St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-21
Three Brawny Australians
Walking to Win a Novel
Wager.
q
From Pacific to Alta ntic by
Pure Heel and Toe
Work. .
Tacoma to st. Paul Stretched
Out in Eight {
Days.
The World to Be Covered
Within Eight Cold
Months. o

Among the guests at the Windsor last
evening were three muscularly-built
young men, whose apparel of rough
tweed and foreign cut was trifie the
worse for wear, and whose thick-sOled
shoes. as they clattered over the tiles
Of the hotel lobby. caused perhaps
momentary speculation among the reg
ular patrons of the hotel as to who the
strangers were. Their names appear
on the register as Walter A. Balm, Perry
S.Luke and James s. Luke. of Geelong,
India. The locality given, however.
proved to be ruSe on the part OF the
travellers to throw curious people OFF the
scent. as subsequent inquiry proved
that the trio we're from GeelOng in the
colony of Victoria, Australia. The gen.
tleman registering as Walter A. Balm is
the oldest son of A. Bryce Balm, pro-
prietor and publisher of the COleraine
(Victoria) Albion. well-knOwn weekly
publication in the Australian colonies,
devoted to agriculture and ath-
letcs. The two last named are
sons of Henry Luke, editor and plo-
pr etor of the GippSland Mercury, pub
lished at Sale, Victoria. A GLOBE re-
porter found the trio occupying chairs
in the writing room. where they were
conversing earnestly. In reply to a
question as to where they were from,
MIR. Balm, who was not aware Of the
doctoring of the location OIL the regis
ter, at once replied: 'From GeelOng,
Australia" and added that he and his
cOnfreres were going to New York.
Questions as to the objects of the trip
led to recital of the facts in cOnnec-
ton Herewith, by MIR. Balm, on the con-
dition that it be withheld from publica-
ton until the party had left the city,
which it will do this morning.
sour trip is the result of wager made
one night in July last at the Auckland
club in Melbourne, by the terms of
which my father, A. Bryce Balm. bet
$4,000 with Carol q. Hughes, of the
BaIlarat Banking company, that he
could pick three men from the town or
Geelong who would make a
TOUR OF THE WORLD
in eight months, walking the entire dis
lance across the Uuited States from San
Francisco to New York city. We
arrived here this evening in time for
supper, having walked the entire dis
lance on the track of the Northern Pacific
railway. We left Tacoma on Sept.
26, having arrived in San Francisco on
the Oceanic company's steamship Mari
posa on the nth. We came very near
abandoning. the trip when we got to
San Francisco, owing to the serious lll-
ness of Perry Luke, who was very sick
during the entire sea voyage. This was
our object in going to Tacoma, Mr..
luke having relatives there with whom
we intended to leave him and proceed
on our journey. He revived wonder
fully, however, as soon as he had been
ashore couple of days, and insisted
on accompanying us from Tacoma.
He is all right now, as
you can see for yourself. don't think
that we have on any day since the start
failed to cover from thirty to thirty-fiye
miles, and some days we have made
more than that. l have the exact dis
tances down in my note book. but am
too tired tonight to 90 into detail. So
far as can make out. the distance by
the route we have travelled from
TACOMA TO ST. PAUL
is 2,O5S miles, and the distance has been
covered in fifty-eight days. including
all pauses on account of sore feet, etc.
Our original intention was to have gone
over the Central Pacific from San Fran
cisco, but that intention was frustrated
in the manner l have explained"
All three pedestrians are extremely
weather-tanned, which is the only
thing, aside from their somewhat Pc
culiar costumes, tending to make them
at all conspicuous. The discussion
which was in progress when the re-
porter entered was as to which of the
Chicago lines would lie the best for foot
travel. The Chicago & Northwestern
railway was decided upon as being the
shortest distance to the Windy City. 400
miles, and the party leaves early this
morning on the ties for Chicago. MIR.
Balm expects to cover the distance to
New York from Tacoma, 3,447 miles.
in 20 weeks, or 40 days, for the entire
trip. All three pedestrians state that
they
NEVER FELT STRONGER
or better in their lives than at present.
the only disagreeable features of the
continued walking being slight sore
ness of the feet in the early part of each
days travel, which. however, wears off
after the first mile. The route from
Chicago will be from that city to Buffalo
over the Lake Shore, $40 miles, and from
Buffalo to New York over the New York
Central q Hudson River road,
439 miles. The Messrs. Luke
are well known amateur athletes,
having played for the Australian
amateurs in the foot ball and cricket
matches against the Gentlemen of
England, besides which they have anna
teur records as long distance runners.
Mr.. Balm is one of the best known anna
teur oarsmen and all-round athletes In
the colony of Victoria, and he expresses
the greatest confidence in the ability or
himself and his friends to cover the dis
in tho oil fima He CaVS the
two worst evils the party has had to
contend with in its voyage across the
contend with have been sore feet and
changing water. The latter difficulty
they have in measure overcome by re-
sorting to the
OLD-TIME BUSHMAN's
beverage of cold tea, which acts as a
stimulant as well as aSSuaging thirst.
All these travellers have abstained from
the use of any spirituous liquors during
the walk, each claiming that its use
wOnld prove disastrous to a man in
training. A condition of the wager is
that each man is to write a letter, nc
matter how brief it may be, from each
point on the journey at which a stop is
made. addressing the letters to the
Auckland club.
Messrs Luke carry heavy canes when
walking, i'm addition to the small leath-
ern knapsacks which they sling across
their shoulders, and which contain all
the extra wearing apparel carried, MIR.
Balm carries only knapsack, allowing
his arms to swing freely. In speaking
of the approaching end of the long walk,
Mr.. Balm said that although he felt
| fully able, as did his two friends, 10
| finish the task. none of them would
| feel at all sorry to see the spires OF New
York city looming in the distance. All
baggage has been shipped ahead to New
| York, where 1t awaits the advent of the
i LII at. - nj n nv