Mike Gilhooley, Champ Stowaway

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It's one thing to repeatedly slip across the Mexico-USA border. Dangerous, but in wide-open spaces. It's quite another to stowaway five times across the Atlantic on a confined ship. (Of course, stowing away in a jetliner's wheel well is another matter entirely.)

Original article here.

Little Mike found a sponsor for his immigrant desires, but eventually wore out his welcome.


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Original article here.
     Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 22, 2014
     Category: Emigrants, Immigrants and Borders | Travel | Teenagers | 1910s





Comments
Sounds like she got tired of her new toy. Is his "department" outside a typo for comportment, or is it a reference to him running away?
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 04/22/14 at 09:15 AM
What a sad, sad world it was back then when illegal aliens were deported!

And, about that kid on the airliner.... 5hrs at -70°F, very little oxygen, and he held on when they lowered the landing gear and the touchdown. I think I'm going to have to go to my grave thinking that's a batch of GilHooey!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/22/14 at 10:09 AM
I thought it was a typo for deportment. :lol: :coolsmile:
Posted by Tyrusguy on 04/22/14 at 11:03 AM
I doubt that PC'ers would like "getting rid" of a child today.
Posted by RobK on 04/22/14 at 11:19 AM
I don't see why she'd have had to send him back. At 16, he was fully capable of living on his own.

Department stores generally had 14 years old, capable of carrying 30 pounds as the only requirements for being a delivery boy. With tips, it was enough to live on. As you got older, you could move up from packages to furniture and then become a truck driver.

I think you had to be 13 1/2 to be a Western Union boy.

Did the U.S. Army have an age requirement? It seems to me their concern, pre-1930s, was height, weight, and attitude. A wispy 18 year-old couldn't get in, but they welcomed 15 year-old farm boys.

If nothing else, most coal mines would hire you at 12. A lot of orphans at the time worked in mines until they were 18 and then headed out into the world with a reasonable-for-the-time level of education and a decent amount of savings.
Posted by Phideaux on 04/22/14 at 12:23 PM
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