The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-27
BECAUSE HE FAILED TO BEAT HIS
OWN TyNENTY-FOUR
RECORD.
he MADE A. GOOD SHOWING.
VETERAN CAME WITHIN NINE
MILES OF REACHING HIS
FORMER MARK,
HE STARTED TO SHOW HIS vIGoR
Relieved Himself as Good at Fifty
Eight as When He Walked 20
Years Ago.


NEW YORK, Dec 26.-When Ed
ward Paysons Weston. the fifty-eight-
year-old pedestrian, at 10 O'Clock to-
night, left the track on which he had
endeavored TO equal his record. liz
miles In "a hours, he had walked los
miles 426 la yards. The old man went
to the office of the skating rink. in
which the track was situated, threw
himself On q cot and wept bitterly. A
number of friends gathered around ana
sought to console him, but Weston re-
fused to be comforted and reproached
himself for his failure
The veteran started out bravely in
his effort, to prove that he was as
sturdy man as he was twenty-five
years ago, and more than half the day.
maintained a gait that promised to
break his record. Then he was seized
with vertigo and was compelled to
leave the track for longer periods
than he had planned. He was also
obliged, after walking a few laps, to
reverse the direction in order to over
come dizziness. About half-past 8
o'clock tonight Weston reached the
100 mile mark and the spectators
cheered him, but the cheers did not
gladden. the heart of the gray haired
pedestrian, who realized that he must
fail. He left the track and sat for
few moments in one of the boxes,
where he burst into tears. Again he
took the track and sought to wipe on,
the miles that stood between him and
victory, and added three miles and
426 1-3 yards to his score before the
clock struck 10. During Weston's last
half hour on the track he was spurred
on by the skaters, who kept pace with
him and congratulated him on his
good showing. The band, too, played
lively airs and the old man Spurted in
response. 40
Weston undertook the task of equal
ing his record of 112 miles in twenty
four hours, made when he was thirty
three years old, to illustrate how
regular and temperate life conserves
mans vigor and makes him strong in
his later years. He was sent off on
his journey at the Palace rink at 10
o'clock last night, with the encour-
aging cheers of big crowd, composed
principally of scientists, society men,
professional men, prominent city Off
Gals and the like. He walked steadily
until 10 o'clock today, covering, with
& few minutes rest, Seventy-tWo miles.
After thirty minutes rest he appeared
again on the track and continued his
journey we'll ahead Of the schedule.
He went off at a rapid pace and the
scene was like those in the old Madison
Square garden In the old days, when
Weston ran around the track, flashing
himself with a little switch to keep
his blood in circulation.
I'm cover APO miles within the TWEEN
ty7four hours, easily he said The
old fellow actually seemed to grow
younger as. be went further. There
was no exhaustion depicted on his face
On the contrary, there was q good,
healthy color in his cheeks and his eyes
We're clear and bright. At about42
o'clock he had covered seventy four
miles. An hour later the score sheet
showed that he had seventy-seven
miles and four and a half laps to his
credit. His seventy-sixth mile was
covered in ten minutes and fifty-two
seconds, the record of the trial to this
point.
Shortly after 3 o'clock, when the vet
eran was well under way, he had an
attack of vertigo. which compelled him
to leave the track, and he was absent
forty-nine minutes On his return he
set off at brisk pace, but, after going
an hour or more, he was compelled to
retire again. At $3.50 his record was
nlnety-five miles. and he had only coy
cred twenty-three miles in little over
seven h0Ilrc