A FAMOUS WALKER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 96, 27 April 1929, Page 20

A FAMOUS WALKER

EDWARD PAYSON WESTON

The feats, as a walker, of Edward Payson Weston. have ; -■'been -:. receiving attention from correspondents in the; London "Sunday /;■ Times.?'. Onej writes:—-."Weston ,'attejnpteid..:to* walk j 500 miles in six days at the) Agricultural London, in March,-1876. He...start-J ed at 12.5 a.m. on-,6th-March,, and com-! pleted 450 miles „on 11th'..-March. In. December, 18.76, ho engaged to walk 505 miles in six' days, and qn this occasion he walked 460 miles.: .lean .findno mention of Weston walking 1000 miles in 1000 hours, but this would probably not be considered of sufficient-im--portance to record, as. this feat was accomplished in 1809 by Captain Barclay, in 1811 by Thomas Standen, by Bichard Manks in 1859, and by Miss Eichards in 1874. Bella St., Clair .walked 1000 miles in 950 hours 'in'< July, 1876, but William Gale eclipsed all these perperformances by walking 1500 miles in 1000 consecutive hours: at Lillie Bridge, London, in' 1877,"' -•;■ . . According to another authority Weston actually walked' 1000 miles in 400 consecutive hours, from 126th;Deeember, 1877, to 11th January, ..J&7&.'Hc/J chewed a cocoa leaf when walking, a , habit picked up from the' North Amori-' can Indians, and was probably the'first man in England to realise.the value of "dope" in conneetion'with feats of endurance. •■•.■'." . Weston , had a -delightfully easy, springy action, and always .walked-in a loose shirt and knee boots, and-invari-ably carried a, small .riding whip. He was small and slight, suggesting: nothing of great, physical, ? endurance. He was the innocent cause.of, a famous rag at Cambridge. He Kad backed himself to walk from London to Cambridge in'a,given time, and hours before his expected arrival the road.outsido Gambridge was lined . with undergraduates', who, with' the civic authorities, had arranged a great welcome for.him if.he'.woni An hour or so before- he •/. was expected he was sighted swinging*along;in his well-known get-up, accompanied by two or three pacemakers; and: was; cheereato the echo and pretty.nearly;mobbed as he reached the market place;-' During the speeches that followed there was a great commotion outside, during which "Weston" disappeared,- and ' was no more seen, and it transpired that' he and his pacemakers were- some sporting undergraduates. The commotion was due to the arrival of Weston himself, who nearly got ducked by the crowd" for impersonating himself. ' ; : •