The Hobo Code

Josiah Flynt, sociologist and author of Tramping With Tramps (1907)

In 1889, Tourist Union #63 held its annual National Hobo Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, where it adopted the Hobo Code:

1. Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
3. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.
16. If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

Rules to live by!

I am working on a series of articles on hobo law, tentatively titled The Law of the Jungle: Hobo Law & Society in Prewar America. More to come.

Welcome to the Bindle!

The Bindle is a eclectic collection of information relating to art, law, and society, presented by Brian L. Frye. I am an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law, where I teach copyright, intellectual property, nonprofit organizations, and civil procedure, among other things. I am currently in the process of developing a free, creative commons attribution licensed, copyright casebook. Check it out and let me know if you have any comments.

I have also made experimental and documentary films for about 20 years. In 2013, I made the documentary film Our Nixon with Penny Lane, which premiered at SXSW, aired on CNN, screened theatrically, and is now available streaming and on DVD. I have also made many short films, some of which you can watch here.

A bindle is a hobo's luggage, stereotypically portrayed as a stick over the shoulder, with a cloth bag tied around the far end. This weblog will feature articles, audio interviews, videos, and assorted ephemera. Just the sort of thing a hobo might collect in his travels.