The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-31
AMERICAN !
 THE WINNER
Marathon Read Race at
 St. Louis.
T. J. HICKS IS THE VICTOR

7, m -sT He Goes the 24 Miles 1,500
 Yards in 3:28.53. A. !. Corey of Chicsss, Hstivs ea
 Fra.ce. Finishss seseaa s.a A.
 L. Newton of New York city
 is Third Man. l. @
 St. Louis, Aug. a0.--The Olympic Marathon race. the third foot race con test of the kind ever held and the first ever held on American soil, participat- ed in by thirty-one men classee among the fieetest runners of the world, was won today by IT omas T.. Hicks of cambridge, Mass, who is the first American to win this event. celebrated in the revival of Olympic games.
 Albert T.. Corey of Chicago. native born Frenchman, crossed the goal line second, and A. L Newton or New York City, crossed third. a@ The distance of the race Was forty Kilometres. equal to ;twepty- four miles and 1.6oo yards. This .distance was run by Hicks in the ofacially &nnoun- ced time of sshcurs,s2s minutessand 5s seconds; Corey. 8 hours. 34 minutes and IS seconds , Newton. 8 hours, A min- utes and 33 seconds, Tine first olympic Marathon race was heldg at Athens. Greece. in 1896, and was won by Loues. q Greek, in 2 hours And 6s sminutes5 the second Olympic Marathon race was held in Paris in 1900 and won by Teato Of France in ? hours and 50 minutes. The winner of tAday,s race reoeived Aa cup presented hS Presidents Francis ,of the exposition ane an Olympic championship gold nsedala the second, silver medal and fhe third d medal of bronze. ef { 5 Lorg Radie Three Miles. z Fred Lerg of New York was sthe first runner to cross the goal line but he was immediately disqualiiad on !, the charge that he had ridden about three miIes in on automobile in traversins the. course over the country roads. Lcrg readily admitted that he had done so heeause of physical exhaustion for a time, s
 There ware thousands of spectators in ths Stadium to witness the start. The threatenfng day had cleared and the sun shpne brightly. Forty run rers bad keen entered in the race. but 0fl]ssx x arc starfsd. Of wisona sfx- teen were xfheffcahs, ten GFeeks, TWO Kafirs, one Cuban. One Frenchman and one man from South Africa.
 The starters pistol cracked at 3:o3 o'clock and Hicks sprang into the lead with the field following at his heels. The racers ran five laps on the Stadium track and then passing through a gate afY hn hfVxr which was designated by red flags showing the way.
 In entering the country road course Hicks had fallen back with six men ahead. The course led over hills and through dales innumerable, being pro nounced one of the most up hill and down hill courses ever travelled by ath- letes and the roads were deep in dust.
 Cheers for the Runners.
 Spectators were gathered in throngs at different points along the way and lustily cheered the racers as they passed. A vanguard of horsemen cleared the thoroughfares and judgess physicians and nurses followed in au- tomobiles.
 The first turn was made three miles out at Clayton and the first man to pass was M. Spring, of New York City. Newton was the fifth to pass and Hicks was the seventh. Three miles farther Newton sprinted to the front and with s. A. Meller. Yonkers. N. Y., and P. F. Carr. New York City, held the lead, running at a steady goit
 Hicks in the meantime had spurted a little and passed this point sixth man with Corey, the second man. be- hind him. When the half way point was reached, Lorg. who had become exhausted. passed in an automobile. Meller was the first man to pass the half way point followed by Newton, a short distance behind and closely fol- lowing Newton came Hicks, running easily.
 The rest of the field came staggling along and soon afterward having passed the half way point several were bare- ly running. Felix CarvaJel from Cuba, who had been near the rear, clattered along with fatfooted steps with g speed that seemed ominous to American laurel
 At point sixteen miles out H. A. Brawley of Massachusetts dropped to the road. overcome by pains in his legs. After rubbing them a bit he got up from the roadside and gamely pro- ceeded. The Cuban's fiat steps had told on his strength and he was falling back. MelIer was overcome by pain in his side and was forced to abandon the race.
 Hicks Speedy Work.
 Hicks had steadily forged ahead af- ter passing Meller. who led him, but was running hard and evidently almost exhausted. In the distance behind him Newton was coming along slowly but easy. The fact that he had gained the lead spurred Hicks to, re- newed eNort and his steady and tell ing trot was to some degree acceler- ated.
 Meantime, Frank Pierce. New York City; John C. Lordon, Cambridge, Mass, and M. $. Spring. New York City, had become exhausted and were taken into automobiles.
 When the twenty miles had been reached, Lorg again started. HICKS was running with mechanical exact ness, slowly and with every motion of his body indicating by its regularity and apparent effort that he was suf- ferIng from fatigue. But he was st'll full of grit. In ansker to question as to how he was feeling he called back over his shoulder: S want some thing to eat as soon as l get there. I'm nearly starved"
 He maintained his pace until within two miles of the goal, when he dropped to a walk in climbing hill the first time he had ceased running. At the top of the hill a crowd cheered him which renewed his Tagging energy and he broke Into pace, main 1t until he reached the entrance to the Stadium track.
 Hicks at the Finiah.
 Then amid tremendous cheering of spectators. he doubled his pace, rushed half way around tho track and in tho darkness croaaed tha fane