Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-10-02
IS TRAMP BY CHOICE
TWENTY.sEVEN YEARS A HOBO
AND WOULD DIE ONE.
Jack Dalton, champion Tramp Print
er of World" Extols the Life
Calls Himself Pioneer and
Adventurer.

st. Louis-On the way from every.
where to anywhere, Jack Dalton.
"foater" and champion tramp print
er of the world" passed through ST.
Louis.
Dalton is Al years old For 81 years
he has been derelict floating wher-
ever the winds OF chance blew him.
He has been around the world sever
al times, is yet drifting. and expects
to drift as long as he lives. He is
tramp because he likes the life.
'Tramping ia the most beneficial
and healthful life there is" he says.
Dalton is an Irishman. Any one
might tell that by the humorous,
laughing expression on his face.
He was In his shirtsleeves when he
arrived here. He wore an old bat
tered straw hat. The collar of his shirt
was turned down at the neck. and his
duck trousers that once were white
were almost black.
Would you rather tramp than set
! tie down and be decent?" he was
asked.
Would 1? Why, of course, l would.
The tramp Is the only real aristocrat.
He has no boss. He sleeps when he
likes to. He eats when he feels hun
cry. When he is tired of one place he
gets up and goes.
His life is full of change and nov
| city. 1t is all new and interesting. He
| hasn't care. Now isn't that better
than tying yourself to one place and
| being slave to business, as you are?"
He said he had a good education
and that after he had learned the
printers trade and had worked at it a
while he became philosopher and
decided to live by his wits.
I'm what you might call miscel-
laneous character" he said I'm the
nearest approach to the wandering
minstrel of the middle ages that you
could find in these days. | am a pro-
fessional story-teller in my own way
when l leave. You see, have been
all over the world. | never forget q
thing and Pm loaded with anecdotes
and folks are glad to feed me and give
me all | can drink in return for my
entertainment"
"Oh, you drink, do you?"
Drink? Why, haven't been sobel
in years, Whisky has prolonged my
life. | drink it all the time, and
drink 1t straight, without water o.
chasers. l travelled year and hal
with Francis Murphy. the great TEN
perance lecturer He used me as ;
terrible example. Fact, | assure you
l stayed with him because | got DRUM
every day and then in the meeting
would get up and make spiel ant
sign the pledge. But | always brok
it the next morning. 1t was great
I've been up against it all. tn
rough the smooth, the slick and al
In elocution didn't take back sea
from any one | am the only Amer
can that ever made home rul
speech in Ireland
Il made 1t in blacksmith shop l.
Wicklow, when was trampin
through Ireland And | made such
hit that John Moore, a man who ha
made his fortune in the gold fields c
. | Australia took liking to me and KEEP
me in his house for six months. That
what education and wit will do for
man. Oh. tell you I've put my ed,
, cation and experience to good use"
why are there so many tramp
J In this country?"
Because tramping Is such a fin
life. Take me. now; I'm a pioneer an
an adventurer. | always wanted t
travel to some place and l haven
!, found it yet. I've been hunted frol
one place to another all my life, an
I I'll keep it up till go back to Mothe
Earth. Once in Birmingham, Englan
3 walked up and down debatir
:. in my own mind whether I'd go
!. London for the summer or go to CT
g cago for the worlds fair, l decided
n go to Chicago. and in two weeks | WI
q there"
d How did you get there?"
q That's part Of my trade. | CO
e travel anywhere in the world as ia
q almost as If paid my way | was
Oklahoma when the Strip was opened
was in London at the queens jul
l. lee, and again when Edward WI
e crowned; l saw the funeral Of Gee
a Rhodes in South Africa; came aero
z the Pacific ocean on the same steam
e with kipling; i was In Calcutta duril
the famine and managed to beg a got
o meal or two every day; | was in H
IT vana during the Spanish-Americ;
g war.
We're weak, poor mortals, all
us, and are controlled by pow
higher than US, and we can't he