Lothar Fieg Sr. Recounts His Hobo Days

Your editor just came across this on the Facebook page of her sister, Diana.  Very interesting, and it fills in some gaps in the Fieg family history.  Read on!

Ironically, a man who built homes for many around Oneonta once experienced homeless life, by choice.

Lothar Fieg, Sr. in 1953

 Lothar Fieg, a noted contractor and builder, told his story of a long trip as a “hobo” when he was a youngster, to the Oneonta Rotary Club in March 1933.

While Mr. Fieg told his story, Oneonta was experiencing transient unemployed men in the area, due to the effects of the Great Depression.

The Oneonta Star of March 3 reported on a plan for feeding and lodging the transients, coming and going on the highways or stowed away in cars of the Delaware & Hudson Railway, stopping in Oneonta.

A community kitchen opened on March 7 in the Municipal Building, today’s 242 Main St., through plans of the Oneonta Chamber of Commerce. The Star told how Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Scanlon supervised the preparation of the food. Sleeping accommodations were provided as well.

“Those who are cared for will be expected to contribute of their efforts to operate the kitchen and the lodging room, so that little expense will be occasioned.”

For Lothar Fieg, he’d been there and done that, but as he told the Rotary Club on March 2, his experience took place during 1906 and 1907.

“That many of those who travel about the country, without any regular means of support, but assisting in harvest periods in various sections of the country, are essential to our well-being and that many of them only need a little encouragement to become more regular citizens of fixed responsibility,” were the assertions of Mr. Fieg on his cross-country journey.

The trip began in Port Jervis with a friend, pretending to know the tricks of easy traveling. Fieg carried only $40 and bare necessities, a pair of overalls, a change of some linen, a razor, soap, mirror, jackknife and towel.

“A freight was hopped,” as explained in The Star, “to Susquehanna (Pennsylvania) and there a jungle camp was made, and there Mr. Fieg learned that his chum had little experience with hobo life, but had read extensively of it.

“The speaker won a hearty laugh with his assertion that all hoboes are not bums, and that all bums are not hoboes. He said that he found he was looked at askance because he carried a toothbrush. Mr. Fieg said that all brakemen on the railroads were not as hard as they might appear and said that he felt his life was saved traveling from Susquehanna to Hornell when a brakeman pointed out to him that he was in danger riding a gondola car in which were being transported two freight car trucks. Any sudden change of speed of the train would cause the trucks to roll the length of the car and that the hobo sleeping in the center of the car would be fortunate if he escaped with his life.”

As Fieg continued traveling, he found work and traveled in passenger cars. He worked a couple of weeks in Pueblo, Colorado. At Cheyenne, Wyoming, he secured a job with a bridge and building gang with which he was employed through the winter.

While traveling in Salt Lake City, Utah, he found that his valuables he’d placed under his pillow had been stolen. “I found then that being broke is not half as bad as it seems at first, and soon was started on my way again.”

Fieg continued west and arrived in San Francisco just after the historic earthquake and fire. He secured a position on a hydroelectric development in the nearby mountains and worked there about seven months. It was after that he returned East.

Putting his experience to compare to 1933, Fieg said, “These unattached young fellows traveling around usually are serving a good purpose and many of them undertake serious responsibilities when the opportunity offers. The next time you have a caller at your door, look at him carefully, not at his clothes, but at his face. If his eyes are bright, he is probably all right, he needs a chance and a little encouragement. A pat on the back and a little help may keep a young fellow on the right path, instead of throwing him into desperation for something to eat.”
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Monday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.