Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1888 — Page 6

HURDLING.

A fascinating Pastime Much in Vogue Among Our British Cousins. "The Qualities and Training Requisite for a Successful Hurdler. [NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE.] Mr. M. J. Melefont is thoroughly familiar with field games and pastimes, and contests on race track or cinder path. He takes a keen interest in the advancement of American sport, and looks to any athletic exercise which will develop American . brawn and cope successfully with British records in the matter of muscle and nerve with the greatest interest. “What sort of a position does hurdling claim in American sports?” he was asked. “Hurdling has not yet won for itself the position or the attention which it deserves,” he replied, “ft requires a combination of three qualities—wind, muscle and judgment, with an amount of training which all are not willing to bestow. But as an athletic exercise, it is most valuable in bringing out that firm poise, confidence and quick movement which is of such incomparable advantage to any one who wishes to shine as an amateur athlete. While we have produced some of the best sprinters in the world, we have not taken up hurdling with anything like interest until the past eight or ten years. Sprinting is an athletic pastime that especially commends itself to healthy young fellows, because it is literally full of breathless interest to the participants. The distance to be

THE AMERICAN HURDLE.

covered by a ‘sprinter’ may not exceed a quarter of a mile, or four hundred and forty yards. A longer space than that is in the province of the runner, not of the sprinter, whose essential aim is to cover a short distance in the briefest amount of time. Of course, wind tells, but staying powers are not demanded as they are in long distance runs, c~ long pedestrian contests. The sprint t, lets all he has out from the very start and keeps letting it out at its very best until the finish. Having to carry such a short distance, he need not economize his wind or his legs. High pressure is the rate all along the short line of his course.

“Hurdling is a fascinating variety of sprinting. The sprinting requires for a successful endeavor, or at least a brilliant effort, whether it captures the prize or not, only speed. Any ordinarily healthy fellow, especially after his training, has wind enough to hold out, and he doesn’t care much if he brings up panting and breathless, and tumbles up against a friend quite done up, as they often do after reaching the goal, provided he gets there. But the hurdler must be an elastic, springy fellow, and exercise good judgment. The distance of a hurdle race rarely exceeds two hundred and twenty yards, while one hundred and twenty is the more usual and the favorite length. In this space a number of hurdles are ■erected at regular intervals, allowing about the same space for a start before the first hurdle is reached, and a long •distance between the last gate and the string, to allow of a spurt just before the triumphant runner breaks through the hempen barrier. The height of the hurdles may vary. Three feet and a half is the highest that is employed, and it is far more common to

A CLOSE RACE.

only three feet in height. This is high enough, and the two feet and a half height is regarded as a condescension and not to be considered except by associations which have as much dude as athlete in their make-up. A hurdle race with three-feet hurdles, at ten or twelve feet apart, in a one-hundred-an d-twenty-y ar d spurt, is a very pretty contest, interesting to the spectator and equally so to the hurdler. It is a breathless, bounding

rush, in which the competitor is so engrossed by the task that is cut out for him that he has no time to turn and look to see if anybody is picking up. He simply forges ahead for all he is worth, and tries to reach the string in about as lively a passage from the starting point as his legs can make. “The movement a hurdler adopts is more like a dance movement than anything else. It is a pedestrian rhythmic run with as many steps as notes in so many equal measures—a passage of ten bars. The reason for this is obvious. The runner must bring himself at a

SPRINTING BETWEEN THE HURDLES.

good point to spring from and clear the hurdle. If his steps are so timed that he fetches up for the last leap too near the hurdle, a much greater effort is needed to hurl himself across the barrier. The same is true, to a degree, if he brings to for the jump at a little too great a distance from the pole. “Springing and recovery from the descent so as to resume his course are the naturally retarding points in his action, and the good hurdler tries to bring his spring as smoothly and correctly, so to speak, into his motion as he possibly may, so that the upward rise, which calls for so different a movement of the muscles, may not arrest him a second more than is necessary. In watching a hurdle race one cannot fail to note the slight pause, infinitesimal almost, yet still a noticeable pause, as the hurdler flings himself over the rail and touches the ground. Quick recovery tells so much in the final result. In the hurdle race the longer stretch coming between the last hurdle and the string offers some slight possibility of a spurt. True, not much allowance is made for this, but where only a yard or two separate the second runner from the one in front, he may, if he has a reserve force to call into requisition, force himself and by a spurt forge ahead and burst the string. “The hurdler, like the high jumper, in rising from the spring, throws his whole body horizontally over the bar. It is far easier than than the straight perpendicular rise. It takes much more effort to rise straight in the air so as to clear the bar with the body perpendicularly held. This could be done, since Paige, in making his high jump, really gets over a height which shows that a three-feet hurdle could be so cleared. The effect on a spectator would be farmore entertaining, as the appearance of such a spring would be more brilliant. But it is a practical law with athletes to economize strength in a contest, not to spend it prodigally and uselessly.” “How does one train for hurdling?” “The general system is much the same as that adopted for short-dis-tance running. While, as I have said,

OVER HIGH ENGLISH HURDLES.

any man of good physique and limber limbs can become a hurdler, there is, nevertheless, a certain adaptability for the sport that must not be overlooked. A fat man, for instance, with all the training in the world, could not ever become a sprinter or a hurdler; but it is not leanness of physique alone that fits a man for this peculiar sport. I do not know that there is any rule by which the natural qualities of a man as regards running may be determined without actual experiment with him, Looking at the broad back and heavy arms of a pugilist, you see at once that he is well fitted by nature for the sport in which he indulges, but nothing similar can be said about runners. As a general thing, however, a man whose legs are piled thick with muscles will not be able to run speedily, although he may be immensely strong. Agility is generally accompanied by comparatively light muscles, and then, besides the formation of a man’s limbs, the question of wind enters into the problem. There are some men who make splendid runners who could never do anything in a short distance contest. So far as I know, the only way in which a man’s ability as a sprinter and hurdler can be determined, is to adopt the course advised by Lon Myers, the champion sprinter. He declares that one must try experiments with himself in running to determine in which stage cf the exercise he is best qualified to compete. No one without some essential training can run a mile or two

without stopping, unless at the expense of considerable fatigue, but after once training by running, say a few bloc’s the first day, and a ' v more the second, and so on for a Week or two, he can then readily make up his mind whether he is adapted for long distance or not. If he is not, it is then well to try the one hundred yard dash a few times, and see whether he naturally exerts all his frdm one end of the race to the other without bringing about undue exhaustion. If a man can start off and make one hundred yards in thirteen seconds the first trial, he ought to feel encouraged to adopt that style of running for his specialty. If he has determined to do this and also to ma’e hurdling a fejture of it, what he should do should be to practice daily upon a track at short distance runs, and in general, after a few days of essential work, during which he should be very careful not to overdo himself, ho should run a distance one-third longer than that for which a race should be set. That is, if he proposed to enter a contest lor a hundred yards or a hundred and twenty at hurdles, he should practice at a distance of about one hundred and fifty. The idea of this is to accustom himself to a considerable strain, and, if he is in the habit of massing all his strength for one hundred and fifty yards, he will find eventually that he can cover the shorter distance in less time and with less exhaustion. Of course, the only way to train for hurdle-jumping is to jump hurdles. Beyond that, the general manner of dieting and comparatively light exercise in the gymnasium are things that every student of sport knows all about. “In training for hurdle-running, perhaps the most important thing to practice is the recovery after the jump, and this should be done over and over again, until a man is perfectly familiar

A SPILL.

with the operation, and can start off on the run the minute his feet touch the ground. Training should be continued daily, if possible, especially before a contest. It should always be done in racing costume. “In England the custom is to have hurdles rather higher than they have in America, and frequently to have longer races, but the records for this event are usually counted on a basis of three-feet hurdles, and a distance of two hundred and twenty yards. “It is seldom that any serious accident occurs in a sport of this kind. Of course, a runner may stumble just before reaching a hurdle and collide with it, or he may catch his toe upon a top rail and fall to the ground, but in either case the fall is very short, and is not likely to cause even so much inconvenience as the strain of running so rapidly for the distance itself. It not often happens that amateurs who have not been trained properly for a sprinting contest are so completely exhausted at the end of the race that they do not recover for two or three days, and it seldom 1 a >pens that an accident at hurdle jumping has such serious results as that. As a matter of fact, the accident will be always due to improper methods of racing, for one who has studied the matter of hurdle jumping will never be in any danger of injuring himself. “The champion hurdler is 0. T. Wiegand, a crack athlete of the New York Athletic Club. He has been champion at this style of race, which is a specialty of his, for a number of years. He holds the record for a hurdle race of two hundred and twenty yards with three feet hurdles, covering the ground and leaping the hurdles in twentyeight and four-fifths seconds. He is a fine sprinter and makes a brilliant hundred yard dash, having made a record of this of ten and three-fifths seconds. He is very good in broad jumps, as well as general gymnasium work. Five feet eight inches is not a bad high jump for a fellow who is an inch and a half less than that in height, and who tips the beam at one hundred and fifteen pounds. Wiegand is a light, spare build, and is twenty-one years of age.”

Kings No Longer Tyrants.

An anecdote told of the young Prince of Italy shows that the bringing up of kings requires lessons in democracy. One day when the Prince was playing with the daughter of one of the ladies of honor, he got into a quarrel with her, and at last said in a most autocratic tone: “Now, then, I’m going to cut your head off." The little girl commenced to cry, and the King, who chanced to be passing, on learning what had happened, had his son placed in close confinement for fifteen days, in order to impress him with the fact that nowadays kings may no longer decapitate their subjects, as in “the good old days of yore.”— Exchange. 1 Teacher Correct the sentence: “The liquor which the man bought was drank.” Small boy—“ The man which bought the liquor was drunk.”—Harvard Lampoon,

BLIZZARD EXPERIENCES.

Peculiarity of the Dreadful Snow-Storm that Recently Swept the West Some Remarkable Incidents and Escapes—An Old Soldier’s Descrip- * tion of the Blast. [Sioux Falls (Dakota) letter.] The great blizzard of Thursday, Jan. 12, will long be remembered. In fact, the day will go down into history as the date of a most extraordinary event. That fifty or one hundred persons more or less should have been frozen to death is truly a terrible calamity. And yet Dakota ought not to be condemned and shunned by home-seekers because of this heartrending occurrence. The truth is, the blizzard of Ihursday was absolutely the worst ever known in central and southern Dakota. It was a peculiar blizzard. Generally the Dakota storms, whether in winter or summer, last for at least a part of three days. But this baneful blizzard seemed to cut itself in two. It began on Wednesday and proved to be a very severe storm, with fresh snow, which the wind took up with great force and whirled with bewildering effect. By Thursday morning the snow ceased falling, the wind died down, and people began congratulating themselves on a comparatively easy escape from what seemed at the beginning to be a severe three days’ blizzard. bo far so good; but that lull ip the storm is what did the murderous mischief. That bright sunshine which came out so enticingly for an hour or two on Thursday morning was like the voice of the siren, wooing hapless victims to a terrible death. Men, women, and children were deceived. Children went to school and men went about their work as usual, when they should not have ventured from their homes. Between 9 and 10 o’clock the storm again broke forth with terrific fury. An old veteran, who engaged in the battle of Gettysburg, said the lull in the storm of Thursday was just like the lull in the battle just before the charge of Pickett’s cavalry. A tremendous cannonading had been going on between the artillery force on each side. General Meade, suspecting that the heavy firing of the rebels was done to cover up an attack, ordered the artillery to cease firing, to let their guns cool, and to get ready for an aggressive movement on the part of the enemy. On the other hand the rebels thought they had silenced the Federal batteries, and Pickett was ordered to make that famous and fatal charge. Never before—except perhaps when into the jaws of death rode the six hundred—was a charge made with such disastrous effect. From all along the Federal lines fwere poured out the bullets from the musketry, and grape and canister from the artillery. The earth fairly rocked with the terrific thunder. So deathly was the conflict that in a short time Pickett’s command of 17,000 men, the flower of the rebel army, was reduced to less than 1,800. As it was the lull that deceived Pickett at Gettysburg, so was it the lull that deceived the people of South Dakota. When they thought the fury of the storm had been spent, it really had not begun. It started again with fury and it gathered to itself increasing fierceness as it went along. The air was full of snow, which was literally as fine as flour. It was driven by a north wind which blew witn tremendous velocity. So thick was the air one could not see over two or three rods, and sometimes not one. The wind howled with a dismal sound which foreboded nothing good, and all the time it seemed to rise to a higher pitch and become more mournful and defiant. The luckless wayfarer who attempted to beat his way against the terrible storm in a few minutes found his eyes all but completely blinded and his cheeks coated with snow and ice. The foice of the wind fairly took his breath away and he was compelled to turn around to breathe.

The storm lasted all Thursday and through most of the following night. It is not strange that persons who were out became bewildered and ultimately lost their lives; but it is strange that any should have ventured out during the storm. But this storm cannot be charged up to Dakota alone. It extended throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and most of lowa. Fatalities occurred in all these sections, but Dakota suffered the most because of the deceptiveness of the storm. Amid the many pathetic and distressing stories of intense suffering and loss of life, it is gratifying to hear of a number of escapes which were planned by the cool and thoughtful heads. Some persons, when they realized they were lost, quietly buried themselves in the snow, covering themselves as best they could. In this way not only were their lives saved, but some survived without being even slightly frostbitten. Blizzard Experiences. [Jamestown (Dak.) letter.l Among the»late blizzard news come a number of reports of the pluck and endurance of the parties caught out in the storm. Probably the most interesting of these hazardous experiences was that to which P. Gaffeny, a milkman of the county, was subjected. He started out Thursday morning with his team and milk-cans, as usual, am. the storm broke on him when he was only thirty rods from the house. Mr. Gaffeny is an old-timer, and, appreciating the situation, turned his horses and attempted to drive them homeward in the face of the wind. The horse, as usual, refused to face the wind, and he was soon lost. All that day he searched in the blinding, pelting gusts for his home without avail. He knew he could not be far off, and, when night came, unhitched his horses and prepared to camp out on the prairie for the night. All night and until 11 o’clock next day, when the tempest lightened, he battled with the storm. When be got his bearings he found himself in an open field about one mile from home. Mr. Gaffeny’s experience is one seldom equaled, and one such as only a tough and wiry constitution such as he possesses, could live through. Another case in this county is that of Nels Morgan, a young farmer living south of town. He started from the city with a load of coal, but when a short distance out his mules refused to go against the wind. Young Morgan exercised his presence of mind, turned the coal out of the wagon-box, crowded under that narrow shelter, and remained there until the storm had spent itself —two nights and one day. In Barnes County, R. N. Pray and J. R.

Reynolds, who were caught on their way home from Valley City, owe their lives to a similar exhibition of presence of mind. The team got off the road, and, the men finding that they were lost, unhitched, turned the sleigh upside down, and remained there until morning. Frozen to Death and Devoured by Hoj», [St. Paul telegram.] A story of horrible inhumanity or worse comes from Belgrade, Montana, where it is said a German laborer in the employ of a farmer was allowed to freeze to death. The laborer was ill, and was placed by the farmer in a room without fire, and willfully neglected. After an unusually cold night, the man was found frozen to death. His body was then removed to the woodshed, where it was partially devoured by hogs.

CONVERSATION BY CABLE.

Fresh Wonders of the Telegraph —Time and Space Annihilated. A London Editor Talks Over the Wires with His Correspondent in British Columbia. [Cable dispatch from London.] The Pall Mall which has been called the Ishmael of the London press, the more its editor is attacked, his motives impugned, or his newspaper lampooned, seems to increase what is often called its Americanesque enterprise. This evening’s . issue contains the following instance. It is headed, “Telegraphing Extraordinary— Interviewing by Cable Across the World.” The article begins: “An altogether unprecedented feat in telegraphy was performed last night when an interview took place by cable between our special commissioner, now at Vancouver, and the editor at the offices of the Commercial Cable Company. The arrangements in London were under G. H. Bainbridge, Superintendent of the Mackay-Bennett Company. Mr. Hosmer, manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway Telegraphs, and Mr. Ward, manager of the Commercial Cable Company, superintended on the other side. The origin of the interview was the desire of our special commissioner to afford the Old World a new and striking manifestarion of the extent to which time and space have been annihilated by the electric telegraph and cable. The exact distances traversed by the electric current conveying the messages are as follows by wire: London to Bristol, spur cable, 140 miles; by spur cable to Waterville, Ireland, 329; by cable from Waterville to Canso, Nova Scotia, 2,750; from Canso, New York, and Canadian Pacific Railway telegraph lines to Vancouver, 4,400, making a total 7,619 miles. Conversation was carried on, allowing for breaks produced by a storm that interrupted the wires, first between Ottawa and Montreal, then on west of Winnipeg, consecutively for three hours. The private messages on either side, of course, have been excised from this public record. This unequaled, interview by wire outstripped the sun by eight hours, it being 1 o’clock in the afternoon at Vancouver and 9 o’clock at night in London. The conversation began with a bonjour message from the Pacific upon the Vancouver morning, and in a few minutes only the salutation was returned from London. Next came, within six minutes’ time, the following from the Pacific side:

“There are with me the Mayor of Vancouver, G. Oppenheimer, editor of the Vancouver NewsAdvertiser, and Mr. Cotton, Superintendent of the Pacific Division of the Canadian Pacific Bailroad Telegraph. Mr. Wilson is at the key. “After half an hour of instructions between the editor and correspondent, the latter says: “See the Pacific as I write. In a few aays I shall start for a 4,C00-mile voyage on the English ship Parthia over another ocean, yet I am able to report myself to you and talk as quickly and easily as if we were speaking through the tube in Northumberland street at our office. “During the electric interview Manager Ward in New York told London: “The lines beyond Winnipeg have suddenly given out, but I expect them to be through in a few minutes. The weather was very severe in the north. The thermometer in New York last night was zero. It is now 10 deg. above. I hope the conversation has been satisfactory so far. “During the interview several Vancouverans took part in the electric conversation, thus: “The Mayor and corporation of the city of .Vancouver send greetings to the Pall Mall Gazette. They trust the visit of his commissioner may be beneficial to the Gazette, as it is certain to be profitable to Vancouver and British Columbia. D. Oppenheimer, Mayor. “To which London answered: “Thanks from the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette for the kindly greeting and hospitable welcome. « “The following came from Winnipeg: “Winnipeg, the center of the continent, sends greetings to the Pall Mall Gazette. It is zero here to-day, but we are not freezing to death aa in Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. No blizzards here. Good-night. “This was followed by: “Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette sends hearty thanks for the kind greetings ana congratulations of Winnipeg, her journalistic enterprise, and freedom from blizzards. “ There were established seven points for the current over the continent. There were repeaters at Donald, Winnipeg, Port Arthur, Carter, Montreal, Albany, and New York.” The Pall Mall Gazette adds these comments: “At Waterville, where the cable across the Atlantic connected with the shore, the messages were taken off by Sir W. Thomson’s recorder, which produces a delicate, wavy, penciled litre, utterly unintelligible to all but the initiated. The current on this side was generated by thirty cells, which transmitted messages from London to Waterville. On the American side the line was worked by a similar or greater number, while relays of an equal number of cells were established at seven points en route, the current used in each case having a range of about GOO miles. The current necessary to Cross the Atlantic was much feebler. A single cell will generate enough electricity to carry a message from the Old World to the New. This is owing to the much more perfect insulation of the cable. The messages from the special commissioner, therefore, were transmitted by Morse from New Westminster, read off at Canso, in Nova Scotia, and retransmitted to Waterville, where they were read off by an operator and retransmitted to London, where ' they were recorded on a Wheatstone receiver and read off at the same time by an ordinary sounder, the click of which was almost incessant.”