OCR Text |
Show Mr.& "Sir i . - a M ----- . jfter ' - ' - - hH,.1 kj"- : J irtrjt.a,w n6 -Nx- J y y '(. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON "V..r II. I. Hie decaile of lir:0-t'" lir:0-t'" f !" Ie written down by . 3 '2nfiA- Il,e historians of tlie b3 fllture as 'ie "miir- rSw W athon era" in Amer-) Amer-) 'can history? It may very we! be. if some one ever takes the I trouble to count up all the endurance contests and races for freak championships which have taien place during the last ten years Jind which, if a visitor from Mara 'V4 were to judge by the interest shown and the amount of newspaper space m devoted to them, he might regard as typically American, if not actually deserving to be listed among our major activities. Perhaps the "marathon era" should Include the years from 1010 to 19.'0 also, for it was in 1!10 that Saliie Rope, a negress of Kansas City. Mo., decided to set a ne.v gastronomic record. rec-ord. So she stowed away s-.me l.Sol items of hardware, including 4."3 nails. 42 screws, 9 bolts, 5 spoons, 5 thim-J thim-J nles, 03 buttons, 105 safety pins, 115 ( hairpins, 136 common pins, 52 carpet tacks, 57 needles. 85 pebbles, a four- foot string of beads and a nail file. Of course, it killed her, but she had rroved that the "so-called human race" could compete successfully with ostriches and goats for variety in its menu when it chose. It was not until after 1020, however, that the "marathoners" sm '; !' -ftriile. On November 23, 1023. John "Hinsin of New York City v.... Vai Menges in a "hot dog" contest by consuming 53. On November 2-1 of that year Dan Henderson of Jones-boro, Jones-boro, Ga., completed 09 hours of steady shewing on a quid of tobacco. On December De-cember G, 1025, C. S. Carter of Groton, S. D.. ate 51 flapjacks, but lost the "championship" the next day to W. P. 3. Meyers, who ate 43 but his flapjacks flap-jacks measured two Inches more in diameter. Commendable as were these enterprises, enter-prises, it remained for Miss Alma 'ummings, a dance instructor in New York City, to start an endurance contest con-test which was destined to become the latest craze and to sweep the coun-i coun-i try. Some time in 1023 she noticed an Item in the papers about a Frenchman dancing continuously for IT hours. i;e decided that Americans could do better than that and to prove it she !nncea for 27 hours. And that started ' i' I Wit. 'in a week she had to dance for 50 l.jurs to hold her title and three days later her record was brok- ' Gusn-Ckewinc Champion. 1. A (weeping contest, held In Lot Angeles, Calif., to determine who should be crowned "Queen of Sweepers." Sweep-ers." 2. A fourteen-year-old entry In a Maryland flag pole sitting contest. 4 en. Other dancers In other cities took up the fad and "On with the dance!" became the watchword of the hour. From 50 hours the record went to 00, then to 73. then to SO. 90 nnd UK. Out in California Viola I'ompey and Horace Hor-ace Dunn started at Ixis Angeles and (lanced eight miles down the highway to Ocean Park. They kept up their dancing for 140 hours. And then, of course, there's flag pole sitting. A good way to rest up after a dance marathon is to climb up on a flag pole and just sit. And flag pole sitting was. a close second to dancing in endurance popularity. In 1027 "Shipwreck" Kelly, a sailor, went aloft on a 40 foot pole In Newark, New-ark, N. J., and stayed there for 12 days. Not to be outdone by this exhibition ex-hibition of civic supremacy, other cities staged similar contests and many of the burghers of those munici-palties munici-palties got permanent cricks in their necks from permanent flag pole sitters. If 1029 is never famous for anything any-thing else, it will be famous for some new an! unusual "championships." Consider, for instance, Bill Williams of nondo, Texas, who rolled a peanut with his nose over the 22 mile route to the summit of Pikes Peak. It took him 30 days to do it and he got $500. plus a large amount of newspaper publicity. public-ity. Inspired by his example L. R. Hose of Rule, Texas, started from Galveston to knock a croquet hall all the way to Now York and H. P. Williams Wil-liams started rolling a little Iron hoop for the same destination. The so-called weaker sex Is not far behind the other in their bids for fame. Last summer any number of cities held rolling pin throwing contests con-tests and husband calling contests in which housewives showed both their slrength of arm and voice. And Cbain-p-..ign. III., Is the home of Mrs. H. B. Schmidt who claims the world's chain- Rolling Pin. ' Thrownj Cbnh?st plonshlp for rocking, she having spent 401 hours In a rocking chair swaying back and forth. Yes, everybody's doing It, Including the children. Last summer, the previously previ-ously mentioned "Shipwreck" Kelly gave a 23-day exhibition In Baltimore. The result was a pole sitting epidemic among the children of that city. Avon W. Foreman started It by staying on top a 17 foot pole for 10 days. 10 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds. When he descended he was praised by the mayor of Baltimore for "the old pioneer spirit" and acclaimed "world's champion fifteen-year-old flagpole sitter." His record was broken brok-en by twelve-year-old Willie Went-worth, Went-worth, however, who stayed up nearly a month, breaking even "Shipwreck's" record. I By starting young perhaps some one will break the record which has stood for 1.478 years. It was made by Simeon Sim-eon Stylites, the Syrian shepherd boy who became a monk and who, to prove his devotion to Christianity in the days when martyrdom was popular, mounted to the top of a nine foot column, col-umn, chained himself there and occupied oc-cupied his time in prayer. He stayed there 30 years? Yes, the children are showing themselves them-selves worthy sons and daughters of their fathers In this matter of thinking think-ing up new feats In which to vie for the ''championship." But they will have to be original indeed to match the merchants of Belle- Plaine, Iowa, who thought that a contest to decide who had the most flea-bitten dog in four counties would be a good attraction attrac-tion for their annual fall festival. They offered a prize of $100 and it was won by James Parks of Belle Plaine. The judges counted 113 fleas on his dog. (Author's Note: The list of "championships" "cham-pionships" in this article does not pretend pre-tend to be a complete one and some of the "records" In some events may have been broken since the article was written. But does it matter?) |