The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1894-10-27

Passing from fast horses to swift men on .
wheels, we find nearly all the previous
bicycle records have been surpassed in 1894,
and probably the next month will break
them still more. J. 5. Johnson has made |
half mile spin against time in 81 seconds.
One mile has been flown over by J. p.
Bliss in fraction over 1.52. With stand
ing starts \. Butler has cycled two miles
in 4.0i 4-5; while J. 5. Johnson has spun
three miles in 6 20 3-5, for miles in S.3S 10
and five miles in 10.4S l-5. Z. c. Bald
has made a mile in competition in 2.O5 10. |
F. J. Titus has covered 20 miles and
/ ,lS9 in one hour, spinning against time.
And the best previous twclve-hour COM
prttve race time has been beaten by
Walters in London, who made the astonish
ing run of 25S miles in that time, or 2lA
miles an hour. Many other new athletic
worlds records have been made within the
past month. The best worlds running
time for 300 yards has been lowered to
81 80 seconds. The farthest throw of 56
pound weight has been increased to % feet
10 inches. The best time of 120-yard
hurdle race has been lowered from l5}
seconds to - 30 seconds The fastest
time for swimming 100 yards was | minute
and II seconds until September - last,
when it was reduced to a fraction below
minute and seconds. \ new swimming
record for $50 yards has also been made for
the world; the old one was 6 80 seconds
slower. The grcyhounds of the sea, as the
Atlantic steamers are not unity called,
have also been contributing to the record
breaking of this phenomenally fast season.
The Cunarder Lucania made her last pas
sage from Queenstown, or, to speak more
exactly, from Daunt's Rock to Sandy Hook
=. ~ miles-i ) days ! hours and Is
minutes, or at an hourly average speed of
n II knots. This beats the best previous
records. which was also made by the
Lucania-5 days : hours and 10 minutes.
This ocean racer now holt the best records
for the eastward Us well as the westward
run, lltI tttSlNdl'l llill' 'NIll- - N''NH ~
hours 3S minutes The American liner
New York has broken the best previous
record Of time between southampton and .
New York, which She has steamed, over Il
course of =, go miles, in days hours and .
II minutes. The best run to southampton .
from New York is still that made by the .
Hamburg-Amcrican liner Fuerst- Bismark,
which made it in days / hours, II min
utcS.
Truly we live in a rapid age, and if we
have not reached 1.-THE pace 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 care
fully bred and trained hose can pace a
mile in less than two minutes and yet the
trained man on his steel horse en- beat him
by nearly eight seconds. Neither animal
nor human flesh and blood can he expected
to 90 much farther in the way of overcom
ing the obstacles of spacr and distance
and enlarging the pos: bilies of time.
1t is no longer dcLat;.blc question
whether in physical powers the best men Of
this aye excel the b.. :ArN OF ancient
times. There is ~ "rll-authcnticated
record of IA Grecan athle,., trIts that has
not been beaten by the athletes of this
nineteenth century. LeanderS swim across
Hellespont was far outdone when the late
Captain Webb swan across the Straits of
Dover from England to France. Lord
Byron had already equaled Lenders feat
The Spartan runner Ladas dropped dead on
completing a race of y miles, and it was
thought to be not surprising that he
should, as the distance was regarded as
very long. We have no record Of the speed
at which Ladas ran, but as to the distance
covered it was triiling compared with the
distances that many of our running athletes
cover.
That the modern man is of bigger
breed scientific inquiry has made certain.
The size of the heroes of classic days, like
most other things about Them was myth
cal. 1t was only in statuary that Ajax and
the other large lmbed men of antiquity
ever had existence. Many years ago an
old-fashioned tournament was projected in
England, and the corselets and greaves OF
the mailed men Of the Plantagenet period
were pulled out of the closets of the old
castles to be used by the modern descen-
dants of the brave knights of old" 1t
was at once discovered that the nine
teenth-century Englishman was much too
tail in stature and large in grth into them.
And thereby persisted the long-cherished
fiction that the human race was physically |
degeneratng, and that the men of to-day |
were mot the men their forefathers were'
We may, as we look over all that has been
done on land and sea in lowering the racing |
records, alike of men, horses and ships, |
feel that we are indeed "the heirs of all
the ages in the foremost files of time We
have faster runners, stouter swimmers,
surer marksmen, better rowers and yachts
men, finer horsemen than ever were known
to the EurOpe of feudal times or the Athens |