Edward Payson Weston, age 71, let the New York Post Office bound for San Francisco on foot, seeking to become the first person to do so.
He would in fact succeed, taking 105 days to accomplish the task.
Weston was a major figure in the rise of pedestrianism, something that was very much in vogue at the time. After his last major walk in 1913, he warned that automobiles were making people lazy and sedentary, something he was really correct about. He urged people to talk up waking for exercise and competition.
Not without some irony, he was rendered unable to walk after being hit by a car in 1927, and he passed away in 1929 at age 90.
Congress was called into a special session to consider the Payne Tariff act.
Last prior:
Saturday, March 13, 1909. Sulphur Springs Florida and Augusta Georgia.
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