QUAINT RECORDS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 9, 3 February 1913, Page 4

QUAINT RECORDS.

Tlio passion for record-breaking has in recent years induced men and even women to perform feats of a remarkable and fantastic character, mostly without any utilitarian value whatever. One of the pioneers of the freak record was Mr Arthur Lancaster, a London solicitor, who has many strange records to his credit. In 1908, at the Crystal Palace, ho swung a blacksmith's eight-pound hammer for 12 hours without stopping. A year later, ho made tho ball-punching record, punching a two-pound ball continuously for 15 hours. In Paris recently, a 24 hours' billiard match was held, contested by two young Frenchmen, MM. -Cohen and Janssaud. Janssaud won with a score of 3238. A pedometer carried by tho winner showed that ho had walked over 17 miles. 'sk<s match is paralleled by the feat of a member of a well-known West of England golf club, who, to win a wager, played golf steadily throughout a day, from sunrise to sunset. Ho completed six 18-hole rounds, with a score of less than 100 on each round. There is room for a little variety even in cycling records. Some years ago "W. Brain, a Cardiff professional, rode backwards on tho road a distance of three and a-half miles i:i 22min 15 sec. The dancing endurance record was made in a competition in the 'Sallo Wagram, Paris, when Mdllc. Scherrer and M. Vincent danced continuously for six hours. The record was no sooner made than it was broken by an Italian dancing master, who waltzed continuously for 14 hours. The piano-playing record had very bad effects on. its earliest holders. M. Garnier, who established the first record of 27 hours, was prostrated by a, severe nervous attack immediately afterwards; an American emulator, Mr James Waterbury, finished a similar task a "nervous wreck,'' and Mr Napoleon Bud, of Stockport, England, who played for 48 hours continuously, was serio'.rly ill for a very long whilo afterwards One of the most sensational mountv.neering records is that of Mr Burr, a Bostonian, who climbed three consid table peaks in the. Swjss Alps, tho Jungfrau, the Moenuk and the Eiger, within. 36 hours.