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Washington, D.C. "Jeff Davis, 8/30/24." The entrepreneur and self-styled "Hobo King," last seen here, ensconced in his limousine, a circa 1917 REO touring car. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
King Jeff was a skilled lobbyist with an eye for public relations. His League of Hoboes of America incorporated in 1908 and campaigned for good roads, rural irrigation and flood control, among other issues.
Jeff always took pains to explain that a hobo was a working man - not a tramp, a mooch, or a bum. "He is the greatest optimist in the world and believes the world owes him an opportunity."
Other hoboes-who-would-be-king included Dr. Ben Reitman, the bawdy-house physician, labor organizer, and lover of Emma Goldman, whose biography The Damndest Radical tells of Davis and the relationship between the two men.
Some do pronounce it KARO (as in the syrup) , but southern Illinois locals generally say KAY-ro.
Looks like he had a trip through lower Michigan, Benton Harbor, South Haven, K-zoo and Camp Custer, which would be Fort Custer, Battle Creek, where my father was inducted into the Army in 1943.
This Mohawk ad from 1924 shows a tire with a tread like the spare on the rear of the REO, likely the same as the Mohawks mounted on the wheels. They were made by the Mohawk Rubber Company of Akron, OH.
Is that a real sponge (the actual animal, not a synthetic one) resting on the shovel head? If so, I can't imagine what he uses it for -- the car looks as if it hasn't been washed in years.
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