Career
Born to a broken home in Ohio, he was shunted from father to mother to aunt to married siblings. In 1931, at the age of 14, Graham began riding the rails as a hobo during the Great Depression. During World World War II, he served in the military as a medical technician.
In 1969 he returned to the hobo life for another eleven years, finally retiring in 1980.
Maury Graham adopted the nickname "Steam Train" in 1969, when the "Golden Spike Special" steam train came through Ohio, returning home from the 100th anniversary of the completion of the first United States transcontinental railroad. He also helped established the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa.
Mr. Maurice Graham died due to complications from stroke at the Northcrest Nursing Home in Napoleon, Ohio.
He was 89.
"The Last of the Hobo Kings" on YouTube by Mary Gauthier, on the record Between Daylight and Dark, 2005 Lost Highway Records
"Steam Train Maury" by Chuck Williams, on the album "LIGHTNING Indiana A BOTTLE", 2010 Chuck Williams, www.chuckwilliamsmusic.com
Maurice West Graham Steam Train: Grand Patriarch of America’s Hobos who has died aged 89,, Friday 29 December 2006
Hobo proud of travelling the rails, Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio. Steam Train Maury Graham Catches the Westbound, Catoctin Banner, Thurmont, Doctor of Medicine.