Great Depression -- How an 18-year-old girl lived the hobo life!

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(Free-Press-Release.com) November 15, 2008 -- Norma Darrah was eighteen when she hopped a freight at Owatonna, Minnesota, on a bleak winter's night in March 1938. Eighteen-year-old Norma was traveling with Curly, her husband of seven months, and his 13-year-old nephew, Harry Long. The newspaper Curly worked for in Kenyon, MN, had folded, leaving him out of work. An older brother, a carpenter at Casper, Wyoming offered Curly an apprenticeship in the trade.

"I Asked for Day Old Bread"

"We gathered a few warm clothes, a frying pan, a pot, three small pie tins, some knives and forks, my husband's rifle, shells, and our bedding. We had three one dollar bills for the three of us, which we hoped would last until we reached Casper. What a vain hope that was!

"When the freight pulled out of the Owatonna yard, we unrolled our bedding and fell fast asleep. Imagine our surprise and chagrin, awaking in the early morning to hear the train whistle, as it pulled out of a station leaving our boxcar behind. We were sidetracked only 50 miles from our starting point. Talk about inexperienced hoboes!

"The next freight we caught took us to Sioux City, Iowa. We'd already spent most of our $3. I said I would ask the merchants close to the tracks for a handout. Curly didn't want me to go, but I insisted. Brushing off my coat and brushing up my courage, I went into the first grocery I came to. I asked for day-old bread, or anything else we could eat. The owner gave me a sermon on how a young girl shouldn't be grabbing freight trains, even with your husband, and what kind of man is he, blah, blah, blah.

"I was turning to leave, when the grocer said, 'Wait a minute.' He went to the back room of the store and returned with a paper bag. I thanked him and hurried to Curly and Harry, a big grin on my face as I showed them the bag of goodies. The sack held ginger snaps, all so tainted with kerosene, we couldn't eat one. We went hungry that day.

"We left Sioux City on an open gondola that had four inches of snow on the floor, the only ride we could get. When the train gained speed, snow blew off a boxcar ahead, hitting us like a blizzard. We turned our backs to it; we kept walking in the bitter cold or we would've gotten frostbite. I don't remember much conversation between the three of us. We saved our strength for the business at hand, which was surviving.

"Six Petals on a Daisy"

"We got off at a small town called Plainview. We ran into three bums, who showed us into a building with a big stove used to dry sand for slick, icy tracks. The sand poured out of a cone-shaped pipe and covered a large circular area on the floor. My husband, little Harry and I joined the three bums on this warm, soft cushion, all of us lying like six petals on a daisy.

"The night watchman roused us early the next morning, warning us to be on our way before the railroad dicks caught us for vagrancy.

"It was midnight, when we reached Chadron. Curly had a severe migraine attack. Harry and I left him lying in a boxcar, and went to check out the station. I was looking around the platform, when I heard a voice behind me: 'What are you doing here?'

"The man shone his flashlight in my face. I realized that here was that mean old railroad dick I'd been hearing so much about from my husband. He started asking me questions. How old was I? Where was I born? Why was I riding the rails? I told him we were on our way to Casper, Wyoming, where we hoped to get work. Where's your husband? He started in all over again, and I got mad!

" 'Why don't you ask my uncle?' Harry said. He was standing being the railroad dick. He told the man that Curly was lying down in a boxcar.

"When the detective saw Curly, he asked if he needed a doctor, but my husband told him he only had a headache. He questioned Curly; then said he believed our story.

" 'Don't let me see you getting on this train.' He turned his back on us and never looked our way again.

Harry and I climbed into the boxcar, getting as far back as we could. We thought we were going to the 'hoosegow,' for sure. Instead, we'd the good fortune to run into a railroad dick with a soft heart!

"At Crawford, we all piled from the boxcar and went to a hobo jungle across the tracks. The hoboes had a fire going, with a big stew pot. An old hobo offered me some coffee in a dirty tin can. I didn't want to refuse his fine gesture, and took a sip. The worst coffee I ever tasted in my life. I swallowed it and prayed to God it wouldn't make me sick.

"The old hobo lifted the lid from his stew pot. I saw all kinds of vegetables floating in a greasy mess. The carrots still had their green tops on them. The hobo asked us to stay and eat stew with him, but I caught my husband's eye. 'Thank you kindly,' we told him and left, saying we wanted to look the town over.

"My Hunger was Stronger than My Shame"

"Toward 11:00 a.m., I could hear my stomach growling. The longer I sat there, the hungrier I got. I pointed to some houses near the tracks. 'I'm going to ask for food,' I said.

" A lady came to the door with a child in her arms. She looked me up and down. I felt shamefully aware of the dust and dirt on my coat, my muddy wool-lined ankle snow boots. I wanted to run, but my hunger was stronger than my shame.

" 'Lady, I haven't eaten for days. I'm awfully hungry.'

"She looked me up and down again. 'We've already had our breakfast,' she said. 'My husband won't be home for lunch for an hour or so.'

"My heart sank, as I realized she didn't want this dirty homeless-looking creature in her kitchen.

" 'Lady, please, I don't want to eat with you. I thought you might be able to spare a sandwich.'

" 'How would you like a scrambled egg and bacon sandwich?'

" 'Oh, yes,' I replied. 'That would be a feast!'

"This very kind woman fixed two hot sandwiches for me. I thanked her with all the gratitude I could put in my voice without crying.

"I went back to Curly and Harry. I offered my husband a sandwich; he wouldn't take it, even when I begged him to. 'If I can't go for my own food, I shouldn't eat yours.' No matter how hard Harry and I tried, Curly wouldn't change his mind. Harry and I ate the sandwiches then, in short order!

" 'Aunt Norma, you did so good bumming, I'm going to see what I can do,' Harry said. He came back with a bag of tiny sandwiches left over from a bridge party, which the ladies of the town had held the day before. Well, even Curly couldn't refuse this time.

"Where There's One, There's Another"

"Late that night, we caught a boxcar from Crawford, rested and with fairly full stomachs. We awoke the next morning, as the train sided our boxcar at Lusk, Wyoming. The stationmaster told us that there was no freight from Lusk to Casper. We would have to hitch-hike the remaining 90 miles.

"It was just one weary, hungry mile after another. Late afternoon, my husband took his rifle from his pack. We kept our eyes peeled for a jack rabbit in the fields bordering the road. 'There's one!' my husband said. He brought his rifle to his shoulder, took quick aim and shot it. Curly started running; before he reached the rabbit, a hawk swooped down and grabbed it. Harry and I were so mad; we were nearly in tears.

" 'Where there's one; there's another,' my husband said hopefully. Sure enough, he spotted a second rabbit in the fading light and shot it. This one we got. We made a sagebrush fire under a bridge across a dry gulch. Harry found a sheep herder's wagon just over a little hammock. He came back with water, biscuits and milk.

"Ah, that evening we had a feast of the best tasting rabbit I ever ate. We finished our supper, repacked our gear and went back to the road. It wasn't too long before a pickup truck stopped. The driver took us all the way to the house, where Curly's brother was staying.

"I was standing in a wash tub of hot soapy water, with nothing but a towel wrapped around me, when I first met my brother-in-law. I think we were both pleased with what we saw."

Excerpt from Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression by Errol Lincoln Uys (Routledge 2003)

Permission granted to use this excerpt with full credit to the author and publication as listed.

More information can be found online at http://www.erroluys.com/frontpage.htm

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