SHOEBLACK TO SENATOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

SHOEBLACK TO SENATOR

. MR. T. D. SCHALL'S LIFE ■ Shoeblack, pedlar, cowboy, harvest worker, laundryman, and boxer by turns, and finally United States senator, Mr. Thomas D. Schall recently died near Washington at the age of 55. Mr. Schall, who lost his eyesight in 1907 owing to an accident with an electric cigar-lighter, succumbed to injuries received in a motoring mishap. He had served five times in the House of Representatives, and had twice been elected to the Senate. He was born of poor parents, and his father died when he was only three years of age. At the age of 12 he was unable to write. Yet later he became a flourishing lawyer. In the course of his romantic career he met and defeated a prize-fighter. "I was about 19 years old, and attending the high school at Ortonville, Minnesota," he said once when telling of the incident. "I was helping out at a restaurant' for my meals, and sleeping anywhere I could find a place. Across the street from the restaurant was a saloon, and one day the saloon-keeper called me over and said, 'Tom, if you take care of the saloon, keep the floors swept, take out the ashes, clean the spittoons, ' and make yourself useful, I'll give you a room upstairs.' I took hitix up. /' "I liked to box, and I used to persuade boys in the town to come up to my room in the saloon and try a round with me. One night a captain was in the saloon bragging about his son, who was a prize-fighter. The saloon-keeper said, '[ got a boy upstairs that can lick your boy.' "They argued, until the captain said, 'I haven't got any money, but I have got a cow that I will bet against 25 dollars that my boy can lick any boy of his size that you've got around here.' "The saloon-keeper came upstairs and told me about the bet, and he said, 'lf you lick him, Tom, I'll give you the cow and the 25 dollars, too.' So -I went and took a look at this prize-fighter. He looked dissipated to me, and not in the best condition, and, ♦anyhow, I thought I could lick him. "We went upstairs and stripped down, and all the crowd stood around and watched while we fought. I didn't have much trouble in licking him."

Schall entered Minnesota University "for the sake of the money." He competed in and won prizes in every oratorical contest during his period at the university. He was a Republican, and in favour of, a close understanding between the United States and the British Commonwealth.