In response to an anonymous newspaper jibe on the futility of baseball and that wood-sawing for the poor would provide better exercise, the "Hoosier" baseball club of Lafayette, Indiana challenged the other two clubs in town, along with the Young Men's Christian Association to a wood-sawing contest to raise money for charity.  At the end of proceedings, the Hoosiers were the victors over the Y.M.C.A. by "half a cord" and were immediately proclaimed the "champion wood-sawyers of the world."  The event reportedly raised around $300 for the poor of the town.  (By John Osborne)

Just after nine in the morning of Thanksgiving Day, twenty-eight year old Edward Payson Weston reached the Chicago, Illinois city limits.  He had engaged in a wager for $10,000 with gambler T.F. Wilcox that he could walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago in thirty consecutive days, excluding Sundays.  He had left Portland at noon on October 28, 1867 and had therefore won the bet by a full day.  The entire walk was extensively followed in the regional and national press, and when Weston reached Chicago to an excited welcome from around 50,000 people, a fifty-man police escort, and a brass band, he was already a household name.  The feat was crucial to the rise of the remarkable popularity in the following decades of what was called "pedestrianism," one of nineteenth century America's most popular spectator sports. (By John Osborne)

At noon in the city center of Portland, Maine, twenty-eight year old Edward Payson Weston set out for Chicago on foot.  He had engaged in a wager for $10,000 with gambler T.F. Wilcox that he could walk from Portland to Chicago in thirty consecutive days, excluding Sundays.  On this day, he had reached Plainfield, Connecticut. The event was extensively followed in the regional and national press, and when Weston reached Chicago city limits just after nine in the morning of November 28, 1867, one day earlier than the deadline, he was welcomed by 50,000 people and was already a household name.  The feat was crucial to the rise of the remarkable popularity in the following decades of what was called "pedestrianism." (By John Osborne)