The Atlanta constitution., 1896-06-01

Winner of the Marathon lace OF % 4ii'0'
in , Hours aud y Minutes.
by the score in every section Of the state.
I}lts brief mt nation must SuihCe Tor IL
will be better, perhaps. 10 excite the curl
ositv Of The Constitutions readers than
to arouse the wrath of a big american Of
ncer who measures over siN feet in his
stockings.
After describing the naval experiences
around ConstantInople during the Arnea-
ian troubles. the letter contains nricf
account Of the voyage toward Greece. Con
tinunE. il says
Upon our ARRIVAL at the Piiacus, which
Is the sea port OF Athens. the city .nE
about 81 miles back by rail, We found
the port fun Of men-of-war, principally
Greek. assembled on account Of the games.
The games were held from the ath 10 the
18th OF Alril.
KNOWING of your interest in athletic
sports I will tell you someth ng about the
Olympic revival You have probably read
ID the papers that some wen known men
interested in athict .CS ana particularly IA
promoting good fellowship arsong the dii-
ferent nations of the world, assembled at
Paris a few years ago and dee dcd tEat
athletic contests got up in generous
80 rit were better ctIcUiated 20 help tnat
feeling along than anything else. and by
A hapiN thought they called these con-
tests Olympic games. and hit upon Athens
as the place to inausurate them.
But this has been written up IN our
magazines and YOU VIII READ lhete net
ter account than I can give. or course
Olvmp.a in Greece is where the Original
games were held. but il is inaccessible and
a small, unimportant place now la iaot'
Athens is the only place tu Greece lhat
could have sheltered and accommodated
;he crowd that attended tne games
The majority OF the contests such as
r,fs.es T.
ting the sho;. throwing the discus. etc.,
took place in the Stadium. The shooting,
A..u tennis. p.cyc.c racinS, etc, c"Iir
Oh i'm places specially arranged near by.
Description of the Stadium.
"The Stadium is the place where the an
cte.,. ,o,,rs,s a, ..u.ou> uScu 10 occur
and very rich Greek merchant of Alex
andria, Egypt. has given promise 10 give
$50o,eO to restore It 20 what il Was IL
ancient times.
This Stadium runs back at right angles
to ana rishU from the banks oi tnc historic
iiIissus BY the way, those OLD ancleh'
poets must have had great idea OF
river. This stream never could nave oee"
much at best and now! well, real lively
branch would be a raging torrent III com
parison. an
about 100 feet high 10 runs back about
25o yards and is about seventy-ive yaras
wide The sides and end slope up 20 tll'
top of the Hill and are arranged IN rows
of marble seats In fact. the great am
phitheater looks just like dry dock u9eu
for docking large vessels
1T was not completely finished In whlte
marble. only the ends and two or three
OF the side tiers wood being temporarily
used There was not time enough TO nm
ish. but the work Of restoration VIII be
continued until the whole place Is Ined
with white marble.
10000 People in One Enclosure.
1T holds 55.o0J people, that is II seats
that many: 5000 more can stand IN me
aisles back Of the upper tier OF seats ana
back I'm front of the lower one. On nearly
every dav the place was fun and on the
surrounding hilltops ana points OF van
tape outside fully as many more were
gathered.
Il was able to get up to Athens only
three times and saw only Two uaA
sports. I was present the day OF the
Marathon race. and a very interesting
dav it was. But of that later. for want
TO tell YOU that the American athletes
inst covered themselves with glory. Every
event in which our athletes competed eN-
cent two. was won by them. and II mere
were more than one IN any event the
second man also would be an American
And the Greeks. who appreciate a thlnS
OF this kind and arc n generous, spirited
people. could not do enough FOR any one
who was an American. They were sim
ply astonished al what they saw. There
were contestants from England, France
germany. Austria, Sweden, Denmark.
Australia and even Chile, and our boys
won with ease.
Throwing the Discus.
"a young Princeton college fellow. Gar
rett of Baltimore. came over to enter for
uniting the shot and WAS induced to en-
ter for throwing the discus This is a
sport almost exclusively Grecian and
Garrett had never practiced 1t. The cham