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Morning Oregonian 14 Sept. 8/2: I see by your puzzled look you do not understand what a hobo is. I will tell you what we mean by the term. It is a word used to classify all tramps and vags. The word first originated with the Independent Order of tramps, and was used by them as a sort of password. One tramp walking along the street seeing another whom by his general appearance he thinks belongs to the order says ‘hobo.’ If the party thus addressed recognizes the word, he stops and an acquaintance is struck up. Again, this tramp walking alongside a lot of freight cars tops at one in which he thinks there is a brother and repeats the magic word. It is a sesame and if this surmise is correct, the car door is drawn back and the man outside is received within.at hobo, n.