Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-07-23

"Get ready! You'll start on the even(
minute.-Go!
And at 9:07 o'clock Tuesday morning
they were off for New York, while the
crowd of several hundred people broke in
to a spontaneous cheer of farewell.
A lane had been opened for them in the
crowd, to give them fair way diagonally
out from the door Of The Journal office
into Broad street; and down this lane
strobe Joseph e. Singleton. G. 1. Crock
EFT and c. w. Minter, responding to good
bys called at them from all sides, shaking
the hands of friends thrust out to them,
and getting into their long lope fifty yards
from the state-for not before then were
they clear of the throng.
At their heels, around them, In front of
them, strobe the farewell delegation that
had sprung up almost out of the earth.
They were the center of a many-legged
body that did not begin to disintegrate
till the walkers reached and crossed Five
Points, where the downtown throngs part
ed to let them through. The sidewalks
of Marietta street were filed with people
who were waiting to see them pass So
were the edges of the clear space at Five
Points.
without pause, without haste, the three
men who are to walk a thousand miles
IN IOTIy-k udySy AEOll AAAC NOOA VI AAO
Journal office, in Atlanta, to the door Of
the Herald Office, in New York, plodded
forth from the heart of the city down
the long stretch of Edgewood avenue, It
self lust a little more than two miles
long.
SURROUNDED BY LEGS.
Still they were surrounded by several
score of pattering legs 1t was not till
the straight shoot of the avenue began
to get just little bit long that the
plodders were left almost to themselves.
But still friends and admirers stuck to
them. A half hour from the time they
left The Journal office, when they made
the brief turn at Hurt street, at the end
of Edgewood avenue, and turned east
once more into DeKalb avenue, they
were alone.
''Wen. boys, here's where we head for
the country" said Singleton.
And they were off from that moment In
earnest, dropping into long, easy stride
that would not stop its steady plodding
till night.
At $3.50 o'clock, 40 minutes after their
start, they passed the store of ]. B. Nell,
in Lakewood, almost exactly four miles
from The Journal office, and got a sip OF
water. Then they were off again.
"Sore?" said Singleton, replying to one
of a thousand questions that we're asked
him in front of The Journal office before
the start Sore? Well, 1 guess we will
be that tonight. Tomorrow night, too,
probably. But by Thursday we ought TO
be pretty we'll accustomed to the road.
and after that we'll walk without effort.
All Wen need then will be patience"
In khaki trousers and shirts, the walk
ers were dressed. Leggins held their
trousers tucked around their ankles, to
give them free movement. The only one
of them who carried any baggage was
Singleton. Across his shoulder he had
swung a little oilcloth haversack. In that
were his maps, a change or two OF
clothes, and a book.
BOOK FOR POsTMARKs.
The book will be Singleton's document
airy proof of his walk. In 1t he will have
each postmaster stamp the official can
collation. mark of his Office. Going on a
train, Singleton could not get those
stamps Walking is the only way he will
get them. When he gets to New York
he will have a complete record of the
towns he has been through and a record
that cannot be questioned, for it will be
semi-official.
Just before starting, Minter took the
book over to the Atlanta postof1ce and
brought it back with the first stamp in 1t
-'AtlanIa, Ofa.s y vi ~ a vi, 6eHeTdl De-
livery" within the we'll known circle that
you see plotting out the stamps your
letters.
without a cent about them, the three
men started out on their long walk. They
were searched in front of The Journal
office by DR.. Frank Edmondson, the
Broad street druggist; NJ. c. Kiser, the
real estate man, and Paul McMichael, of
The Journal The searchers went through
pockets and natbands and under leggins
and everywhere. There was nothing
there. Before the search began, Minter
created a laugh by handing eight cents,
all he had left, to. a friend. They began