1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Hey there, history fans, Please enjoy these flashback shows from 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: the TDI HC Vault, and be sure to meet me 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: back here tomorrow for a brand new episode. 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 2: Hey I'm Eves, and you're listening to This Day in 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 2: History Class, a podcast where we bring you a slice 6 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 2: of history every day. The day was February twenty second, 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: eighteen seventy six. Native American activist and writer Zitcali Shaw, 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 2: also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was born on the 9 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 2: Yankton Reservation in South Dakota. Zitcalis. Shaw's mother, named Reach's 10 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 2: for the Wind, was a Yankton sue. Her father was 11 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 2: a white man named Pelcher, but Felker abandoned the family 12 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 2: early on in Zitkala. Shaw's mother eventually married another man 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 2: named John Hastings Simmons. Zicklish gave herself her name, which 14 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 2: means redbird in the Lakota language. Dickkalishaw spent her early 15 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 2: childhood on the reservation. There, she listened to traditional stories 16 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 2: with characters that she would later include in her first book, 17 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 2: but when she was around eight years old, she left 18 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 2: the reservation to go to a Quaker missionary school. In Indiana. 19 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 2: Zitkalishaw's mother did not support her attending this school because 20 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 2: she did not trust the missionaries to educate Native American 21 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 2: children did. Kalishaw returned to South Dakota after three years 22 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 2: of study, but four years later she left the reservation 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 2: again to go back to school. One of the schools 24 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 2: she went to in the following years was Earlham College 25 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 2: in Indiana. While there, she got second place in a 26 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: statewide oratory contest, which resulted in her first publication. She 27 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 2: also studied music and played the violin. This led her 28 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 2: to study at the New England Conservatory of Music in 29 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 2: Boston and teach at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. 30 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 2: She did not really care for the time she spent 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 2: at Carlisle, and she disagreed with the school's founder, Richard 32 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 2: Henry Pratt, who supported teaching Native American students agrarian and 33 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 2: domestic skills rather than academic subjects. Around this time, Zitkalishaw 34 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 2: began publishing her work in magazines like Harper's and Atlantic Monthly. 35 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 2: In nineteen oh one, the publisher Gin and Company released 36 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 2: her first full length book, Old Indian Legends, that year. 37 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 2: When she visited her mother, she met another Yankton sue 38 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 2: named Raymond Bonnen. They got married, had a child, and 39 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 2: moved to a reservation in Utah. Zickcalis Shaw worked as 40 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 2: a clerk and teacher. Her musical and writing careers took 41 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 2: a back seat to the rest of her work, though 42 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 2: she did collaborate with composer William Hanson on an opera 43 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 2: called Sun Dance that premiered in Utah in nineteen thirteen. 44 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 2: At this point, Zitcalis Shaw was turning more toward activism. 45 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 2: She became involved with the Society of American Indians or SAI, 46 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 2: a reform organization formed at Ohio State University in nineteen eleven. 47 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 2: The group was run by Native Americans, and it aimed 48 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 2: to preserve their way of life while advocating full American citizenship. 49 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: It focused on government reforms as well as activities like 50 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 2: increasing Native American employment in the American Indian Service, which 51 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 2: was the agency that managed Native American affairs. Zikalishaw wrote 52 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 2: a poem that was published in the Society's quarterly magazine, 53 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 2: and in nineteen sixteen she was elected secretary of the organization, 54 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 2: a position she held until nineteen nineteen, ZiT Kalishaw and 55 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 2: her family moved to Washington, d c. There she became 56 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 2: involved with many other organizations concerned with Native American rights 57 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 2: and reforms. She served as editor of sai's publication, American 58 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: Indian Magazine, writing essays about issues such as land retention 59 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 2: and self determination. She lobbied lawmakers and toured across the 60 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 2: US in support of Native American citizenship. She spoke out 61 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 2: on the conditions of poverty on reservations, detailing how food 62 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 2: was scarce and opportunities for education and employment were few. 63 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 2: But because she had one foot in white society and 64 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 2: the other and Native American communities, she did garner the 65 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 2: distrust of some Native Americans. After the ESSAI disbanded and 66 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 2: the Indian Citizenship Act passed, Zitkalashaw and her husband founded 67 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 2: the National Council of American Indians. Its goal was to 68 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 2: make a quote constructive effort to better the Red race 69 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 2: and make its members better citizens of the United States. 70 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 2: It promoted Pan Indianism as opposed to tribalism. Though the 71 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 2: organization foundered, Zikali Shah continued to lecture on Native American 72 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 2: reforms and rights died in nineteen thirty eight. Her writing 73 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 2: is noted for describing the tension between her Native American 74 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 2: roots and her white education. Her advocacy has been criticized 75 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: by some people who note the impact of assimilation on 76 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 2: cultural identity, but she is considered an influential activist in 77 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 2: Native American history, as she advocated for Native American civil rights, 78 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 2: women's rights, education, and the preservation of Native American culture. 79 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: I'm Eve Stefcote and hopefully you know a little more 80 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 2: about history today than you did yesterday. I hope you 81 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 2: liked this show. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode. 82 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 83 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: show that marks the milestones of history one day at 84 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: a time. I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're looking at 85 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: how one New Englander's weird political bet transformed the mundane 86 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: act of walking into America's new favorite pastime. The day 87 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: was February twenty second, eighteen sixty one. After losing a bet, 88 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: Edward Payson Weston embarked on a four hundred and seventy 89 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: eight mile walk from Boston to Washington, d C. According 90 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,799 Speaker 1: to the terms of the bet, he had to arrive 91 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: at the US Capitol in time to attend Abraham Lincoln's 92 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: inauguration on the morning of March fourth. That means he 93 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: had just ten days to cover nearly five hundred miles 94 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: on foot in the dead of winter. Weston was born 95 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: in Providence, Rhode Island, on March fifteenth, eighteen thirty nine. 96 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: He grew up in a middle class family and went 97 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: to school in Boston. Later, he bounced from one career 98 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: to the next, first apprenticing with a jeweler in Providence 99 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: and then taking a job at a newspaper in New York. 100 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: At one point, he even ran away and joined the circus. 101 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: By his early twenties, Weston still didn't have a clear 102 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: career path, but his talent for self promotion always kept 103 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: him comfortable, and in the years ahead it would provide 104 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: him with much more than that. Weston's unusual athletic career 105 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: began with a bad bet during the presidential election of 106 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. He had bet against Lincoln winning the White House, 107 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: and his friend George Eddie had bet in Lincoln's favor. 108 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: The loser would have to walk nearly five hundred miles 109 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: from the Massachusetts State House to the Capitol for Lincoln's inauguration, 110 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: and just to make it extra difficult, they would have 111 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: just ten days to do it. That November, Weston lost 112 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: his bet when Lincoln won the election, claiming thirty nine 113 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: point eight percent of the popular vote in a four 114 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: way race. On New Year's Day eighteen sixty one, Weston 115 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: decided it was time to start practicing. He walked from 116 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: new Haven, Connecticut, to Harford, Connecticut and back again in 117 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: less than twenty four hours, a round trip distance of 118 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: about seventy two miles. A man taking a long walk 119 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,199 Speaker 1: might not seem like national news, but the New York 120 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:39,439 Speaker 1: Times felt differently. The paper reported about Weston's big upcoming walk, 121 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: and for the next two months, his name was seldom 122 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: absent from the country's headlines. Weston used this publicity to 123 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: attract several sponsors to foot the bill for his journey. 124 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: After all, he would need plenty of money for food 125 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: and lodging along the way, as well as for a 126 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: horse drawn carriage to carry spare clothing and supplies. Two 127 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: men would also need to be hired to follow along 128 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: in the carriage and make sure Weston actually walked the 129 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:13,719 Speaker 1: entire way. In addition to money and basic supplies. One sponsor, 130 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: the Rubber Clothing Company, also gave Weston a special rubber 131 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: suit to help keep him dry in the winter weather. 132 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 1: It's unclear how Weston would have accomplished his trip without 133 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: the aid of sponsors, but I think the truth is 134 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 1: he never intended to find out. Before leaving Boston, he 135 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: printed up stacks of advertising flyers, which he would then 136 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: leave at various stops along his route to help entice 137 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: new sponsors. This was crucial because Weston didn't have much 138 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: money of his own. In fact, his departure on February 139 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: twenty second was slightly delayed because a constable arrested him 140 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: at the State House for unpaid debts. He quickly talked 141 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: his way out of custody, pledging to re to pay 142 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: the debt once he returned from Washington. With that out 143 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: of the way, Weston set out from Boston in the 144 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: early afternoon, followed closely behind by his attendants in the carriage. 145 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: A crowd of supporters cheered him on his way, and 146 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: that evening in the town of Framingham, he was greeted 147 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: by a drum corps and treated to a fancy dinner 148 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: that kind of pampering proved to be the norm for 149 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: much of Weston's trip. Thanks to a route schedule he 150 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: had printed in advance, crowds of well wishers met him 151 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: at every stop along the way. This kind of enthusiasm 152 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: resulted in most places not charging Weston for food or lodging, 153 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: unbeknownst to his sponsors. However, charity wasn't the only repeat 154 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,560 Speaker 1: occurrence on Weston's trip. He also got arrested again too. 155 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: When he reached Woocester at midnight on his first day, 156 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: a sheriff was waiting to arrest him, this time for 157 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: a different unpaid debt. His pledge to repay the debt 158 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 1: in two months wasn't going over as well as Woocester, 159 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: but when two fans volunteered to guarantee his promise, the 160 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: sheriff agreed and set Weston loose again. That was his 161 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: last brush with the law on the long road to Washington, 162 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: but the rest of the trip was still no picnic. 163 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: It rained or snowed for more hours than not, and 164 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: in one town he was chased by a dog and 165 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: wound up spraining his ankle. Later in Pennsylvania, he got 166 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: turned around and wound up taking the wrong road for 167 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: several hours. Then there was the day when Weston reported 168 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: a severe pain in his chest, something he later attributed 169 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: to quote the eating of mustard on sandwiches. Thankfully, he 170 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: pulled through in the end, Edward Paysin Weston arrived in Washington. 171 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 2: D C. 172 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: At five p m. On March fourth, eighteen sixty. He 173 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: had been on the road for ten days, four hours, 174 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: and twelve minutes. Unfortunately, that put him into town several 175 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: hours too late to witness Lincoln's inauguration. Still, since he 176 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: had come all that way, Weston decided to make the 177 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 1: most of it. He attended the inauguration ball that evening, 178 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: where he met members of Congress, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, 179 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: and the President himself. Abraham Lincoln reportedly offered to pay 180 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: for Weston's train ticket home, but he refused, saying that 181 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: he intended to vindicate himself by walking back to Boston 182 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: in less than ten hours. Needless to say, that didn't happen. 183 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: Weston technically lost the bet due to his late arrival, 184 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: but his successful promotion of the journey had left him 185 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: with a new profession a nice consolation prize. From then on, 186 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: he would be known as Weston the Pedestrian, a professional 187 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,959 Speaker 1: walker who helped launch a national craze for long distance walking, 188 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: also known as pedestrianism. Seriously, it's hard to imagine today, 189 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: but in the late eighteen hundreds, competitive walking became America's 190 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: favorite spectator sport. There were two flavors of pedestrianism. The 191 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: first was outdoor destination walking, like the kind that first 192 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: made Western famous. Once the sport had taken shape in 193 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: the late eighteen sixties, Weston won all kinds of cash 194 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: prizes for walking from one place to another, and then 195 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: he further capitalized on those trips by lecturing on the 196 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: benefits of walking and by publishing melodramatic accounts of his 197 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: adventures on the road. One of his early career highlights 198 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: was walking the twelve hundred plus miles from Portland, Maine, 199 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 1: to Chicago, Illinois, in just twenty six days. That hike 200 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: made him a household name, and he quickly followed it 201 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: up with other stunts, like the time in eighteen seventy 202 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: one one when he walked two hundred miles around Saint 203 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: Louis backwards. In the eighteen seventies, pedestrianism hit peak popularity 204 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: with the emergence of its second form, track walking. These 205 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 1: events were usually held inside at a skating rink or 206 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: a big exhibition hall or arena. In walking matches, competitors 207 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: would agree to walk around a track for a certain 208 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: period of time, or to a certain distance, or just 209 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: until the other walker got exhausted and could no longer continue. 210 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: There were also record attempts, where a competitor would walk 211 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: the track alone, racing the clock to beat a previous 212 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: best time. Crowds for such events could number in the 213 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: thousands for larger venues like Madison Square Garden, for instance. 214 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: But Alas America's love affair with pedestrianism proved short lived. 215 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: By the eighteen nineties, the rise of the bicycle and 216 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: of baseball had stolen what lived la lure there was 217 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: to watching two men walk in circles for hours on end. 218 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: The final nail in the coffin came in the mid 219 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties, when charges of race fixing and drug use 220 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: gave the sport a black eye. When Weston himself was 221 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: caught chewing coca leaves during a race for an extra 222 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: boost of energy, public sentiment turned quickly, and pedestrianism never 223 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: recovered still, Even once his sport lost its luster, Weston 224 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: kept right on walking. In fact, at age sixty eight, 225 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: he walked from Maine to Chicago again, and that time 226 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: he did it in twenty four hours, less than he 227 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: had in his twenties. The old pro took his last 228 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: big hike in nineteen thirteen, when he was seventy four 229 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: years old. On that outing, he walked from New York 230 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: to Minneapolis in fifty one days, selling a ten cent 231 00:15:56,120 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: souvenir program all along the way. Unfortunately, Weston's walking career 232 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: came to a sad abrupt end in nineteen twenty seven 233 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: when he was struck by a taxi cab in New 234 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: York City. He never walked again and died two years 235 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: later at the age of ninety. Throughout his life, Weston 236 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: walked an odd path, going from an aimless young man 237 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: to a reckless salesman to a beloved professional athlete. His 238 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: sport of choice may seem silly and quaint by today's standards, 239 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: but it entertained hundreds of thousands of people during its 240 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: brief rise to fame in the years following the Civil War. 241 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: It also gave a still fractured country something harmless to 242 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: bond over. In that way, pedestrianism was just as legitimate 243 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: a sport as any other, even if it was more 244 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: boring than baseball. That's right, I said, I'm gay, bluesier, 245 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about him 246 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even 247 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 248 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: Instagram at TDIHC show, and if you have any comments 249 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can always send them my way at 250 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. A big thanks to 251 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you 252 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 253 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: another Day in History class. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 254 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 255 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:43,719 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.