The Washington bee., 1908-10-24
THOUSANDS WON
ON CHOPPING FEAT
Champ of Vermont Undertook
to Cut Five Cords Between
Sunrise and Sunse.
EicHTY-EIGHT MINUTES To SPARE
Woodsman Moot Won Thousands for
MIR. Evarts-The Contest the Re.
suit of a Washington Dinner Wag-
eF, Watched by a Thousand
MANY Bets.

WlnQSOT, NJ.-EdWdTQ mOOI OF
Weathersfield. champion wood chop
per CT Vermont, in the presence of
gathering of politicians and nOtables.
chopped down. split and piled five
cords of wood between sunrise and
sunset, winning 500 for himself
and several thousand dollars for
Maxwell Evarts.
At a dinner in Washington, Mr.
Evarts, a loyal son of Vermont. de-
clared that his State possessed a man
who could go into the woods and
in a single day cut down enough
trees, chop them up and split them
to make five cords of wood. More
over, Mr.. Evarts said the man could
stack ur the cord wood in neat piles.
Samuel G. Blythe and L. A. Cool
idge, Assistant Secretary Of the
Treasury. were the principal losers
by the remarkable feat performed by
the Vermont woodsman. In addi-
tion to his money, Mr Blythe is said
to have lost three inches Of girth and
a large number of pounds. simply as
q result of watching hour after hour
the amazing physical efforts of Moot
This loss. however. caused him no
anxiety.
Mr. Blythe and Mr.. Coolidge were
at the banquet where Mr.. Evarts
made his boast, and when they twit-
ted him he offered TO bet large sums
he could make good. Years ago MIR.
/ Blythe once started to chop a cord
, OF wood, ID after q full days work
| there was nearly enough split to fill
coal scuttIe. Recalling this Mr..
, Blythe accepted all of Mr.. Evarts'
wagers and begged for more.
During the novel contest besides
! Mr.. Coolidge and Mr.. Blythe, the
! guests of Mr.. Evarts included Presi-
] dent l.. F. Loree of the Delaware and
, Hudson Railroad Company; United
/ States Senator A B. Kittredge, Of
South Dakota; Col. James G. Hool.
of Virginia; Charles A Moore. OF
New York. and Stephen s. Palmer,
president OF the New Jersey Zinc
! Company In addition great
! crowd OF Vermonters were on hand.
Most of the special guests came here
in E. H. Harriman's private car.
The contest took place on a farm
owned by Mr.. Evarts, a mile north
of this town. Moot, attended by his
son Frank. was in the woods when
axes, all sharpened to q razor-like
edge. c. M. Lawrence. q civil en-
! gineer, was selected as measurer It
was stipulated that the chOpping was
TO begin at 522 A NJ. and end at
: $50 P. NJ.
A couple of minutes before the
start Moot took a drink Of brandy
and milk and when the word was
| given his axe began to fiy.
By 1890 a. NJ, he had cut down
! eighteen trees ranging in length
! from sixty to seventy feet and from
nine to thirteen inches Gt she base.
Then he started in TO chop and
split them, William his son begun by
| handing him a fresh axe or splitting
wedge when he called for them. In
an incredibly short time he had
chopped and split about three and a
half cords and then said his muscles
were as good as when he began.
By 2.30 P M. Moot had not only
cut, chopped and split the five cords,
| but had piled one-third of it. Then
he decided to work slowly. At 422
P. NJ, he finished his task, an hour
and eight minutes ahead of the time
| limit
When the pile was measured it
was found that 1t contained five and
an eighth cords. On the ground was
fully half a cord chopped and split
/ which Moot did not bother to put in
! the pile.
Mr.. Evarts paid Moot 500 for his
days work Moot also won q num-
Der OF small sums. having backed
himself to the limit Of his finances.
Nearly all Of Mr.. Evarts's guests bet
on the result and most Of them took
the losing end.