(Look Back with Bob Enoch - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

A GREAT WALKING MATCH

To be Held in this City on March Seventh, Eighth and Ninth [1889].

A fifty-hour go-as-you-please walking match has been arranged to be held at the Rink in this city on the dates mentioned above, next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Mr. M. Hearne, of Wheeling, will be the referee. The following well-known pedestrians will take part in the contest:

Thomas Cox, champion of West Virginia, Parkersburg.

George D. Normac, Philadelphia, Penn.

Samuel Day, ex-champion of England.

Peter Golden, New York City.

James McGrane, Wheeling, W.Va.

Charles Hendricks, Lauckport, W.Va.

Joseph Blanam, Parkersburg, W.Va.

Wm. A. Hoagland, Union Springs, New York

E.C. McClelland, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Peter Priddy, well known oarsman, Pittsburgh.

William Nolan, Pittsburgh

Alf. Courts, Cincinnati, Ohio

J.J. Engledrom, Chicago, Illinois

Christ. Putz, Middletown, Ohio

The race will begin Thursday at 8 o’clock p.m. and will close Saturday, at 11 p.m. Brass band music will be furnished, and the management ensures the best of order during the entire time. The admission will be 25 cents.

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CREMATION?

A New York woman writing on cremation societies – which in this country are largely composed of women – gives it as her opinion that a perfected list of those who believe in cremation would include the majority of the prominent woman writers of that city and a large percent of the college-bred women of the nation.

A French stone mason has discovered a cement which he claims to be stronger, cheaper and less liable to damage from the action of the weather than any preparation now in use. It is not a plaster, but a heavy, viscous fluid, and is applied with a brush. Its composition is kept secret.

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What Is Conscience?

If there be such a power, what is its office? It would seem to be simply this: to approve of our own conduct when we do what we believe to be right, and to censure us when we commit whatever we judge to be wrong. – Dr. A. Crombie

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal,

Feb. 28, 1889

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Let conscience be your guide? Ezra Higgins, an old and wise Methodist minister, years ago, once shared this about ‘conscience:’ Conscience is like a three-sided stone with sharp corners in each person’s side. Every time a person does something that is morally wrong to him or her, the stone moves a bit, the sharp corners causing a noticeable pain, reminding one of their wrongdoings. Eventually however, as the corners of the stone wear off a bit with each move, the pain (reminder) caused by it gets less and less until that moral wrong that used to cause pain doesn’t hurt anymore.

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A Failure.

The Walking Match Suddenly Takes a Collapse.

The fifty-hour go-as-you-please walking match opened last night at eight o’clock. There was a good attendance present and music was furnished by the Lauckport band. The managers were much disappointed, though, of the non-appearance of most of the noted walkers that had agreed to be there. Geo. D. Normac, of Philadelphia, Peter Golden, of New York, E.C. McClelland, of Pittsburgh, William Nolan of Pittsburgh, Alf. Courts, of Cincinnati, J.J. Engledrom, of Chicago, and other well-known pedestrians were expected, but did not show up. James McGrane was the only out-of-towner walker present.

Stockings Anyone?

The Parkersburg young man who found the pair of lady’s hose on the dancing floor at the inaugural ball received a sweet-scented note yesterday from a young lady in Baltimore who said that they were hers and that if he would send them to her he might keep one of the gold flies that were worked on the ankle, as a memento. Mun intended to use them for base ball stockings but found they were not the proper size for his classic limbs and sent them to their owner last night by express.

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal,

March 16, 1889

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.