Steam Train Maury caught the westbound home…
A man known locally for his devotion to children at Christmas time and by some as the King of the Hobo’s, Steam Train Maury Graham, passed away yesterday according to tonight’s news.
Quoted in many places, one of the quotes he is known for:
“Do not ever confuse a hobo with a bum! A bum is shiftless and worthless. A hobo is a man of the world, who travels to see and observe and then shares those views with others.”
There are several other online places for you to read if you are interested in stories of Hobos past and present and Steam Train Maury, Fran’s Hobo Page, PBS, and Hobo.com where they have the obituary for Steam Train Maury Graham listed. He also wrote a book, “A History of the Hoboes, Tramps and other Vagabonds by Steam Train Maury, “King of the Hoboes”. Another link to a story about an experience in meeting him can be found here, another one is here and a Cleveland Plain Dealer article here. WTOL has the details as well as some of the links I have posted here.
I like your title and so would he. He was quite the gentleman and will be missed.
November 20th, 2006 at 2:09 pmI agree, I only met him a few times but I was impressed with him enough that I bought his book several years ago. I wanted to take some quotes from it yesterday but unfortunately that one along with some of my other books are still in the pile of boxes we haven’t unpacked yet.
November 20th, 2006 at 2:18 pmNo matter Lisa, Steam Train has gone to his reward, and he is remembered, that’s what really matters.
Goodbye Steam Train, see you on the other side.
And, although we’ve never formally met, I consider you my well-traveled friend.
November 21st, 2006 at 1:08 pmAbout 1979, Steam Train was in Iowa for the Hobo Convention. I and a friend ran into him at the Eagles Club in Cedar Rapids. Had a drink with him and Mark and I asked him if we could give him a life anywhere. He said that we could take him to where he was going to spend the night. First though, we took him to Harnischfeger, where Mark and I both worked. We wanted to introduce him to a 3rd shift friend of ours. We parked the car and started walking towards the entrance door, where we were met by the security guard. The guard came out of his office looked at Mark and I and said, “I know you and I know you but I don’t know him”, pointing at Steam Train. So, we had the guard go in the building and get Floyd and bring him outside so we could introduce the two of them. Afterwards, we did take Steam Train to where he spent the night—-down to the boxcars behind Quaker Oats where he spent the night. Still have the autographed picture of him standing in the boxcar door with his cane. Fantastic man.
November 22nd, 2006 at 7:39 pmJim
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