August 30, 1904: 25 Miles of Insanity

Thomas Hicks

August 30, 1904: Perhaps the craziest sporting event ever held on American soil takes place. No movie studio would buy a script containing this story. But it all happened.

The 1st modern Olympic Games, in Athens, Greece in 1896, were a smashing success. Not least because its signature event, the marathon race, was won by a Greek, Spyridon Louis, who became, and perhaps remains, his nation's greatest sporting hero.

The founder of the International Olympic Committee, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, wanted them held every 4 years, just like they were in ancient Greece. Understandable. And he wanted the next one to be in his hometown: Paris, France. Also understandable, given his role in their establishment, given France's status as one of the world's leading countries, and given Paris' status as one of the world's most beloved cities.

But the 1900 Olympics were practically a sideshow to the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair. It was so haphazard that some competitors, upon receiving their medals, were unaware that the events they had just won were part of the Olympic Games. About the only thing that can be said in favor of the Games of the IInd Olympiad is that they were the 1st to include women.

Things got worse in 1904. America wanted to be the next host. But the city with the winning bid was St. Louis, Missouri. Not being a coastal city, and not being as large a city as Athens or Paris, it was hard to get to. Throw in various worldwide tensions, including the Russo-Japanese War, and only 62 out of the 651 athletes who competed were from outside North America. Only 15 countries sent athletes.

And, again, they were attached to a World's Fair: The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the launch of the Lewis & Clark expedition. This Fair would popularize several foods we now take for granted, though none were actually invented there: The hamburger, the hot dog, peanut butter, iced tea, cotton candy, the waffle-style ice cream cone, and Dr. Pepper soda. The Fair would be the setting of the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis, starring Judy Garland and directed by Vincente Minnelli, who married shortly thereafter.

The 1904 Olympics were the 1st to feature boxing, freestyle wrestling, and the decathlon. Most events took place on the campus of Washington University, including on their Francis Field, which is still in use, although the current stadium on the site dates to 1984.

George Eyser, born in Germany, but a naturalized American citizen living in St. Louis, had lost a leg in a railroad accident. Nevertheless, he competed in gymnastics, and won 3 Gold Medals, 2 Silvers and a Bronze. As he had 4 years earlier, Ray Ewry won all 3 standing jumps: High, long and triple. Only 2 athletes representing Great Britain won medals, and both were, rather inconveniently, from Ireland.

And then there was the marathon. The race had not yet been standardized at 26.2 miles. This one was 24.85 miles, in 90-degree heat, on unpaved roads that tended to kick up dust. It should never have been approved as the marathon course. The race began with 32 competitors from 6 countries: America, Canada, France, Greece, South Africa and Cuba.

The Canadian was Billy Sherring, of Hamilton, Ontario. He did not finish the race. Two years later, in the so-called Intercalated Games in Athens, he won the marathon, competing in a singlet with a large shamrock on it. It is said that this inspired the Athens-based soccer team Panathinaikos to adopt the shamrock as their logo, even though they have nothing to do with Ireland.

The South Africans were Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, the 1st 2 black Africans to compete in the Olympics. Aside from his participation in this race, little is known of Taunyane. It is not known when he was born. He participated in the Boer War, and was part of an exhibit on that war at the Fair. Having been a dispatch runner in the war, he decided he could run in the marathon. Despite the strict segregation of the State of Missouri, he was allowed to try.

But the organizers couldn't understand his thick accent, which made it hard for them to understand him even as he spelled his name. So he went into the books as "Len Tau," competing for the Zulu nation, because, as yet, there was no nation of South Africa. And he wasn't a member of the Zulu tribe: He was a Tswana. He ran barefoot, and at one point was chased off course by dogs. He still managed to finish 9th. He returned to his homeland, and, from there, history lost track of him: We don't know what he did after 1904, or when he died.

Even less is known of Mashiani, who finished 12th. Taunyane's part of the story would be distinctive enough. But it was far from the craziest part.

The Cuban was Félix de la Caridad Carvajal y Soto, known as Andarín Carvajal. He was a mailman, used to walking long distances. Once, he ran the entire length of the island on which Cuba lies. When he learned of the Olympics coming to America, he decided to run in the marathon.

He took a boat ride from Havana to New Orleans, and then lost all of his remaining money gambling. He had to walk and hitchhike the 683 miles up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. He showed up just in time to register, wearing street clothes, including long pants. A sympathetic official cut the pants so that they would feel more like shorts, and give him more ventilation.

Along the race course, he stopped several times to talk with spectators. He saw a car with a basket full of peaches, and swiped a few of them, to keep himself hydrated in the brutal St. Louis heat. The course included an apple tree, and he grabbed some apples. They turned out to be rotten, and he threw up. He stopped to take a nap. He got up, and resumed. So, what, it took him a week to finish the race? No: He finished 4th, in under 4 hours.

In 1907, he famously defeated American runner Henry W. Shelton in a 6-hour race. In 1909, a 6-laps-per-mile track was installed for a race around the Polo Grounds in New York, but he finished last. He lived until 1949.

You might think Carvajal's role was the craziest part of the event. But you would be thinking wrong.

Frederick Lorz was a 20-year-old bricklayer in New York. He competed in a long-distance race at Celtic Park in what's now Sunnyside, Queens, that was a precursor to the New York City Marathon. The 8 top finishers would be admitted to the Olympic marathon in St. Louis, all expenses paid. He was 1 of the 8, competing for the Mohawk Athletic Club.

He entered the race, but dropped out after 9 miles. His manager pulled up to him in a car -- still a novelty at that point -- and drove him 11 miles. Then he got back onto the course, ran into Francis Field, and broke the tape, purporting to be the winner. His time was 3 hours, 13 minutes even.

He was called out: No one had seen him at the halfway mark. He admitted his deception, and the Amateur Athletic Union banned him for life from all competitions they oversaw. After 1 year, the ban was lifted, and he won the 1905 Boston Marathon. He died in 1914, of pneumonia in those pre-antibiotic days, only 29 years old.

So that's the strangest part of this story, right? No, it's not.

Only 14 of the 32 runners who started finished. One who did not was William Garcia, a 27-year-old runner from Oakland, California. He got to the 19-mile mark before the St. Louis heat did him in. He fell, and coughed up blood. A bystander saw this, and got him medical attention. Garcia nearly became the 1st person to die as a result of competing in the Olympic Games.

(Aside from the Israeli athletes murdered by terrorists in Munich in 1972, only 1 athlete ever has: Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luger from the Republic of Georgia, who was killed in a practice run in Vancouver in 2010.)

Finally, we come to the strangest part. Thomas John Hicks was born in England in 1876. By August 30, 1904, he was a 28-year-old brass worker living outside Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1904, he finished 2nd at the Boston Marathon. Four months later, he was ready to compete in the Olympic Marathon. Or so he thought.

Midway through the race, he was well behind the leaders. His assistants gave him 1/60th of a grain -- about 1 milligram -- of strychnine, and some brandy. Historically, small doses of strychnine were given to people to strengthen muscle contractions, to stimulate the heart, and to aid in bowel movements. In doses larger than that, it had been used as poison, as a murder weapon. It had also been used as a pesticide.

The 1st dose didn't help Hicks much. So he was given another dose. That did the trick: With Lorz having already been disqualified, Hicks crossed the finish line officially 1st, in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 53 seconds -- nearly 16 minutes after Lorz. Albert Corey of France finished 2nd, at 3:34:52. Arthur Newton of the U.S. was 3rd, and, as I said, Carvajal finished 4th, oddly, but legitimately.

The strychnine was, literally, a "performance-enhancing drug." At the time, though, it was legal. Eventually, it was banned. A good thing, too: Hicks collapsed at the finish line, and it is believed that a 3rd dose would have killed him. Instead, he moved to Canada, joined his brothers working in a mine near Winnipeg, and lived until 1952.

Thomas Hicks had won a race that can legitimately be called 25 miles of insanity.

*

August 30, 1904 was a Tuesday. A full slate of games, and then some, was played in what would later be called Major League Baseball:

* The New York Highlanders beat the Cleveland Naps, 1-0 at Hilltop Park in Manhattan. Al Orth, known as "The Curveless Wonder," outpitched future Hall-of-Famer Addie Joss, known as "The Human Hairpin" because of his pitching motion. Jimmy Williams singled home Norman "Kid" Elberfeld to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.

In 1913, the Highlanders renamed themselves the Yankees. Cleveland's 2nd baseman, manager and namesake was Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who went 0-for-4 in this game. After he left in 1914, the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians. In 2022, they renamed themselves again, the Cleveland Guardians.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. Crosley Field was built on the site in 1912. Christy Mathewson got the win over Frank "Noodles" Hahn, advancing to 28-9 on the season.

* The Brooklyn Superbas beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at West Side Park in Chicago. The Superbas became the Dodgers in 1911.

* The Boston Americans beat the Detroit Tigers, 13-0 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. Cy Young not only pitched a 6-hit shutout, but went 3-for-5, including a 2-RBI triple.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. Roy Patterson pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* A doubleheader was split at League Park in Washington. The St. Louis Browns won the opener, 3-2. The Washington Senators won the nightcap, 4-1.

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 1-for-2 with a walk in a losing cause.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Robison Field in St. Louis.