The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-09-15
TOUR OF FRISCO KID"
Remarkable Journey Abroad
Made by Yankee Bootblack.
POLISHING SHOES OF ROYALTY
Fred RacilS, Who Left This Country
Over q Year Ago ON a Globe Trot-
ting Tour, Has Shined Boots of
Many Notables-will Write Book on
His Travels.

His Travels.
Fred Rack, the Frisco Kid" or the
globe trotting bootblack. is in London
after an extensive tour on the con-
tinent, says q London cable to the
Chicago Inter Ocean. He is imbued
with the idea Of getting as many
crowned heads on his bootblack list
as possible, and in a year since last
July has added a good number Of &C.
lebrities to those he had already Sc
cured
On arriving in England in July,
1905, he tried to secure King Edward,
but just missed him and has come over
now to have a second attempt. After
his first failure in this respect the
kid" made for the continent, living
on his earnings meanwhile and some
times taking the collection Of coins off
his box to get himself out Of a finan-
cial difficulty.
Once in Paris, he made straight for
President Loubet and after a little
trouble gained an entry to the EIysee,
where he had an interesting expert
ence. He blacked the presidents boots
and then became a popular hero. He
was made the subject of a revue" in
one of the halls, and then he went to
Brussels, and he would have been hon.
ored by King Leopold's patronage had
it not been for a royal bereavement
which prevented him from gaining ad-
mission to the palace.
When royalty cannot be approached
the kid" makes for the highest In
the land, and was successful in Ger
many. The emperor was busy with the
Algeciras conference and could not be
troubled, but the crown prince obliged
the youth, as also did the British am
bassador.
From Berlin he strayed to Monte
Carlo, where he shined the Prince Of
Monaco's boots as clear as a Mediter-
ranean sky, and the king Of Sweden
gave the kid" a handsome gift for
his work. They stopped at the same
hotel and are said to have arranged a
meeting in Sweden later on, when the
little bootblack was to have the certifi-
cate that he BACKED the boots, stamp
ed with a big red seal. The Grand
Duke Boris also obliged as patron.
Then on to Italy. He saw the pope.
but his holiness wears white shoes,
with gold embroidery, and neither
backing nor cream was useful, so he
had to be content with looking at the
shoes. In Italy a number Of princes
and princesses were swept into his
net, and in Switzerland the president
fell victim to the boy Of polish.
'Now / am back In London" ne ex-
planned recently. II am going to set
UP at any street corner. Meanwhile l
shall try to get every one Of note, even
the king and your lord mayor.
what am l doing this for2 See
here! I'm going to write q book on my
travels, and as I am only sixteen /
want to see as much Of the world as /
can before 1 go back to Frisco to open
big bootblack EAce.
"Then I shall ~ all these sealed
documents mounted asA eSAA hope to
do a good business.
The boy has been all over southe2a
Europe and is now proposing to travel
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia
and hopes to go south to Palestine,
Egypt, then take In India, China, ia
pan, the colonies and home.
"You want o capital Of nerve for this
Job" he said. 1T isn't all smooth
sailing. 1 have been hard up often"
Racks present address, however. Is
the Savoy hotel, and as he accustoms
himself to the best places in Europe
1t does not come amiss.
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