Connecticut western news., 1879-04-02
A Wonderful Runner,
HE PUTS TO SHAME ALL THE ATTEMPTS
 MADE IN THESE DAYS.


 MADE IN THESE DAYS.
 The present walking or running f4rore calls to mind Mensen Ernst, Norwe- gian, who aourished about 1827-3O. He was 8 sailor, but without training hs ran from London to Portsmouth, seventy three miles, in ten hours. Later he ran from London to Liverpool, 150 niles, in twenty three hours. Becoming 8 profes- sional runner, he was induced to under take the great feat drumming from Paris to Moscow. He started from the Place Vendome at four o'clock in the afternoon of June II, 1881, and entered the Krem- lin at ten o'clock, a. m. of June 25, hay ing accomplished the distance of 1,760 miles in thirteen days and eighteen hours. In his trips he never walked, but invari- ably ran, keeping up long, swinging lope for hours at time without rest. His only refEeshment was one biscuit and an ounce of raspberry syrup pc day, and two short rests of ten or fifteen minutes each in twenty-four hours. These rests he took while standing up and leaning against tree or other ob- iect of support. At such times he GOV cred his face with handkerchief and slept, and after such nap he would pursue his way apparently as refreshed as though he had slept for hours.
 He was very uneasy when compelled to be quiet, and could not sit still for half an hour without feeling a sense of sufocation. He was very amiable man, favorite with all who knew him, and was made much of by his royal patrons.
 In 1883, he started from Munich at 1 p. m., June 6, with dispatches from the King of Bavaria to his son Otto, King of Greece. These dispatches were delivered at Nauplia at 9 a. m. on July 1; or seven days sooner than if they had been sent by the regular post. In 1886, while in the employ of the British East India Company, Mensen was charged with conveying the dispatches from Cal cutta to Constantinople through Central Asia. The distance is 5, ,615 miles, which the messenger accomplished in fifty nine
 
 by the swiftest caravan. On this wonder ful journey he made his way across ter rible deserts, awful salt swamps, where, for hundreds of miles, he saw no living being, and through countries whose in- habitants were savage robbers, and who lived in state of continual warfare The man seemed invested with supernatural powers, and his fame spread far and wide.
 One of the most interesting problems of the age being the discovery of the sources of the Nile, it was suggested that this wonderful man be employed to follow the course of the river to it's sources, and thus determine them. Prince -Ruekler Muskan, who had him. self travelled extensively in Egypt and had made several unsucce ssful attempts to penetrate to the head-waters of the Nile, offered to defray all expenses and reward Mensen handsomely if he would [ undertake the trip. The indefatigable | runner consented to make the attempt, and on May II, 1842, set out from Mus | kan, in Silesia, whence he ran to Jerusa- lem, where he had some business to at tend to. Thence he continued his way to Cairo and up the western bank of the Nile. through Lower and Middle and into Upper Egypt. Here, just outside the village of Syane, he was seen on the morning of Jan. 22, 1s43, to stop and rest, leaning against a palm tree, with his face covered by handkerchief. He rested so long that some persons tried to wake him, but they tried in vain, for he was dead. He was buried at the foot of the tree, and it was years berore his friends in Europe knew what fate had I befallen him,