Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-02
FEATs OF NOTED WALKERS.
The Remarkable Achievement Of 1
Woman Eighty-Four Years Old.
From the Strand Magazine

| From the Strand Magazine.
The earliest long-distance walker whose
performances We're authenticated appears
to have been Foster Powell. limb of the
law with a penchant for walking from
London to York and back. His first jour-
ney was made in 1773, when he covered the
! distance of 1914 miles in six days, with
nearly six hours to spare.
At the close of 1903 Captain Barclay fair
ly electrified the whole country by under
taking for wager of LOCO guineas to walk
one thousand miles in one thousand consec
utive hours mile in every hour. such
performance being then unprecedented.
The match was much discussed start
| being made over Newmarket Heath on June
1. 1909, lasting until July II, or nearly
| forty-two days in all. No performance was
ever better authenticated, and so thor
| oughly did the judges perform their task
! that the state of the weather was recorded
| and an elaborate diary written up each day
| setting forth the pedestrians condition.
AS nearly every one knows. Captain Bare
lay proved successful in his lengthy under
taking. This interesting diary, however,
discloses the fact that he not only came
within an ace of losing the match, but 1t
was only by exercising the most determined
courage that he succeeded in overcoming
the painful exhaustion resulting from the
| loss of regular sleep for such lengthy pc
riod. His weight at start was substantial,
being thirteen stone four pounds, while at
| the finish, after taking a bath and nour-
ishment and sleeping almost continually
for seventeen hours, he was able to turn
the scale at eleven stone. The pedestrians
bill of fare during this walk was no less
gigantic than the task accomplished.
Breakfast at consisted of such trifies
as a roast fowl, washed down with a pint
of strong ale, and followed by two cups OF
| tea, with bread and butter. After what APP
pears a very lengthy interval. lunch fol-
! lowed at II, either from beefsteaks or NUT
ton chops. of which latter commodity his
chronicler guardedly remarks that the cap
tain ate a considerable quantity. Dinner
at consisted either Of roast beef or more
chops, with which he drank porter and two
or three glasses Of wine, and. to wind up
the day as he commenced, supper at II
consisted Of cold fowl, the pedestrian hav-
| ing, we are told. consumed five or six
pounds Of animal food during the twenty
four hours. garnished with such vegetables
as were in season.
After 1917 the craze for long-distance
| walking seems almost to have died out.
only to appear again a quarter of CEN
fury ago although in the interval two
members Of the fair sex were credited with
equalng Captain Barclays great walk,
truly remarkable instances OF feminine en-
| durance II properly authenticated. In 1851.
barely sixteen years to become centena-
rian, suddenly resolved to see something
of the world. and. accordingly. Mary CALI
mack Cornish fisherwOman actually sue
ceeded in walking from Penzance to Lon
don, distance of nearly three hundred
miles in order to view the wonders Of the
great exhibition in Hyde Park. Mary cre-
ated a great sensation there, being noticed
by Queen Victoria