This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

And up next, you're going to hear from Connecticut Shorty. And yes, you heard it

right. That's the name she goes by. And she also happens to be on the board of the Hobo Museum.

And you heard that right, too, the Hobo Museum. And she is here to share the stories of the history

of the American hobo.

Betty Moyland is my given name. My hobo name is Connecticut Shorty. Hobo names usually are given to by someone, another hobo usually,

but some people will pick their nickname they had when they were a kid

or a nickname somebody gave them along the way.

My hobo name, Connecticut Shorty, came from an old-time steam air hobo name, Steam Train, Mari Graham.

A Steam Air Hobo is a hobo that rode steam trains, and he gave me my name in Logan's Port, Indiana, in 1992 at a railroad festival. He decided that should be my name, so that's my name in Logan's Port, Indiana in 1992 at a railroad festival.

He decided that should be my name, so that's my name.

Prior to that I had a hobo name.

It was Twinkle Toes, because I was kind of a dancer, you know.

So my sister's hobo name is New York Maggie.

I gave her that name because although we were both raised in Connecticut,

she raised her family in Rochester, New York.

She left when she was fairly young, so I gave her the name New York Maggie.

My brother is very thin, so his hobo name is Slim Tim.

Redbird Express, he picked up his name because he was a truck driver.

You know, when he was driving the truck, they called him Redbird Express, so he kept that as his hobo name.

Connecticut Tootsie, her father used to give Tootsie Pops to the kids in his shoemaking store.

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