Secret hobo code

When the William Wellman film, Beggars of Life, was released in 1928, some of the publicity materials focused on hobo culture. The film was based on a book of the same name by Jim Tully, which tells of his days as a hobo among the wandering down-and-out of America. In the film, Brooks plays a young women who dresses as a young man and goes on the run. And for a time, she hangs out in what was then termed a "hobo jungle."

Articles about the film at the time contained mini-dictionaries of hobo terms and slang. This publicity photo, which is currently for sale on eBay, depicts the actress in character holding a coded message - the snipe (or descriptive text) on the back of the picture states the sign  notes the approaching town has a police force hostile towards vagrants.