Arizona republican., 1902-03-07
MOSTLY PERSONAL

How many of the ninety-three di- rectors of the Louisiana Purchase Fx- position company, the corporation name Of the St. Louis worlds fair association know that one of their number once won prize at d walking match t was late ii the seventies. when the whole country seemed to have the pa- destrian fever.
 After attending and writing up doz- en or two Of other peoples walking matches. the St. Louis newspaper re- porters decided to have one of then own. The arsenal band, the crack mil ita2y- band from Jefferson baTraCkc. was engaged. There were tC be prizes for the best six records made in dis tance. and several special priZas-Al- most as many prizes as competitors The contest came of. at the old rink on the corner of Nineteenth and Pine streets.
 There Were fourteen or fifteen con testants. nearly every St Louis daily being represented" reports q gentle man who was present T remembe. V alter E. Stevens well. as lie looked that night He was dressed. like ti:e
 
 walking match garb--ff yeu know what that is I'm sorry he didn't have him. self plctogra phed in tne suit. Stevens had no training for the contest. eXce?e what he had gotten from his nightly walk from the Times-J0urnal office to his residence. in the suburbs Of the city four miles away
 It was four-hour. -ycu-pleasa race. ana before the close the cid building was packed with humanity as il had never been before at d walking match. Fashionable society was wei represented and very enthusiastic ev- cry spectator having a favorita among the pedestrians. If l remember rightly the referee was Frank R. O'Neil. after ward esiitor-in-cl3ief Of the St Louis Republican (now called the Republic. Stanley Waterloo. a newspaper man who has since won fame as d story writer. had some connection with the affair-Ive forgotten what-and Vii liam Vincent Byars the author, was an enthusiastic spectator. Byars was then a reporter on the Times-J Journal and was. of course. yelling. for Stevens and the two other Times-Jcurnai men in the race. But the noisiest of the spectators from that paper were tn
 
 believe Gene would have given all his earthly possessions that night to have Times-J Journal contestant win the first prize. He was disappointed in that, but had the satisfaction of seeing his paper beat all the others except one and seven papers were represented.
 Stevens came out fourth. with twen- ty-three or twenty-four miles to his credit. and could have taken third place but generously allowed one of his re- porters to pass him in the race. Num- Der two was reporter not employed ar the time on any paper-Cliff Sanders. who later removed to New York and died there several years later.
 "The first pjrize In that memorable contest was won by Jimmie Boyle. :; Globe-Dernocrat reporter. who after ward achieved distinction as President Mckinlay's private secretary. He is now American consul at Liverpool and still carries the handsome gold watch won at that race. Florence White. Nl.J is Joseph PuiitZer's right hand man to- day, in the publica tion of the World. was Cn the programme to represent tna St. Louis Dispatch (noW Pcst-Dis- patch) but at the last moment his place was taken by Ralph Bayard, wk0 later came to New NOrh and became 2 writer for syndicate papers. As the change was not announced many of the spectators, who favored the Dispatch but were not personally acquainted with it's representatives on the track. called Bayari White when they cheer- ed for him.
 stevens Was then city editor of tn St. Louis Tines-Journal. He woulI probably have been barred from a re- porters' walking match but for his ac- tivity in gathering and writing up news as well as performing the regular du- ties ot city editor. In addition to these duties Stevens managed to Go 1 great deal Of reportorial work. partjc- ularly at conventions. riots, big fires and so forth. When his staff was short and fill up the gap. I remember that at the burning Of the old Southern Ha- tel, which occurred after l o'clock in the morning. Stevens was the first Times-Journal man to reach the fir and that most of the report printed in the papers regular edition that morn ing was written by him. Later editions contained seven columns af reading matter about the fire fully two otI which wers contributed by city editc. Stevens.
 That is the kind Of a worker the S- Louis Worlds Fair Association has chosen for it's secretary