Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1898 — A Noble Hobo. [ARTICLE]

A Noble Hobo.

f '■■■■■ One of The Greatest Travelers On Earth Visits UsA very remarkable man visited Rensselaer Friday, having come Thursday night and put up at the Makeever House. It is Count Rocca Dianoyicli, of Lyssa, Austria, who is a nobleman m his country and related to royalty. He left his home when 13 years old and for 34 years has been a wanderer over the face of the earth. He travels on foot, but pays for what he gets. He lectures sometimes, and especially in prisons, jails and colleges, but he never charges anything nor tries to make money in any way, receiving money from home to pay his expenses: He speaks 7 different languages and expects to write a book of his travels in English, and then rewrite and publish it in all the others. He is a heavy-builj man with abundant beard, cut in the Burnside fashion. He visited our city mayor and county clerk and obtained official sealed certificates of his visit, and has any number of scrap books full of such certificates, and with newspaper articles describing his visits. He visited our jail and makes a specialty of visiting such institutions, wherever he goes, and sometimes gets bowled up just to get a jail sentence, and after a few days pays his fine and gets out. He has worked in a chain gang on the streets of one of the principal cities of Peru, where soldiers ready to shoot were on guard. In Western India he had a tight mask put over his face, and was nearly smothered to death. He gives the palm to Englishmen for brutal treatment of convicts, and regards Australia the wickedest and most brutal place on earth. He has visited every part of the earth from Tasmania to Novo Zembla. Was in Alaska before gold was discovered and knew Cuba by heart, long before the present war begun. He has served in the U. S. navy, and the navies of many countries, and wants to get into our navy again for the Cuban war. He goes unarmed except that he has a cane composed in part of a musket bayonet, which was used in the Mexican war. Ours was the first Indiana county seat he has visited. He was greatly pleased with our town. The above statements are from . his own accounts, and may be taken with allowances, if thought best.