The Tramp Problem in the Palouse
Unemployed men camping outside Colfax have turned to raiding gardens and chicken coops to survive.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
There has been a great influx of unemployed men lately to all parts of the Palouse valley, but Colfax seems to be getting more than its share. About fifty men, mostly tramps, have camped within the last ten days along the river west of town. They subsist by making nightly raids upon surrounding gardens and chicken yards. Last night they broke into County Treasurer Lature's chicken coop and left only five out of fifty blooded Wyandottes. The lunch counter at the Union Pacific depot was also raided and relieved of $10 worth of tobacco. The Chinese gardens lost ten bushels of potatoes about the same time. The city police cannot interfere, as the depredations are committed outside the corporate limits, and the camp of marauders is also beyond the line. A deputy sheriff this afternoon went down to the hobo headquarters to search for stolen goods, though without success. The officers think the contraband is hidden. Sheriff Lathrum says the gang must go tomorrow, but the enforcement of his orders may cause trouble.
“They subsist by making nightly raids upon surrounding gardens and chicken yards.”
Economic instability in the 1890s led to widespread movement of unemployed laborers, often vilified by local authorities as 'tramps.' Much like today's debates regarding homeless encampments in urban corridors, this report highlights the tension between desperate survival and municipal jurisdictional boundaries.
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