THE SUNDAY OKEGOXIAX, PORTLAND), XOTE3IBER 22. I90S.
AGHIEVEMENTlS1 DURING 1908 IN kSPEED, iJIZB,
:3W 5Hi
FT JtXES WARWICK PRICE.
m. INETREN eight promises to have
wrlttn itself down for all time aa
a year of "record." American
crop from wheat to whisky, from petro
leum to peanuts, have left far. far behind
the old familiar figures. The foreign
mails, outward bound (thanks to the
year at last achieved "penny post" with
England) have as surely set new high
water marks as have the foreign males.
Inward bound. In January, Master Roy
abtn. of Great Barrlngton, Mass., set
one record when he entered upon a thir
teenth year of unbroken attendance, at
Sunday school. ,Wlth the closing days of
the 30i comes word of a dally paper to
be Immediately established In London "to
contain nothing but unvarnished truth";
another record, surely even those Ohio
ballot-boxes, made from sugar barrels to
accommodate the giant local tickets, pale
before this trans-Atlantic word.
East to west, north to south, the same
atory ha been told things bigger or fast
er, smarter or stronger, have been the
rule, not tie exception. The first motor
car ever to honk through Jerusalem's
streets set the venerable Hebrews dodg
ing in March, when C. J. Gildden arrived
there, and troubled Persia has dispatched
an ambassador to Athens for the first
time In i little matter of 2C59 years. On
li;e other side of the Klobe Alaska sends
down word of a "0.01)0.000 gold output for
the Spring season, while Southern Cali
fornia figures out that never before had
she had such lots snd lots of lemons.
Query: Had the Presidential year any
thing to do with that? When Sesaphlm
eff, master gardener of Vorenesh, Russia,
proclaimed to the world that he had
really grown a black rose; when C. H.
Healy. of Melbourne, Australia, succeed
ed In playlrg 50V hours on a piano, with
out stopping, they merely broke two more
records. The piano managed to pull
through.
The Race for Speed.
To the reckless God of Speed prayers
have been offered up every week of the
b2 and many of them have been an
swered. May. tor Instance, witnessed an
auto run between Newport and Boston
distinctly beyond the usual. Mr. and
Mrs. ii. J. Wagstaff. escaping from some
too-enthusitullc guenta at their wedding
that morning, jogged over the 73 miles in
tervening between the Rhode Island city
and the Hub in three minutes better than
two hours. A month later and the Italian
Nazxaro. at London's "Brookiands"
course, drove a car four times faster
than that: though it rt borne in mind thAt
tne fleeing Wagstaffs were on country
Toads. Willie the professional "Shover"
sufficed himself with leva than two miles
at his U-an-hour speed.
Sports, strictly so classified, do not be
long in such a story as this, however, else
tlie name of "Marathon" Hayes would
stand at the top of the roster. But more
than just sport entered into the splendid
run of that Thomas car from New York
to Paris, and It was sport plus something
bcirirs when. In July. 1131 Y. M. C. A.
boys ran a relay from New York to Chl
cmko. hearing a message from Mayor Mc
Ol.llan to Mayor Busse. For that 1092
miles the actual running time was 114
hours. 2s minutes, an average of 9.6 miles
n hour.
But what shall be said of the speed
of "another Ilk" which built and fur
nished a house in one working day? An
East St. Louis contractor did that. At
A. M. the foundation trench was fin
ished: at neon 31 workmen were finish
ing the roof; at 4 P. M. the sashing and
clapboard Ing was completed, and at 7
P. M. the neighbors helped the bride and
irroom move Into a f mr-room dwelling,
with plumbing, gas and electricity all
complete.
On the Water.
And man n. done as notable things
on water as on land, as OS's months have
followed one snother down the calendar.
The entries of this sort are. Indeed, so
many -.ha they must be merely tabu
lated if even bare mention of them is
to oe cnJ.
Cur.ncry record I". S. cruiser Mary
land. 5 teaming in battle formation. 10
knot snee!. made 8.43 hits per minute
In a target 13 by 21 feet. 1700 yards away.
Kebruar I.
IV.-troycr speed record H. M. naval
destroyer Tartar, maintained 84.71 knots
for a two-hour run. equaling at her best
89 95 knots. (May).
Cruiser speed record V. 8. scout
erutewr Salem, off the Maine coast, at
tained a speed of a.ss knots over a meas
ured mile. I June 1. '
Coaling record I". S. cruiser North
Carolina, coaling at Newport, took on
4'7 tons In an even thr.-e hurs. which
Included the time of rigging the gear,
t June .
Battleship sieed record H. M. battle
ship Indomitable, returnm.-t to England
from the vu.'boc tereenteiutay. with the
Tiin-t of Wales aowil. rrunis-'red an
av'iac sieed. from i.id to land, of 24
knots an hour. tJulyl.
Transatlantic record The Cunarder
Lusitanla made the "short course west
ward In 4 days. 15 hours. 25 minutes.
IAukusO.
Motor-boat record The Pixie II aver
aged more than 76 statute miles an hour
In her Hudson River trials. (September).
This last, however, again borders upon
the fie'J of sport. '
Airships and aeroplanes, for a like rea
son, are "barred" from place In these
paragraphs, but there yet La much to be
said cf the way venturesome man Is
climbing heavenwards. First. Great Falls.
lont., set up the world's largest smoke
tack. its l'V" tons of concrete leading
to a height of &x feet. Then New York s
'Metropolitan building raa up a 700-foot
tower. The Equitable building la to
climb to " feet, and tha Mills building
is to top that again by another 100. equal
7v
CfS, liv to
ing the Eiffel structure. But what of
all this? , Architects and engineers have
now figured out that a 2000-foot Dima
lng is practical. It would cost some $60.
000.000. but the chances are fair that we
shall see it soon leaving poor little St.
Peter's at Rome in a veritable valley,
and dwarfing old Storm King Mountain.
Apropos of mountains. August saw a
St. Bernard climb Mont Blanc In search
of a master who had left him behind at
Chamounlx. when himself going up:
while, on the 6th of the same month, a
Mr. Burr, of Boston, broke- all local
climbing records by ascending the peaks
of the Jungfrau, the Moench and the
Eiger In one day;, the first ascent being
made by lantern light.
Nor were the women to be left behind.
In the Himalayas Mrs. Workman has
topped a peak something more than 23.000
feet up In the air. and In the. Peruvian
Andes. Miss Peck has reached the 2S.000
foot summit of Huascaran.
The Doings of Women.
Perhaps Turkey's women have set the
year s highest record In things dealing
directly with their sex for they have
fought free at last from the lor.g-worn
yashmak, the chaste but tantalizing veil.
At last the traveler in the Near East
may now pass Judgment upon the stand
ards of harem beauty, and compare It
with that which won a "contest" in Eng
land in the early Spring. Fifteen thou
sand photographs had been entered, but
Miss Ivy Close received the unanimous
vote of the twenty artist-Judges. Miss
Margaret Fry, of Denver, stood proxime
accesslt.
What are some of the other "records"
due to womanhood's efforts? Gladstone
Dowte Is no longer unklssd; Miss Sybil
Peterson, of Muskegon. Mich., achieved
that. Ethel Geraldine Hanton-Rlvers-Goldsmlth
set quite another sort of record
when she was twice, divorced in one week,
and she only 23: while at the other end of
the marital ladder Miss Truly Shattuck.
the American comedienne now playing In
London, has "officially" announced that
she has received a proposal of marriage
every 4S hours for the past seven years.
In connection with the stage, it may be
added that "the Divine Sara" has this j
year died Tor tne la.uwin time Dy siuse
poison, stage guns and daggers.
Boston closes the list with two distinct
ly unusual entries. Marie Hogan lias
carried the largest pyramid of full dishes
ever moved without mishap. The tray
held the dinners of sixteen prisoners In
the county Jail, and It reached them
safely in Marie's broad, deft hands
across 1200 feet of slippery floor. Besides
this, the present-day Athens of this land
of pie has a cjok who has presided over
the ranges or one restaurant lor some
thing more than 40 years. This alone is a
record (with deep-breathed emphasis!),
but there is more to come; the lady in
question has baked 3M.000 pies. 2.000.000
doughnuts, and concocted at least 7,0u0
puddings.
The Domestic Side of It.
This surely sounds "like mother used to
make": It has the real hearthstone air
about It. To it then add these items of
similar kind:
The same good commonwealth claims
(unchallenged the butter championship
of the world, with "Johanna." who ante
ed up 35.22 pounds In one working week.
Her yearly milk output totals at 27.433
pounds.
What results migl be obtained if such
cows could only be "treated" by Mis
souri's prize milking machine! It Han
dles six subjects at a time. Two boys,
thus armed, milked a herd of 7a cows in
an hour and nine minutes.
Illinois puts in her bid with announce
ment of sheltering the world s best plow
man. In September Alvln Stark, of Jollet,
drove a single sulky plow with three
horses over an acre lot without the varia
tion of half an inch In his furrows,
measured at both ends and In the middle.
Vermont has the record woodchopper.
however. Edward Mott, of Weathers
field, in an hour and a half, under the
sunrise-to-sunset period of a September
day, cot. chopped, split and plied five and
an eighth cords.
South Dakota has produced the year's,
heavyweight farmer. Caton Hoblett, of
Clark, weighs a little matter of 512
pounds and still attends strictly and ac
tively to his 1500 acres.
Had he lived In Berlin he might have
won a prize on his weight, for a restaurant-keeper
In the Kaiser's capital of
fered cash bonuses for the three heaviest
couples among his patrons. The winners
aggregated 568. with a oi'O combination in
second place and one of 457 In third. (The
prize-giver did not-make clear whether or
no the sextet achieved these bulky dimen
sions in his establishment).
Last, but far from feast, the shirtwaist
that buttons down the back, long an ex
citing domestic problem, has entered the
lists with Its record, too. A champion
ship contest has been pulled off in Chi
cago, "an even dozen handy men being
entered. They were 24-button waists,
with lace and flllgree attachments. ""First
honors went to an ambitious little ch.ap,
who did the trick In two minutes seven
seconds and the lace not so much aa
mussed.
Tears and Miles.
In September. 10-year-old W. J. Sidis.
of Brookline. Mass.. passed his entrance
examinations for "The Tech" Boston's
high-grade scientific college, where the
average age of first-year students is 21.
Three months earlier, Maurice Mo
rlarlty sailed from New York for Ire
land for his first vacation In 54 years.
He was an employe of the Cheney Mills,
at Manchester. Ct-. and had worked
week days and Sundays for over 30
years and six days out of every seven
for the balance of his time.
And In this matter of years yet three
other happenings of the 12-month de
mand notice. Glasgow. Scotland, has
produced a family of five whose com
bined ages aggregate SS4; Altendorf.
Hungary, has witnessed a marriage be
tween a husband of 120 and a wife of
102; and Chlkuga. Japan, has located
the oldest man In the world within her
picturesque limits Mr. Kosaburo Futl
matsu is 171 by well-authenticated rec-
if x " jL - -.m zzz&zmw -T2r -
ords. Up to the day of this discovery
Andrleff Schmidt, son of a German once
resident In Vilna. Russia, had been held
the veteran of living venerables, with
136 years to his credit; when he heard
he had fallen to second place he walked
over to Warsaw just to show he was
not incapacitated by the news, the dis
tance between the cities is some
miles.
Another travel record of 1908 was
made when 3-year-old Wilfred Stevens
made the 11,000-mile trip from South
Africa to New York. In charge only of
a motherly stewardess. Left an orphan
he was being sent here to relatives
and he - seemed to think he had done
nothing out of the ordinary. After that,
for mere carrier pigeons to make a
fast 1200 miles from Minneapolis to
Boston reads tamely.
A Few "Blggest-Evers.
Bigness appeals to the 20th century
mind, and 1908 has done yeoman's
work in golng-a-few-better previous
measurements and dimensions. The
nine months from February to October
offered the news dispatches of the wide
world's press Just as many items and
again refuge must be sought in the
"nutshell paragraph."
February A candle 10 feet tall, war
ranted to burn for more than two years,
was made for New York's cathedral.
March Major Henry Lethwaite Arm
strong, of the British forces in India.
achieved what had been held impossible
In killing with one bullet from his
service revolver, a man-eating tiger. It
measured nine feet three inches from
nose to tail.
April J. G. Millsay, of Brady. Tex.,
found In the San Saba River, near Me- ,
WIS.
MICHIGAN
oXOCKTORV I
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t3
'i.o&Ansronx1
I
nardvllle. a fresh-water pearl the size .
of a hen s egg. and weighing a grille I
more than 1000 grains.
Some Fake Scheme? of Expert Wrestlers
Easiest Sort of a Banco Game Foisted on' Rural Sporting Men and a Gullible Public.
l(iT HERE is more hippodrome busi
I ness in the wrestling game
than in any other line of
sport," said an old-time referee the
other night to a number of friends
at an uptown hotel. "In fact, there
have been very few wrestling matches
which have been pulled off strictly on
the level Many of the great grapplers
of the past and present have done much
to kill the game with their fake
matches." says the New York Sun.
"It's a very easy matter for a cou
ple of clever faking wrestlers to frame
up a bout and fool the public I know
of a scheme that is. worked success
fully even now In rural places. One
fellow will locate In a far-away city
and get into the good graces of the
local sporting men. He will soon con
vince them that he is a real champion
and will finally secure backing for a
thousand or two. A broad, defiant
challenge is issued in the newspapers
offering to wrestle any man in the
world for all kinds of money. There
is much newspaper clatter over the
challenge, when Faker No. 2. who. Is
in with the deal, wires his acceptance
and after a stormy newspaper wrangle
the match Is made. Then follows a
lot more talk and boosting. The town
is billed as for a circus and the two
fakers start training at different quar
ters. They appear on the streets and
roads in showy costumes day after day
until the local sports are worked up to
a high pitch of excitement.
"oe managers of the fakers play a
prominent part In the hippodrome.
They appear at the leading hotels,
dressed in the most sporty clothes, cov
ered with alleged diamonds and offer
ing to bet almost any amount on the
result. They make all kinds of bluffs
before the dazzled crowd of young men,
who look upon them as real live kings.
The managers often go so far as to
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BATTLE CREEK-.
I
OWION!
May The biggest clock In the world I
was started in the tower of the works
of Colgate & Co., near Jersey City. The '
have a fake fight in. some leading re
sort in the presence of the-innocent
lambs they are about to fleece. Some
times the .managers have, each other
arrested to make the supposed brawl
look more genuine, but of course when
they appear before the local judge they
are not inclined to press the complaint
and discharge follows.
"All this time one of the managers has
been making some real bets here and
there on the wrestler who Is booked to
win. In this way a few extra thousands
of dollars are gathered in by the com
bine. When all is framed the largest ball
In town Is Jammed with come-on sports
who are crazy to see the bout. The ex
citement is Intense, the betting lively,
and each wrestler is uproariously re
ceived when he is introduced. Usually
an hour is wasted In a wrangle over the
selection of a referee, but finally some
well-known local sporting maji. who may
be honest, is chosen. He swells up be
cause of the honor thrust upon him, but
knows nothing of the job to be pulled off.
"The referee's part Is no child's play,
for the wrestlers are appealing to him
constantly and make all kinds of phony
claims. The wrestlers have rehearsed it
all with great care. They have, worked
the trick on other innocent referees be
fore. They go at each other in appar
ently the most desperate-manner, making
as much noise and display as possible.
" 'Mr. Referee, this man is trying to
choke me!" cries one of the fakers.
" 'Ifa not so! He's trying to gouge
my eyes out." yells the other.
"'Foul! Foul" exclaim the lamb
around the ring in much confusion.
The referee gets excited and puzzled.
The wrestlers keep up this sort of
thing for an hour until the man booked
to win gets the referee's decision while
the gulliable sports go home well sat
isfied with what they term a great
night's sport. The band of fakers
gather up the spoils as quickly as pos
sible and decamp.
"There was a big Greek wrestler.
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JJLM1RA.
Warren
a ADOOea.in
SCRANTON,
LOCK HAVE
oBUTLTR.
dial is 38 feet in diameter, the hour 1
hand 15 feet long and the mintue hand
20. Twenty men, shoulder to shoulder,'
Greek George who worked the game
a few years ago from Montreal to New
Orleans and in almost every big city
from New York to San Francisco. He
was the real prince of fake wrestlers.
At Montreal he posed as a Frenchman,
for ho was a smart talker and could
speak' many languages, particularly
French. At New Orleans he was sup
posed to be an Italian, while in other
places he adopted some other nation
ality. The Greek was really a very
clever Graeco-Roman wrestler and
could throw -almost any man in the
world in hia style. However, he cared
nothing for glory, but preferred the
big end of the gate receipts. He would
agree to win or lose according to the
money that was in it for him.
"Once the Greek was engaged to lie
down to an alleged champion in his
class for a couple of hundred dollars.
The match was pulled off in this city
and the Greek went quietly among his
countrymen offering to take half of all
the bets they could place on him. The
alleged champion was so sure of hav
ing everything his own way that he
did not take the trouble to train, but
the Greek was in perfect form and
the way he slammed b.is man around
that night delighted his countrymen.
" 'You don't have to work so hard,
said the alleged champion, who was
badly winded. 'We've gone far enough!
I'll throw you now!' But the Greek
never let up until he had put the so
called champion three times on his
back and had been declared the win
ner. " Tt sometimes pays to be on the
level." said the Greek as the stake
holder paid over to him the big end of
the purse and the gate money. The
next match between them drew a
greater crowd, but this time the Greek
laid down to the alleged champion, for
he got the bulk of the coin for turning
this trick. The Greek finally became
the owner of a trained bear and pro
HUDSON
' -RHINE BECK
9? 4?
pouohkeepsii:
A Vsa
"TC7KKER!
POTTSVILtE JERSEv
could stand across its iace, which is
1134 square feet in area
June The largest shark, ever cap-
ceeded to wrestle with him at side
shows and circuses In small towns. But
he never could teach the bear to lose,
for every time Mr. Bruin came to the
scratch he was on the level, no mat
ter which way the gate "or purse was
cut.
"There are hundreds of minor wrest
lers who are making a catch-as-catch-can
living by hippodromlng through
the small cities and towns. They
travel in pairs and manage to
clean up a few dollars with their trick
schemes. A couple of these fakers
from the Bowery last Winter, tired of
living on free lunches, made their way
to a hustling, town over in New Jersey.
Thoy met a saloonkeeper who wanted
to be a leading light in th sporting
world and to him they unfolded their
scheme. He agreed to get them some
printing and engaged the hall for the
show. But that was all. On the
strength of the show bills they secured
a room in a second-class hotel and
spent a couple of days billing the town
themselyes. They sold a few tickets
meal tickets to them, for they were
good and hungry. They had only one
sweater between them, so that while
one was in bed the other, donning the
sweater, would run through the main
street Just as the factory hands were
going to work. Then the other faker
would put on the sweater about the
noon hour and do another stunt near
the factories. In a few days the match
was the talk of the town. The local
newspaper sent a reporter to their
room one fine morning and he found
both in bed. tired out after a long siege
with the beer kegs. But one of the
wrestlers was quick-witted enough to
jump out of bed and say to the pencil
pusher:
' 'Ycu sec, my trainer is asleep. I
ran him off his feet early this morn
ing and the poor fellow Is all In.'
"Then the fake wrestler, while his
pal hid his face under the bedclothes,
noured a wonderful tale into the re
porter's ear about the proposed match.
The young scribe was thoroughly Im
pressed, too.
" 'At what hotel is. your opponent
stopping?" asked the reporter as he was
leaving.
"'What hotel? Why, that .fellow is
Iliiiiil
tured was taken in San Pedro Bay, Cal
ifornia, weighing H.000 pounds." and .
measuring 32 feet. The mouth, opened,
was two and one-half feet across.
July After for, four years' watching
and guarding its growth at the foot of an
old oak. B. B. Sterling, of Trenton, N. J.,
harvested a 26-pound mushroom.
August The largest elephant's tusk ever
brought out of Africa was shipped to
London. It measured something over 10
feet in length and was valued at $2im
September The largest passenger
steamer and the largest battleship yet
launched took water, British built and
British owned: The White Star Liner
Laurentic and H. M. S. St. Vincent.
October The largest of submarines was
launched at Cherbourg. She is 20S feet
long, of 625 tons displacement, and 15
knot speed.
Words and Weather.
"Biggest ever" also might be applied
not Inexactly to such of the '08 events as
the recorded testimony in the Govern
ment's case against the great Standard
Oil concern 4.400.000 words; 13 volumes,
that is, with five more of "exhibits."
Senator LaFollette's speech, too the now
historic filibuster in which the Wisconsin
leader indulged, in the closing days of
the last session of Congress, was
"weighty" to record lengths; it turned
the scales at 19 pounds.
But has not the talking "record" gone
to Mr. Bryan? Forty-seven speeches In
two days, telling speeches at that, each
one, long or short, fitted on the instant
to the human "problem" confronting the
orator that is an achievement both
unique and worth having to one's credit.
"Words, words, words," quoth the tiiel
ancholy Dane, unconsciously stating tha
text for such happenings as these. And
aiiss Fritz has won the world champion
ship on the typewriter, batting out 27?
completed words per minute. And C. W.
Conkling. at the Denver convention last
Spring, sent 73.000 words ticking their
way over the wires Into New York in 2i
hours something like 52 words every
minute. And a 14-year-old colored maiden
in Cleveland touched yet another high-,
water mark, when she spelt the 500 test
words at a "bee" with never a miss; 14
or 40. black, white, yellow or red, that's
a genuine victory.
Need it be added that the weather has
been asetting records, along with the rest
of the busy world? London's July had to
show only 37 hours of sunshine In 17
days: Strawn, Tex., did all but break its
thermometers in September , with 112 de
grees on the 7th; while, on the 24th of
April, Mississippi played unwilling hos
tess to no less than eight tornadoes, be
tween 2:40 A. M. and 6 P. M. "Killed,
155; injured, 971; property loss, Jl.021.d00,"
is the briefest statement of a meteorolog
ical freak (fortunately) rare indeed.
Brother Jasper's immortal "The sun do
move" would be so fitly true to such a
summary of the 12-months' "Records" if
only he had turned his penny over and
made the remark of this good old world.
Everything moves, and man must per
force progress, too or get run over. So
It is that each closing year brings eome
such chronicle under its arm, as it come3
down to the footlights to say good-night.
Superlatives may some day run short.
Indeed even as they did for poor "Kid"
De Chico, of New York, when, only a
couple of days ago, he admitted to the
sergeant in charge of the East 104th
street station that he had been "pulled"
Just 27 times since January last came in.
too mean to stop at a first-class hotel,",
was the reply.- 'He's on of those sav
ing guys. He's probably In some
freight car down at the depot." The lo
cal paoer gave the match a good spread
that evening an,d a big crowd attended,
ignorant of the fact that it was a
'frame' The wrestlers lived there on
the fat of the land for another week
and then came back to the Bowery,
with new clothes and $2.10 each. The
sports of that same Jersey town are
still talking about 'the great' wrest
ling contest' and are anxious to have
a return match..
"The expert wrestling fakers have a
large field to work in this country,
most of them refraining from turning
off their tricks more than once in the
same town. Here tu New York the
wrestllnp; game is practically dead, for
some of the rawest fakes have been pulled
off In Madison-Square Garden and other
big halls, while local sporting men
have not forgotten how they have been
fleeced by the Terrible Turks and
other alleged wonders from across the
sea. Besides, the boxing clubs are so
active In the metropolis just now that
they give New Yorkers all the redhot
sport they need."
Rondeau.
Chicairo News.
There was a scrap of paper that sha
found
A tiny piece her husband left around.
It was a portion of a loving note,
Apparently, that some fond woman,
wrote.
Its terms were, calculated to astound.
It was no wonder that the iady frownei
And clenched her fists. It seemed sh
had some ground.
She searched in a pocket of his coat,
There was a scrap.
She put the two together. She wai
bound.
Although her loving heart It well might
wound,
To know. His explanations I'll not
quote.
But he was innocent. Neighbors re
mote Heard something of It. Judging by the
sound.
There was a scrap!
t