The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-10-18
RECORD BREAKING.
WHAT THE YEAR HAS WIT
MESSED.
Some Marvellous Records Made by
Athletes, Horses, Steamships, &C.
Are we Not Ahead of FeudaI Times
in This Respect as we'll as Others?
Baltimore Sun.l

Baltimore Sun
This year will be memorable in the
annals of athletics, sports and physical
achievements generally for the raising
of tie old standards of performance
Records have been broken right and
left.
When the trotting season began
Nancy Hanks's record Of ,o4 had
stood unbeaten for long time. Alix
has brought it down to 2.oSM. On
the pacing track Robert ]. has lowered
the record to 2.oI1a beating Mascot's
previously fastest mile by ~ seconds.
Drectum has made new record for
two o-years-olds by pacing mile in
2.o7A. Fantasy has made a new
trotting record for four -year-olds by
covering mile in 2.o7I. The
wonderful performance of Flying Jib
at Chillicothe, Ohio, last Saturday,
when, hitched to running mate, he
paced mile in I.59R, is the crown
ing track feat of the season. This
feat is made still more astonishing by
the fact that the last half mile was
paced in 5S1a seconds. The best
previous pacing record made by
horse hitChed to running mate was
that of Westmont who, in 1854, at
Chicago, covered a mile in a.oIA.
Robert ]. still holds the pacing record,
but Flying Jibs work has made it
probable that in the near future mile
in two minutes or less will be paced by
horse running without mate. Nearly
all the old mile turf records have
been broken this season, and we must
not forget in this brief review of it
that Ducat, at SheepShead Bay, on
August 2S last, ran mile in I.39
carrying II3 pounds the best one
mile time ever made on a circular
track.
Passing from fast horses to swift men
on wheels, we find nearly all the
previous bicycle records have been sur
passed in 1894, and probably the next
month will break them still more. J.
S. Johnson has made half-mile spin
against time in 54 seconds. One mile
has been flown over by ]. P. Bliss in
fraction over I.52. With standing
starts n. Butler has cycled two miles
in 4.o4 As; while ]. S. Johnson has
spun three miles in 6.26 35, four
miles in S.3S 35, and five miles in
1913 as, +. e. Bald has made
mile in competition in 2.o5 As, +. ].
Titus has covered 20 miles and I,4S0
yards in one hour, spinning against
time. And the best previous twelve.
hour competitive race time has been
beaten by Walters in London, who
made the astonishing run of 25S miles
in that time, of 2IH miles on hour.
Many other new athletic worlds
records have been made within the
past month. The best world S running
time for 800 yards has been lowered
to 81 IS seconds. The farthest throw
of Sc pound weight has been in
creased to IS feet 10 inches. The
| best time of I2o yard hurdle race
has been lowered from I5A seconds
toI5 S-5 seconds. The fastest time
for swimming 100 yards was minute
and IL seconds until September IS
last, when it was reduced to a fraction
below 1 minute and seconds. A
new swimming record for $50 yards
has also been made for the world, the
! old one was 35 seconds slower.
The greyhounds of the sea, as tie
| Atlantic steamers are not unfitly call-d
| have also been contributing to the
| record-breaklng Of this phenomenally
| fast season. The Cunarder Lucanla
made her last passage from Queens
town 10 New York, or, to speak more
exactly, from Daunt's Rock TO Sandy
Hook-2,7S2 mlles-ln 5 days 7 hours
and 4S minutes. or at an hourly average
speed Of 2I.77 knots. This beats the
best previous record, which was also
made by the Lutania-5 days s hours
40 minutes. This ocean-raCer now
holds the best records tor the eastward
as well as the westward run, her east
ward time being 5 days 8 hours 38
minutes The American liner Ne5y
York has broken the best previous
| record of time between Southampton
and New York, which she has steamed,
over course OF 5000 miles. in 8 days
hours and Ii minutes. The best
run to Southampton from New York is
still that made by the Hamburg
American liner Euerst Bismark, which
made it in days II hours "A
minutes.
Truly we live in rapid age, and if
we have not yet reached "the place
that kills, it seems likely that the
extreme limit alike of human energy
and endurance and OF the power OF
| machinery and steam is in sight. As
we see from these records, the carefully
bred and trained horses can pace a
mile il. less than two minutes, and yet
| the trained man on his steel horse can
beat him by nearly eight seconds.
Neither animal nor human flesh and
blood can be expected to 60 much
farther in the way of overcoming the
obstacles of space and distance and
enlarging the possibilities of time.
1t is no longer debatable question
whether in physical powers the best
men of this age exec the best men Of
ancient times. There is no we'll
authenticated record of a Grecian
athletic feat that has not been beaten
by the athletes Of this nineteenth
century. Leaders SWIM across the
Helle-spout was far outdone when the
late Captain Webb swain across the
Straits of Dover from England to