They become tramps because they find that life “on the road” comes the nearest to the life they hoped to lead.  They have enough talent to do very well as beggars, better, generally speaking, then the men who have reached the road simply as drunkards; they know more about the tricks of the trade and are cleverer in thinking out schemes and stories.  All genuine tramps in America are, however, pretty much the same, as far as manners and philosophy are concerned, and all are equally welcome at the “hang-out."[276] The class of society from which they are drawn is generally the very lowest of all, but there are some hoboes who have come from the very highest, and these latter are frequently as vicious and depraved as their less well-born brethren.

Concerning sexual inversion among tramps, there is a great deal to be said, and I cannot attempt to tell all I have heard about it, but merely to give a general account of the matter.  Every hobo in the United States knows what “unnatural intercourse” means, talking about it freely, and, according to my finding, every tenth man practises it, and defends his conduct.  Boys are the victims of this passion.  The tramps gain possession of these boys in various ways.  A common method is to stop for awhile in some town, and gain acquaintance with the slum children.  They tell these children all sorts of stories about life “on the road,” how they can ride on the railways for nothing, shoot Indians, and be “perfeshunnels” (professionals), and they choose some boy who specially pleases them.  By smiles and flattering caresses they let him know that the stories are meant for him alone, and before long, if the boy is a suitable subject, he smiles back just as slyly.  In time he learns to think that he is the favorite of the tramp, who will take him on his travels, and he begins to plan secret meetings with the man.  The tramp, of course, continues to excite his imagination with stories and caresses, and some fine night there is one boy less in the town.  On the road the lad is called a “prushun,” and his protector a “jocker.”  The majority of prushuns are between 10 and 15 years of age, but I have known some under 10 and a few over 15.  Each is compelled by hobo law to let his jocker do with him as he will, and many, I fear, learn to enjoy his treatment of them.  They are also expected to beg in every town they come to, any laziness on their part receiving very severe punishment.

How the act of unnatural intercourse takes place is not entirely clear; the hoboes are not agreed.  From what I have personally observed I should say that it is usually what they call “leg-work” (intercrural), but sometimes immissio penis in anum, the boy, in either case, lying on his stomach.  I have heard terrible stories of the physical results to the boy of anal intercourse.