St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-10
OLD-TINEE "PEDs."

An Ancient Sport Grows Lo-
quacious About Tanbark Events.
Pedestrianism came into prominence
IN this country after the civil war
closed, and was at one time as great a
furor as baseball is to-day. This was
in the palmy days of O'Leary and Wes-
ton, who were probably the best walk
erS-although their records have been
beaten by others-that the world ever
produced. An old-tIme admirer of the
tanbark ring was in a reminiscent mood
yesterday, and talked to a GLOBE re-
porter about the biggest race that ever
occurred in this or any other country.
1t was the 5,0O0-mile walk between
O'Leary and Weston, and 500 miles were
covered in each of ten of the largest
cities of the country. .Talk about
crowds" :" said the old-timer, 'the build
ings were packed everywhere, and the
walkers cleared something like $4,000
EACH"
"But the walkers of that dav have
dropped out of sight," he continued,
land younger class has taken their
place. Among them are Peter Hegel-
man, who won the February race In st.
Paul; Gus Guerrero, the Spaniard: AL
bert, who recently distinguished him
self in New York; I'll. 0. Messier and
Frank Hart. The latter two are now in
st. Paul training for one of the longest
races on record, and one which will
show the metal they are made of.
Il remember" resumed our taIkatiye
friend. after he had been invited to
quaff glass of buttermilk at a small
stand near by, "the only 1,0OO-mile race
that ever occurred in this country. 1t
was about seven or eight years ago, in
Chicago. at the West Side rink.
OLeary was in it, and it was about the
hardest task of his life; but he won it.
These tbousand-mile contests are tests of
endurance, and the man who can stick to
one of them to the finish deserves to have
his name among the lists of prominent
professional pedestrians. Just think of
tramping $1,000 times around a ring,
walking ten hours a day for all entire
month. Yet what has been done can be
done again, and both these boys (refer-
ring to MesSier and HART can accom-
pllsh the task il any walker of to-day
can.'
Then Old Memory went on to talk
about ''thesc two boys" as he termed
them. 81 was with Dan O'Leary." he
said, ''when he brought Frank Hart out.
Hart was then all amateur OarSman, and
one of great promise. AS was natural,
the colored boy was on hand at every
sporting event, and mutual attach
ment sprang up between Old Dan and
the lad. That was in 1879, twelve years
ago, and when you reflect that since
then Hart has three times won the
championship of the world. You musl
admit that the protege has been worthy
| of the tutor. He has been in all of the
big races of the country with two ex-
ceptions, and has pounded bark with all
the greatest peds the world has ever
produced. don't know so much about
| MesSler, for he came on the track later
but he is well-built young fellow, who
takes good care of himself, and | see by
the records that he has more than once
hustled the eX-champions of the world
in their races around the tanbark circle.
And | wouldn't be surprised to see them
finish their months task less than TWEEN
ty-five miles apart. If they do the con-
test will rank among the most exciting
of the world. Let's see, when does the
race begin? Next Thursday at 2? Pll
be there. Good day"
And the old-timer walked away with
a jubilant air, undoubtedly imagining
himself again in New York spurring
Weston or O'Leary on to greater
| achievements