I met Steam Train 22 years ago at Britt. He liked my singing so much he insisted on dubbing me "MINSTREL TO THE ROYAL COURT OF HOBOES". He would have made me a Grand Duke, but he felt that since I hadn't spent 5 years on the rails I didn't qualify. He also gave me a walking stick with kudzu wrapped around it that he had made. I had a helluva time getting it back to Montana carrying it along with a guitar, a bindle, and water jug.

Frisco Jack(later also a King of the Hoboes)and I were singing Joe Hills' PREACHER AND THE SLAVE at the end of the parade, he being an old Wobbly, and Steam Train pitched a fit thinking that we were putting down the Salvation Army. A fine gent and true Knight of the Road. Hope his last ride on the Westbound will be gentle and that the mulligans always filled with meat, and the whiskey always 100 proof. Next year at Britt they will be telling those stories as they pour whiskey on Maury's grave.

Mark Ross