Evening star., 1898-08-18
HE WALKS FOR S5O,OOO.
NJ. Gilbert Must Be Back in Paris
by June I, 1900.

by June 4, 1900.
From the New York Herald
Some men walk for a cake, others for a
hayrick which shall serve as a lodging
house for the great American unchatteled
tourist. but not many men walk for eXer-
else and a $4,000 wager on the side. When
you strike such a man who is capable of
turning lusty leg power into president 5
annual salary, he deserves mention.
Monsieur Henri Gilbert is the man who
places such implicit trust in his own sturdy
lower limbs. NJ. Gilbert is a writer, jour
nalist of France. His post office address is
believed to be Walkerville. He has come to
the conclusion that the leg is mightier than
the pen, at least in the pecuniary results
attending its judfcious use. M Gilbert car
ries no cyclometer But he is getting there
just the same, and the gentlemen who have
taken the other end of the bet have no diff
Guilty in keeping track of the tireless ped"
If M. Gilbert fills all his dates and arrives
in Paris right side up on the morning of
June 1, 1900, he'll be a rich man, as he and
his fellow journalists reckon riches. The
$4,000 or its equivalent in francs, is wait
ing for him, locked up tight in the strong
box of a Paris banker. But if the French
man fails to get to the capital within the
appointed time, there'll be saddcr ard a
wiser, even if a more experienced, globe
trotter somewhere on the way to the home
base.
NJ. Gilbert himself expresses the greatest
confidence in his ability to girde the earth,
and that before his time expires. Hes no
seven days Madison Square Garden hero,
this five-foot-SiX gentleman with the keen
eyes the Peffer beard and the bicycle legs.
He's a long distance thIrty-third degree
pedal expert, who does his thousand miles
in record time and refers TO it as easily as
you and l might refer to our constitutional
in the park. He has spent three years of
n
kinds of countries, meeting all kinds of peo-
pie and having all kinds of adventures.
He was in Balaret, Australia, short
time ago, looking well kept and as
sportsmanlike as a gentleman fisherman on
his Hudson river estate. At this time NJ
Gilbert had crossed 23,63112 miles off his
list Think of that, you who grumble II you
nave to walk three blocks to reach your
elevated station. Here's a man VINO has
put all these miles TO the right side of his
ledger, and is looking forward TO canceling
II ,ss5sla more before he takes rest
He has had rather good countries, as to
climate to traverse so far, but he's going
to get a taste of King Cold before mes
many months older. Siberia is problem
that would strike most men as d hard
proposition. But Gilbert says he'll walk
through it like a soubrette through the dol
lar side of Broadway on Saturday after
noon in the silly season.
NJ Gilbert wears a kharki suit, with
broad-rimmed pith hat, carries staff and
sports on MS ltll tlic SoioiS VI
country He has been in peril of his life
once. That was when regiment OF IN
auisitive and gore-seeking Turks took eX-
ceptior to his travelling through Syria and
expressed their intention of concluding mis-
career as a pedestrian. NJ. Gilberts eX-
PLANTATION that he was Frenchman carried
weight and he was allowed to go on lie
can't speak the language of all the coun-
tries he passes through, but he can make
signs At careful estimate ne can get
away with 600 deaf and DUMB alpnabets.
And SO he makes himself understood.