The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1905-02-16
M 'NALLYS BIG VENTURE
Boston Athletes Plan to Excel
Feats of Historic Swimmers.
TO OUTsWIM LEANDER AND 10.


More Than Duplicate Their Ex-
piofts In Foreign waters-WiiI
Swim Lake Como, Great Testing
Pool For Swimmers.
To prove that modern athletics are
superior to those of DID, that the Won
tiers of mythology are the common
places of today, Peter S. McNally of
Boston, who already has won world
wide renown as a swimmer, will early
I'm the spring sail for the old world to
carry out one of the most elaborate
swimming programmes ever planned,
says the Boston Herald. He will swim
the Tiber. the Hellespont and the Bos-
porus. He will swim down the Rhine
and across the famous Lake Como In
Switzerland, and may again attempt
the English channel, with the waters of
which he battled for over fifteen hours
In his swim of seven years ago.
But 1t Is to prove that the supposed
ly great swims that have come down
to rs in fable and history are easy of
achievement by the athlete of today
that Mr. McNally proposes to make his
present journey, to demonstrate that
the feats performed in midwinter at
some baths In South Boston are inf
nitely greater than those attributed to
either 10 or Leander in the Bosporus
or Hellespont or to the feats of others
whose names have come down through
the ages.
Mr.. McNally intends to swim the riv-
er Tiber at the point where stood the
bridge made famous by Horatius; but,
instead of merely swimming across the
river, he proposes to cross and recross
without stopping, then continue down
toward the sea to Ostium, which Is six
teen miles from Rome. His next swim
will be the Dardanelles, or Hellespont,
between Lesbo and Abydos, where oc-
cured the tragedy of Hero and Lean
der. The story of Leander swimming
the Hellespont nightly to meet his mis-
tress, Hero, who set out blazing torch
to guide him, was for centuries looked
upon as fabulous and the feat consid-
cred impossible till Lord Byron proved
its possibility by performing Ii himself.
The distance in the narrowest part Is
current setting out from the sea OF
Marmora into the archipelago. Since
Byron's time the feat is said to have
been performed by others, but 1t has
always been test of strength and skill
since the story was first told how Lean
der lost his life when the tempest came
up, and Hero, on hearing of his death.
cast herself into the sea and perished.
Those who have previously swan the
ice cold waters of the Hellespont, with
Its swift running currents, have con-
tented themselves by following the al
legged course OF Leander and Lord
Byron. Mr. McNally proposes to show
that this Is child's play to the modern
swimmer by crossing and recrossing,
then continuing several miles down the
stream, when he will have Asia on one
side OF him and Europe on the other,
until he reaches the widest part, which
is about four miles. At this point he
will cross and recross the stream, and
If he is able to do all this the edge Will
De taken OH one OI tHe pTetliesl SAoiicS
mythology has given us.
Mr.. McNally claims to be able to
find the course on the Bosporus which
the NEUROLOGICAL character 10 is said to
have taken after she was turned into
COW by Jupiter because of the Jeal-
ousy of Juno, his wife. 1t will be re-
membered that when 10 escaped from
Argus, who had been placed as watch
over her. she, still I'm the form OF a
COW, swan the Ionian sea, which took
it's name from her, then roamed over
the plains of Illyria, ascended Mount
Haemus and crossed the Thracian
strait, which from that time was known
as the Bosporus, or cow bearer
Mr.. McNally's present plans do not
include any of the swims taken by 10
except that across the Bosporus, which
he considers the most interesting. His
next swim will be the Suez canal,
which he will cross and recross, and,
although the distance between Asia