREFACE "Reefer Charlie" Fox is the second autobiographer to appear in the University of Iowa Press' Singular Lives series. Like his predecessor's inaugural volume, Milt Felsen's The Anti-Warrior: A Memoir, Fox's Tales of an American Hobo was written late in an active, ongoing life. It also joins as a late contribution a sizable body of similarly inspired stories written out of social experiences long past, forgotten by many or even unknown to them. As Lynne Adrian points out in her introduction, however, American readers for more than a century have vicariously enjoyed the adventures and mishaps (more or less authenticated) of the "knights of the road." The popularity of such unconventional autobiographies has risen and fallen as concern for an endemic social problem has given way to a more comfortable nostalgia and historical curiosity and as the railroad has declined in economic and cultural significance. But while today's detective novels and films continue to exploit the excitement and glamor still attached to railroad travelin first class, at least, the ideal setting for mystery and romanceso, too, there persists a fascination with those who once rode the rods beneath the dining cars and plush compartments where Hitchcock's heroines and villains enact their timeless deceptions. "I'm the last of a kind,'' Fox announces (prematurely, we hope) of his place in our social annals. In fact, a prime aim of his richly anecdotal account is to memorialize a past world and his dead pals who "have caught that westbound freight." In the process, Reefer Charlie does more than recall the characters and life-style of his peers and predecessors. He leaves us an indelible sketch of his own personality and onetime position in the hobo society once flourishing, often unnoticed, along our highways and roadbeds.

Page xii As social historian and self-portraitist, Fox both follows and enriches the tradition marked earlier in the century by such best-sellers as

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