Huntsville gazette., 1891-03-28
A TIE At A TIME
One IVoman's Walk Across tit
Continent.
Pluck Makes Tie Ticket
Profitable.

| Story of Zoe Gayton's Long Tramp-A Wo-
man Walks, While the Masculine
Watchers Riae-The Journey from San
Francisco-Hard.hips and Privations
Endured.
New YORK, March PA forlorn
looking woman is nearing the city step
by step along the railroad ties, and bar
| ring serious accident will arrive here on
Friday. Her story is interesting in ev-
cry way that novelty, pluck and endur
ance can make it. When she left Pough-
keepsie her feet and limbs were swollen
| to almost twice their natural size. and
hea weather beaten, resolute face
showed the effort that every step cost
her. But she flung her travelling satchel
over her shoulder, tipped her fore-and-
aft cap at jaunty angle, and threw
back parting smile to the enthusiastic
Poughkeepsians who had assembled at
the station to cheer her on her way
She is Zoe Gayton, who is walking on
| a wager from San Francisco to New
York, and if she reaches this city on
Friday she will be thirteen days ahead
of her schedule time.
With her has Travelled her inseparable
companion, a thorou. hbred spaniel
Beauty" in name and in fact; and
bringing up the rear If Tins interesting
procession may be seen w. J.. Marshall,
Miss Gayton's theatrical manager, and
j. l.. Price, the representative of the
San Francisco parties who made the
wager.
The two men are long way on the
outside, so far as being in the race is
concerned. The woman and the dog Gt
is claimed) have walked all the way.
Mr.. Marshall and MIR. Price have varied
the monotony of the trip iaunts on
on hand-cars, in wagons, or in any other
CONVEYANCE that offered itself. All four,
however. have experienced an incredi-
bic amount of hardship, and the woman
has shown pluck and endurance which
has surprised even herself.
Never was a woman more badly treat
ed by the weather than this one Her
face is as dark as an Indians, and her
skin rough and cracked by wind and
cold. She has good features, handsome
eyes and regular teeth, but it is hard to
realize that she would be an attractive
woman under the best conditions. She
wore heavy brown cloth dress, much
traveled-stained and frayed around the
bottom. Her brown ulster shows the
same signs of wear, and a number of
rips and rents in the back breadths of
both, prove that she had often faltered
by the wayside and sat down to rest up
on inhospitably sharp stones. Her shoes
deserve chapter to themselves They
are the fifth pair she has worn out since
beginning her tramp, but they must
last until che reaches New York They
are very stout, with thick soles, and
they are laced up in front in plain, or
dinary, every day fashion. Inc pedes-
trian has worn out three dresses and an
unlimited number of caps and mittens
in the trip, but nothing seemed SO ex-
clusively hers as those shoes.
Miss Gayton says of her journey that
''the walk was the result of conversa-
tion held in San Francisco last August.
A party of us were chatting, and some
one remarked that no woman could walk
from San Francisco to New York in the
winter and cover the distance in 226
days. | said could--a remark which
W dS IcCClN tQ Will oOOA COu-
vinced them that was in earnest, and
the money was put up. Mr.. j. Fl.
Church, a San Francisco capitalist, was
one of the gentlemen who staked his
cash on the belief that | could not do it,
and a large number of bets haye been
made on the result The original wager
is s., 900 and expenses, which is to be
handed over to me as soon as | reach
New York III addition to this, / am to
receive one-half of all the money won,
and figure that my net gam will be
nearly SIP, 900.
"We started from San Francisco on
Aug. 81 travelled principally on rail-
road ties, and the trip from California
was glorious. | followed the Central
Pacific to Ogden, Utah; the Union Pa
cific to Council Bluffs, the Rock Island
to Chicago. the Michigan Central via
Canada GSt. Thomas) to Buffalo, and
from Buffalo here along the New York
Central.
''The FIRST part of the journey was de-
Iightful. We fshed and lunched and
picknicked along the way in August, but
while travelling through Nevada and
Utah he suffering we experienced was
Undesirable. We were without water
for days, and frequently without food.
We have offered 81 loaf for bread, and
it has been refused u.s. We adopted the
plan of sending packages on ahead of
us, by train, and we carried nothing but
our blankets.
"We have had adventures that it
would take me until midnight to tell
you. have had to jump for my life
dozen times when some train or wild
freight suddenly came flying behind me.
The most annoying was one we had near
Battle Mountain, New, when l was rob-
bed Of my purse containing 800. One
afternoon we met three tramps going
west They hailed US, and we answered
them good-naturedly.
"Where are you bound, pards 2" they
asked
.'New York," We replied, and they
calle, back. Frisco
"They passed along and so did we. To-
wards evening we stopped and camped
for the night. We built our little hut of
q nile of railroad Ties with q nartition