EXCITING WALKING MATCH.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 1479, 18 June 1879, Page 3

EXCITING WALKING MATCH.

The American correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald gives the following lively description of a contest m New York: — The "walking mania" during the past montli has reached itsjheigbt. Since tbe great Heenan-Sayers prize fight, indeed, no sporting event has excited anything like the interest which . was awakened m the contest for the Astley belt. Gilmore's Garden, which has a seating capacity of twelve thousand, and whicli, on a pinch, can accommodate at least twenty thousand persons, was for an entire week kept dangerously crammed during the progress of this historic match. At tho outset, it was confidently expected that Rowell, the "little Englishman," would fall an easy victim to the enduring powers and cultivated skill of the Irish-Ameri-can O'Leary, or that, at the worst, should O'Leary fail, either Harriman, the Yankee, or Ennis, the Corkoniau, would koep tho much-prized trophy on this side of the Atlantic. Looking back, it seems hard to believe that the American people could have been roused to such a pitch of nervous excitement by so comparatively trivial a matter. All classes of society over the entire land, without regard to " age, sex, or color, or previous condition," were affected with the same fever. At one o'clock on Monday morning, when the match began, the doors wero besieged by a mob of spectators so eager to gain admittance and watch the opening of the struggle that there was very nearly a riot, and order had to be preserved by a free use of the policeman's olub.. From v that time forward, day and night alike, the huge galleries of the

Garden were thronged with people, many of whom never left the hall until the close of the match, subsisting as tliey best could by desultory lunches obtained at the bar. In the boxes many of the icigning belles and the very pink of fashion "rained influence " on the scene. It was, of course, on the last two or threo days of the six, when tbe men wero evidently snff;ring cruelly from the terrible strain, that the interest culminated. On the third day O'Leary broke down, and left the track, nearly dead from disappointment and fatigue. Howell had takeii the lead from the first, hut Harriman was only a score of miles behind him, and it was hoped that ho would still succeed m coming m first. Telegrams poured m upon him from all parts of the country, begging him to struggle to the last for the honor of his country. Ennis, also, had the usual Fenian following, who kept guard at the sides of tho track and cheered him forward. The houses of the Irishman and the Yankee — for each man, of course, had his own quarters — were buried with flowers, and almost at every round they were presented with fresli bouquets. Poor JRowell had no such sympathetic encouragement. He held the unenviable distinction of being the man whom everyone wished to see beaten, and even his best friends deemed it prudent to "let him alone." He still, however, trotted around the track, doggedly koeping his lead with a persistence that to the masß of the spectators was almost maddening. Great fears were felt that the feeling of the crowd would end m opon riot, and at one time over a thousand policemen wero m the hall to keep order. A drunken Irishman made an effort to strike at tho winning Englishman,, but was carried off at once to the police station. A plot was reported to have been formed to squirt chloroform m the face of the obnoxious athlete, but the danger of the attempt was too much for tho nerves of the miserable coward who dreamed of it. On the last day the tide of popular enthusiasm had a happy turn, and rati m favor of the plucky Rowell. Undor an arrangement between the men, it was agreed that no contestant should be entitled to a share of the " gate-money," which aggregated over 50,000 dollars, unless ho made 450 miles. At about his four hundred miles, tho Yankeegaveplain signs of exhaustion, and it was feared that he would not only lose the match, but would also fail to receive anything for his effort to win it. In this emergency Rowell came generously to the rescue, at great pecuniary loss, and coached his rival round the track until he had accomplished tha necessary distance. Poor Harriman, when he limped oufc of his hut, looked like a corpse, and at the last Rowell had to take his arm and support liim round the course until his limbs had lost their stiffness. This was the occasion of the wildest enthusiasm. The ladies waved their handkerchiefs and cried; the men hurrahed themselves hoarse ; and the band played by turns "Yankee Doodle " and the JEnglish National Anthem. Rowell thenceforth had his full share of bouquets and applause, and when he left the track after completing his five hundredth mile he was hailed with a "perfect ovation," to use the language of the sporting Press. His share of the "gate-money" was 20,000 dollars. This match has been succeeded by scores of others. Every town of respectable dimensions has had its local six days' walkingmatch, just as every town that is a town at all, has been visited by one of the twenty-nine operatic companies now roaming wildly over the land, doing "Pinafore." Iv Gihnore's, during the past week, there has been a female walking match, with no less than fifteen entries. One of the poor women had to be carried off to the hospital, and two or three others are dangerously ill. At Louisville, a man " walkist " has died on the track. Thus, tho underlying brutality of these exhibitions is coming to the surface, and will of course soon bring to an end this singular form of pnblic amusement. That it is brutal and cruel no one who has seen such a contest m its later stages can doubt. The wretched athletes stogger along, tlieir lips blue with exhaustion, thoir eyes sunken, tlieir faces drawn and set, their limbs palpably Bwollen. No doubt the tragic Ilavor which this lends to the contest is its secret charm — tbe same charm whicli marks the bullfight, and which made the gladiatorial combats popular m pagan Rome. Already there is a strong sentiment against these prolonged contests, and it will soon be as disreputable a thing to attend one as it would be to be present at a prize-fight. j