Hoboes' Christmas

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The scene opens in a market store where the proprietor finds one of the cases of turkeys shipped to him off color. He repacks the case and marks the label "Returned Bad." He takes them to the depot, where they are loaded on the express car of a train to be returned to the farmer who had shipped them. It is the day before Christmas, and a party of hoboes are assembled in an old stone quarry discussing how to enjoy the holiday. They decorate a tree brought from a nearby wood with old tin cans, etc. But what is the good of a tree without a meal. A happy idea strikes one of them. They will hold up a train and get money from the messengers. In a few minutes they are on the railroad tracks. One flags the train, and as it stops the others rush up and make the passengers line up. Alas they are suburbanites returning from their Christmas shopping in New York with empty pockets. None of them has any money left. The hoboes detach the express car and send the train on its journey. They find a ease of turkeys in the car, and each takes one. Food was all that they required. They go to the quarry and, cooking the turkeys, commence to eat. All are soon in agonies, and one of them discovers the label on the ease marked "Returned Bad." This makes them feel worse. Meantime the police have been informed and a squad has been hurried by rail to the scene of the affair. In their helpless condition the hoboes can make no attempt at escape and they are marched off to jail to spend their Christmas day.