Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-10-24
.c~raUxER wAGIEss.
Hox Lasee Seams Of mes'ey Have
.useu Ioat and wen.


u.~ x,sree awms OF meuey Have
nsea Lest and wen.
Ths Detroit Free P,sss, in q recent
issue, says: The exceptionally drof
tums Of ths wager recently won by
Hsrmoa at the Stanwix Hotel at De-
troit. by holding his head submerged
in a bsih,ub for one hundred and TWEEN
ty.fiye seconds without taking sir, re-
calls q number Of other queer aad re-
msrkabIe fsets which have at various
times and places been achieved ia the
contest for " agers, the records Of which
have been picked up here and there
from the papers and periodicals Of the
time.
Pedestrian contests have been, per.
bsps. the most numerous aud varied
CAPTAIN Barclay, a noted pedestrian in
the early part Of the present century,
began his exploits at the early age of
Eft, er by walsipg six miles, fair heel
and toe, in o little less than an hour.
His rext feat was 3 walk 10 midsum.
mer from Try, in Kincardineshire, to
TO Buroughbridse, in Yorkshire, some
thing over 800 miles, in five days. lie
afterwards. on a wager of five thou
sand guineas, walked ninety miles in
nineteen hours and twenty-five min
<ates.
This Captain Barclay was the peios-
s=isn who first intraGuced the feat that
has been so many times attempted
that of walking one thousand miles in
one thousand consecutive hours. To
do twenty-four miles day for six
weeks, although . formidable under
taking for any but trsined pedestrian,
and quite out the range Of possibility
for Sery large majority, the case is
quite different one whom every hour
in six weeks, night and dag, is to have
its distinct mile of walking, while in
the former he could have long and
sound sleep every night. The feat had
been attempted several times previous
to 1910, bnt Barclay was tic first to
accomplish It.
Not less than 100000 was wagered
on the result of the contest. The
walking occupied forty-one days and
few hours time, from June lst to July
10Th, and took place on Newmarket
course. Though he suffered somewhat
during the performance his appetite,
remained unaffected, and he finished
tolerably fresh, in the presence Of a
vast assemblage. This fea! has often
been accomplished since. A pedes-
TITAN named Baker once walked 1000
miles in twenty days - fifty miles
q day-a1d to show bis stamina he ac-
complished seventy.fve miles on the
last day.
A chap named Curtis, in Berkshire
county, Mass, for wager Of a horse
ian five miles in forty-one minutes,
and wound up the race with jump Of
eleven feet SIX inches.
An Englshman named Head Won
one thousand guineas by walking six
hundred miles in ten days, but the ex-
eItion so used him up that be never
walked much aiterward, either on va
gers or otherwise. Mcdonald, 6 tailor,
walked barefooted from Westminster
bridge to Chatham and bsck in four
teen hours and twenty minutes. In
1920 a fsh-hawker in Chelsea under
took to run from Hy de-Psrk corner
seven miles along the BrentfOrd road |
in one hour, carrying basket with |
fifty pounds of fish on his head, and is
said to have done it in forty-fve min
uies. If he did. it was remarkable eX-
plot. A similar feat was that Of gar.
dener's apprentice, who walked from
Wandsworth to the BGrough Market
six miles in fifty light minutes, car
~ ing three hundred heads Of aspara-
gus. Still a third was that of an
orange porter, who made twenty jour
neys from Botolph lane to Spital6ell
Market, each time carrying one hun
dred pounds Of oranges; the distance
travelled was forty-three miles, and he
accomplished them in eight hours and |
thirty.two minutes; the wager was for
ten guineas.
Tie Master Of the Revels OF George
II. was regarded as the ugliest 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 ne could produce a person
surprising him in this respect. At the
time appointed he caused q VIGOROUSLY
homely fisbwoman that he had heard
Of to be brought, who stood by the
side of the champion. With the APP
proval Of the present wearcr Of the
belt, the palm was about to be award
ed 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 tho contest
equal.
lie did so, when the added ugliness
vas so emphatic aud indescrioable that
the victory vas awarded to him.
Another wager, which is somewhat
familiar owing to the extraordinary |
character OF the feat, was that Of Sir
John JhrockmOIton, which was for /
1000 guineas, that he would wear
suit OF clothes in the evening made
from wool taken from sheep the same
day. At ) O'Clock on summer morn
ing in 1911 two SOuthdown sheep were
shorn, the wool was washed, roved,
spun, carded, and woven the cloth
was secured, fulled, dyed, and dressed;
the measure taken, the suit cut, and
completely made, aud worn at din
ner given by Sir John at o'clock in
tho evening.
The wagers made on tho speed Of
horses are so common, and the terms
and conditions so uniformly of com
monplsce character, that they hardly |
command attention on the score Of nov
city. Donkeys have sometimes been
put on their speed, quality tina. they |
have not been properly supposed to pos
fess. About twenty years ago race
(so-called) came off on the Newmarket !
course to decide bet of Gl00 made |
by the owner of donkey that he
would 60 one hundred miles in twenty |
four hours. The meek-looking little |
chan NOT only let his master out in |