“Monicas” are the nom-de-rails that hoboes assume or accept when thrust upon them by their fellows.  Leary Joe, for instance, was timid, and was so named by his fellows.  No self-respecting hobo would select Stew Bum for himself.  Very few tramps care to remember their pasts during which they ignobly worked, so monicas based upon trades are very rare, though I remember having met the following:  Moulder Blackey, Painter Red, Chi Plumber, Boiler-Maker, Sailor Boy, and Printer Bo.  “Chi” (pronounced shy), by the way, is the argot for “Chicago.”

A favorite device of hoboes is to base their monicas on the localities from which they hail, as:  New York Tommy, Pacific Slim, Buffalo Smithy, Canton Tim, Pittsburg Jack, Syracuse Shine, Troy Mickey, K.L.  Bill, and Connecticut Jimmy.  Then there was “Slim Jim from Vinegar Hill, who never worked and never will.”  A “shine” is always a negro, so called, possibly, from the high lights on his countenance.  Texas Shine or Toledo Shine convey both race and nativity.

Among those that incorporated their race, I recollect the following:  Frisco Sheeny, New York Irish, Michigan French, English Jack, Cockney Kid, and Milwaukee Dutch.  Others seem to take their monicas in part from the color-schemes stamped upon them at birth, such as:  Chi Whitey, New Jersey Red, Boston Blackey, Seattle Browney, and Yellow Dick and Yellow Belly—­the last a Creole from Mississippi, who, I suspect, had his monica thrust upon him.

Texas Royal, Happy Joe, Bust Connors, Burley Bo, Tornado Blackey, and Touch McCall used more imagination in rechristening themselves.  Others, with less fancy, carry the names of their physical peculiarities, such as:  Vancouver Slim, Detroit Shorty, Ohio Fatty, Long Jack, Big Jim, Little Joe, New York Blink, Chi Nosey, and Broken-backed Ben.

By themselves come the road-kids, sporting an infinite variety of monicas.  For example, the following, whom here and there I have encountered:  Buck Kid, Blind Kid, Midget Kid, Holy Kid, Bat Kid, Swift Kid, Cookey Kid, Monkey Kid, Iowa Kid, Corduroy Kid, Orator Kid (who could tell how it happened), and Lippy Kid (who was insolent, depend upon it).

On the water-tank at San Marcial, New Mexico, a dozen years ago, was the following hobo bill of fare:—­

(1) Main-drag fair. (2) Bulls not hostile. (3) Round-house good for kipping. (4) North-bound trains no good. (5) Privates no good. (6) Restaurants good for cooks only. (7) Railroad House good for night-work only.

Number one conveys the information that begging for money on the main street is fair; number two, that the police will not bother hoboes; number three, that one can sleep in the round-house.  Number four, however, is ambiguous.  The north-bound trains may be no good to beat, and they may be no good to beg.  Number five means that the residences are not good to beggars, and number six means that only hoboes that have been cooks can get grub from the restaurants.  Number seven bothers me.  I cannot make out whether the Railroad House is a good place for any hobo to beg at night, or whether it is good only for hobo-cooks to beg at night, or whether any hobo, cook or non-cook, can lend a hand at night, helping the cooks of the Railroad House with their dirty work and getting something to eat in payment.