Maurice W. Graham

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"Steam Train Maury" Graham (1917-2006), was best known as five-time holder of the title "King of the Hobos", and was later known as "Patriarch of the Hobos". Born to a broken home in Ohio, he was shunted from father to mother to aunt to married siblings. In 1931, at the age of 14, Graham began riding the rails as a hobo during the Great Depression. He settled in Toledo, Ohio with his wife Wanda in the late 1930s, and worked as a cement mason. In 1969 he returned to the hobo life for another eleven years, finally retiring in 1980.

Maury Graham adopted the nickname "Steam Train" in 1969, when the "Golden Spike Special" steam train came through Ohio, returning home from the 100th anniversary of the completion of the first US transcontinental railroad.

[edit] Books

Tales of the Iron Road: My Life as King of the Hobos. Marlowe & Co., 1989. Reprinted in 1992. ISBN 1-56924-916-4.

[edit] Obituary

Hobo proud of travelling the rails, Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio.

Steam Train Maury Graham Catches the Westbound, Catoctin Banner, Thurmont, MD