Best Made Communications: Hobo Signs
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, traveling hoboes used a simple system of icons to communicate with one another. Often times these icons designated situations to be avoided or details pertaining to specific locations, such as the demeanor of a house’s occupants, or the ability to obtain free medical care. These signs were inscribed on fenceposts, brick walls, box cars, trees; anywhere that might catch the eye of a fellow “Knight of the Road.”
Hobo signs taken from Symbol Sourcebook, by Henry Dreyfuss
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