hobo signs

Hobo signs are symbols chalked or scratched on fences, sidewalks, and buildings by transient workers to communicate with others traveling the same routes.

The marks conveyed practical information: a safe place to sleep, a house where food might be offered, an aggressive dog, police who arrest vagrants.

The system flourished in early 20th-century America when railroad hobos crisscrossed the country.

Whether the signs formed a coherent national code or varied by region remains debated, but certain symbols—a cat for a kind woman, a cross for free food—appear in multiple accounts.