The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-05-02
Special from United Press.l

T
 New York, May 2-The greatest tri- umph in the long career of Edward Payson Weston came this afternoon. Headed by brass band hired by his admirers and escorted by fully 5000 men, women and children. the veteran pedestrian swung out of the Ansonia Hotel shortly after o'clock headed for the City Hall. five miles away. All along Broadway the sidewalks were 71-year-old man who had trudged from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 72 walk ing days and his progress was marked by continuous cheering.
 So dense was the crowd that the po- lice had to form a hollow square about Weston in order to prevent his we'll wishers from overwhelming him. Im- mediately behind the police came an automobile containing the members of his family. Police and city officials who have been intimate with him fol- lowed. Weston walked with head erect, shoulders thrown back and with only the faintest trace of a limp in the ankle injured in a fall near Kin derhook. He expected to reach the City Hall where Mayor Gaynor await ed him. at 4 o'clock.
 Yonkers, N. Y., May 2-Clicking off his famous stride in snappy style, Ed ward Payson Weston, the veteran ped estrian left the Getty House at 7:20 o'clock today on the last IS mile lap of his hike from Los Angeles to New York City. A large crowd gathered to give him a hearty send off.
 New York, May 2.-Weston reached 125th street and Broadway at 1O:3O o'clock, half an hour ahead of his planned schedule. He was accompani- ed by half a troop of mounted police and a great crowd of amateur walk CTS. Weston continued on his way to the Ansonia at 72nd street and Broadway.
 The street was lined with men, wom- en and children who cheered as Wes- ton, completely surrounded by mount ed and foot police, marched gaily down Broadway He reached the An inside for slight rest and to drink a quart of milk in which a number of raw eggs had been beaten.
 I'm feeling in fine fettle," he said, T am glad to be able to show that this old fellow is far from being a back number"
 He said he expects to take the lec- ture platform within a few days. While Weston was in the hotel the crowd grew to such proportions that the police reserves had to be called out to keep the enthusiasts in check.
 When Edward Payson Weston reaches the city hall late this after noon he will have proved that walking will bring health and strength to the most sickly. The old man, he was 71 on March 15, is today completing a walk across the continent in 7S walk ing days and he finishes, he declared, in wonderful health.
 1~cA Monica, Cal, on February l, 1910 bear ing a letter from the mayor of Los Angeles to Mayor Gaynor of New York City.
 Had I been 45 instead of Il I should have been able to walk the $500 miles across the continent in 60 instead of 7S days,' he said today at Yonkers But suppose it will be my last one.''
 When he left Yonkers this morn ing Weston looked about 20 pounds lighter than when he started from New York last January to go by rail to California. But his eyes are just as clear and his step just as firm. fornia. ''If I owned house in San Francisco and one in Hell I'd sell the one in San Francisco.
 ''Los Angeles isn't much better They're a lot of unprincipaled people out there."
 Since he left Santa Monica the aged pedestrian has been handicapped by a number of accidents. In Arizona he fell through 8 trestle and badly in jured his left ankle but continued walking. One week after his birth day he was twice overcome by the heat He encountered wretched weather Weston was born in Prov idence R. l., in 1889. As a child he was weak and sickly. As a boy and young man he showed no especial signs of advance or athletic prowess. But from the tinA ha heean DedaS-