A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. The origin of the term is unknown. According to hobo stew Anatoly Liberman, the only certain detail about its origin is the word was first noticed in American English circa 1890. Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but in their own sight they are sharply differentiated.
Lower than either is the bum, who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police. Illustration of burning wood pieces producing flames in a metal cylinder with a cooking pot resting on it. Arrows depict air flow through round holes in the lower part of the cylinder and out the top. It is unclear exactly when hoboes first appeared on the American railroading scene. With the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many discharged veterans returning home began hopping freight trains. Others looking for work on the American frontier followed the railways west aboard freight trains in the late 19th century. His article “What Tramps Cost Nation” was published by The New York Telegraph in 1911, when he estimated the number had surged to 700,000.
The number of hoboes increased greatly during the Great Depression era of the 1930s. With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to travel for free by freight train and try their luck elsewhere. Life as a hobo was dangerous. In addition to the problems of being itinerant, poor, and far from home and support, plus the hostility of many train crews, they faced the railroads’ security staff, nicknamed “bulls”, who had a reputation of violence against trespassers.