Page 39 - Robeson Living Summer 2021

Barton for an oral interview as part of the Doris Duke American thing to fall back on if I needed it. I did that, put a little money in
Indian Oral History Program. Shortly before his death he did a several banks and it did come in handy later. As a hobo I always
second interview with history professor David K. Eliades which followed the flight of geese – when they went south, I went south,
was printed after his death. These interviews give a chance to ex- and when they went north, I went north. Didn’t pay any attention
amine his life in his own words. to the flight of ducks cause ducks don’t have any sense”.

Early Life “I never had nowhere to go, and I weren’t no hurry to get there. I’d
Walter Pinchbeck, a full-blooded Cree Indian was born in Missou- eat breakfast in one state, dinner in another, super in another and
la, Montana on March 28, 1904. His father didn’t want his fam- sleep in another. Sometimes span fur states all within a twenty-
ily living on a reservation as he had growing up. His father said four-hour period”. He said that the Crees had been nomadic, and
reservation life was too slow. He was a mechanic, blacksmith, he guessed he got it from them. “I just traveled a little further than
millwright and he also taught Pinchbeck to be a blacksmith. When most Crees. I went to the Philippines, China and Japan”.
Pinchbeck was about six or seven his father decided he should at-
tend school, so he was taken to a white Catholic boarding school. Being a hobo often meant scrapes with the law. He was living on
a freight train in Portland, Oregon and charged with vagrancy.
Pinchbeck said “there were one hundred white students and me. The judge said it’s against the constitution of the United States
At that time, I couldn’t speak English, had to learn. No one there to charge an Indian with vagrancy. He said you will have to think
liked me because I was Indian, except one little girl who was nice of something else to charge him with or turn him loose. So, they
to me. I would cry at night because I was homesick, and that little turned him loose. While traveling through Saskatchewan on the
girl would come and crawl in with me and put her arms around me Canadian Railroad the train stopped in a town. A policeman with
to get me to stop crying.” a beard down to his hips pushed his forty-five into Pinchbeck’s
face and said he was trespassing and to get off the damn train. He
“I stayed at school until I was about eleven and left to hobo over continued to wave the gun in his face, so Pinchbeck grabbed it
the country. Hoboed as far south as the Gulf of Mexico and then and it wasn’t even loaded. The policeman ordered him to jail and
back north again. Went where the climate suited my clothes and since he didn’t have any place to go, he headed to the jail. Arriving
pocketbook. During that time, I decided to become a professional the door was locked and the policeman couldn’t find the key, so
hobo. A fellow told me that if I was going to be a professional, they broke into the jail. Pinchbeck was sentenced to two weeks. It
I ought to put some money in a bank, so I’d always have some- didn’t suit the policeman, but it was fine with him since it meant
a roof over his head and they had to feed him. After a week the
policeman told him he could leave but he said I better serve my
sentence. He took a job for a while after his jail time was up and
when it was time to leave, he left the town the same way he ar-
rived on a train.

Pinchbeck had all kinds of jobs in his early adulthood. He recalled
that when you are traveling all around, and you look for work it
helps to claim you are a professional regardless of the job. “I once
took part in the Calgary Stampede, a big rodeo in Canada, and
came within a few seconds of winning big money by riding a wild
horse but me and that horse parted company before I could do it”.
He was also a big game guide in Canada making twenty dollars
a day. He took out this English aristocrat once that was an excel-
lent shot as long as he was target practicing. He got “buck fever”
shaking like a leaf in a high wind when he aimed at a live target.
He would shoot and shoot not hitting anything only managing to
scare all the game for miles away. Pinchbeck solved the problem
by getting behind him and secretly killing the animals for him.
The hunter went home a successful big game hunter. Pinchbeck
also tried his hand at logging, panning for gold and trapping both
of which he said was a hard way to make a living.

In 1929 he joined the army in Salt Lake City and was sent to the
Philippines. The ship was caught in a horrible storm causing it
to heave here and there. He said he was so glad to get off that
boat. He went to mainland China on a twelve-hour pass but went
AWOL for two days to go see the Great Wall of China. He jumped
ship in Japan and got drunk. Once his outfit made it back to San
Pinchbeck as a young man
Francisco in 1931 and they asked for everyone that wanted to be
Robeson Living ~ Summer 2021 Page 39