150: Around the World on Foot: The Paper Suits

Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett My new book, Around the World on Foot: The Early Globetrotters is available on Amazon. After an introduction to help you understand what in the world was going on, I will share a chapter about the strange tradition of starting in a paper suit. I am pretty proud of this book. I wanted to share some details about what my research found. Years ago, as I was doing some research into transcontinental walks and runs, I came across some newspaper articles about two German men, in 1893, who were trying to walk all the way around the world, taking steamers between continents. I had never heard of something like that before, so I did some further research that resulted in episodes 38-45. But I still didn’t understand just how many people took part in the frenzy on foot. In recent months, I researched the topic much deeper, which resulted in my new book, Around the World on Foot: The Early Globetrotters. The reason I’m proud of this book is that no one else has ever researched deeply the amazing event before. No one had ever before lined up side-by-side the hundreds of walker stories to answer many questions of why. Why were there so many walkers? Some towns got tired of globetrotters continually coming into their towns. Did any of them truly succeed circling the globe on foot? How many of them were frauds? Why did it take so long for the public, including newspaper reporters, to catch on to some schemes? How many years did this fad last? Why did many of these globetrotters start in paper suits? Who originated that wild idea? Were there really some around the world races as several of these globetrotters claimed? I found the answers to many of these questions. My book will share more than 60 stories of men and women who attempted to walk around the world or were conning people into thinking they were. I don’t just tell the stories; I analyzed them for truthfulness and validity. If a walk was legitimate, it was covered in dozens or even hundreds of newspapers as they made progress across America, Canada, or Great Britain. If they went to Australia, they received news coverage there too. For a given walker, I collected all those articles together, plotted their progress and dates from town to town, to validate or invalidated their pace. It was a fascinating exercise. For example, one walker was in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the very next day was 400 miles further west on the railroad line at Battle Mountain, Nevada. When he arrived in San Francisco, he proclaimed he walked every mile by foot across America. In my book, I point out these amusing claims and inconsistencies. Some fakers would appear in towns but have no one witnessing them going in or out of the town on foot. They would simply march into a newspaper office, give them a press release, try to set up a lecture, and free room and board. The resulting book is hopefully entertaining, a bit mind-blowing, and at times amusing. I had to pull it all together to make sure this history was told. Now, to some details. Introduction In 1872, the French author, Jules Verne (1828-1905), released his renowned adventure book, Around the World in 80 Days. This novel fascinated readers with the idea of circumnavigating the world within a specific timeframe and encountering incredible sights. Also, starting about that time, “pedestrianism,” competitive walking and running indoors in arenas and town halls, entered its heyday. Beginning in 1875, people began talking about the idea of walking around the world. Wagers were made, and some isolated attempts began. They had no true idea how far it was around the world, what roads and trails existed, how many miles could be walked each day, and how long it would take. It took over 100 years more for guidelines to be established for those who truly wanted to walk around the world. How far is it to walk around the world? Today, the World Runners Association has set a standard...