09.07.2022 - By Davy Crockett
By 1906, when the pedestrian era was over, most of the elite pedestrians turned to legitimate professions to support their families. Daniel O’Leary was traveling for a big publishing house. John “Lepper” Hughes was in the real estate business, Jimmy Albert was a Texas cattleman, Robert Vint was an oil agent in Russia. Samuel Day was a house painter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
But many others had a darker side, driven by motivations of greed and were not necessarily the most outstanding citizens. It should not be too surprising that many were involved in wild free-spending lifestyles, scandals, illegal activities, and run-ins with the law. This episode will concentrate on the strange darker side of the sport during the late 1800s. Future episodes will focus on corruption during the races and some bizarre love triangles among the running community.