The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-12-23
Some Queer Wagers.

Some Queer Wagers.
Capt. Barclay, noted pedestrian in
the early part OF the present century,
began his exploits at the early age OF
ID by walking six miles, fair heel aud
toe. in little less than an hour. His
next feat was walk in midsummer
from Try, in Kincardineshire, to Bor-
oughbridge. in Yorkshire. something
over 800 miles, in five days. He after
ward, on q wager of 5000 guineas,
walked ninety miles in nineteen hours
and twenty-five minutes.
This Capt. Barclay was the pedes-
trian who first introduced the feat that
has since been so many times attempt
ed, that of walking | 900 miles in 900
consecutive hours. To do twenty-four
miles day for six weeks, although a
formidable undertaking for any but a
trained pedestrian, and quite out of the
range of possibility for a very large
majority, the case is quite a dilfierens
one when every hour in the six weeks,
night and day, is to have It's distinct
mile of walking, while in the former he
could have long and sound sleep
every night. The feat had been at
tempted several times previous to 1910,
but BARCLAY was the first to accom-
plish it,
Not less than 100000 was wagered
on the result of the contest. The
walking occupied forty-one days and Il
| few hours time, from June ! to July
II, and took place on Newmarket
! Course. Though he suffered some
/ ylof Il h.n
petite remained unaffected, and he
finished tolerably fresh, in the presence
OF vast assembl ge. his feat has
been often accomplished since. A pc
destrian named Baker once walked
900 miles in twenty days, fifty miles
day, and to show his stamina he ac
couplished seventy-five miles on the
! last day.
A chap named Curtis, in Berkshire
County, Mass, for a wager of a horse
ran five miles in forty-one minutes, and
wound up the race with n Jump of
eleven feet six inches.
An Englishman named Head won
| 1000 guineas by walking 600 miles in
ten days, but the eXertion so used him
up that he never walked much after
Mcdonald, tailor, walked barefooted
from estminster ridge to Chatham
and back III fourteen hours and twenty
minutes. In 1920 fish-hawker in
Chelsea undertook to run from Hyde
| Park corner seven miles along the
Brentford road in one hour, carrying q
basket with fifty pounds OF fish on his
head, and is said to have done it in
forty-five minutes If he did, it was
a most remarkable exploit \ similar
! feat was that of gardeners appren-
! tice, who walked from WandswortL to
the borough market (siX miles IN
! fifty eight minutes, carrying 300 head
of asparagus. Still third was that OF
an orange porter, who made twenty
journeys from Botolph Lane to Spit
alsfield Market, each tine carving a
hundred pounds of oranges; the dis
and he accomplished them in eight
hours and thirtytwo minutes; the
wager was for ten guineas.
a gentleman of one of the London
clubs made wager of 600 that he
would stand tor an entire day at O
point on London bridge with tray OF
gold sovereigns, and offer them at O
penny each without finding pur-
chaser He won the wager, as the
passers-by supposed the coins Were
brass and declined 10 invest.
The Master of the Revels OF George
III. was regarded as the ugllest person
in the kingdom, as none had been found
who could successfully contend against
him for this distinction. One of the
noblemen of the court laid a wager
that he could produce person sur
| passing him in this respect. At the
time appointed he caused a notoriously
homelv fishwoman that he had heard
of to be brought. who stood by the
side of the champion. With the APP
proval of the present wearer OF the
belt, the palm was about TO be awarded
to her when bystander, probably
interested also in the result of the de
cision, suggested that the champion
put on the old lady's bonnet in order
to make the conditions of the contest
more equal.
He did so, when the added ugliness
was so emphatic and Undesirable
that the victory was awarded TO him.