A PERPETUAL WALKER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1445, 31 December 1886, Page 2

A PERPETUAL WALKER.

Chicago Timet, in a recent {sane, pays :—“ One .of tbe strangefc penalties that ecc»ntrio Fate has ever Irflicted on a member pf the human family is shown in t.t e Cii» of John Snyder, who resides at Mile Grove, a small station thirty miles oust. ■ f here, on the Chicago, St. Louis, and Pittsburg road- His peculiar destiny appears to b that he shall not stop walk* ir>g until h» walks Into the grave. Accompanied by his eon, he oams into Marion tc-iay m his way to visit the fair in the ecjicent t wn of Warren. Except for consideration for his son, he would have saved railway fare and walked to Marion. Even while on the cars he was unab’e to control the spirit of norest th j t row»s°s h'm, and kept no bis paipstn»l prrmenating from front to rear and from rear to front In leaving the corch, while his looomo ion was impeded hy the other passengers, his legs and feet refused to pat aa in their pedestrian moth ns npsnd down. He had six hours to wait here between trains, la that rime he walked several miles into the C'Uo ; ry and back, up one street and ■own another, sronnd block after block, n-ver ha-ting, ntver pmaing. He oardcd a To edo, 5St. Lou's, ard Kansas City train for Warren, sod, as the engine pulled out, he was keeping his measured read from platform to platform. Snyder’s strange rfH oil-m dates back to a little ■ ver ‘wo years ago At (hat tma he became the victim of soma sort < f nervous complaint, from which be found relief in a measure by • diking unto completely ‘-xhausted Hiratrsn.e malady became mere and more and he wonld get up in the middle of the night and wa’k bee, ten. and fif em miles before *ofii bendy exhaust'd to sleep. * Then he would wdk twenty-font! oars on a stretch It i* asserted on m questtonahle authority hat the entire t>me in the last year that he has been iff bis feet would not aggre* ate over three or ( u- hours. Fating and (deeping, in da. light and darkness, he keeps up his tire’ess and perpetual tramp, tramp, tramp. Around bin home is a beaten path, nearly a f o >t deep, worn by months of incessant walking. He goes at a steady gait of a little over three miles an hour, seventy-four miles every twenty* four hour-t, 513 miles each wt-ek, 2.230 miles a momh, and 27,000 miles a year. I) 'he last tro months be has walked far enongb to twice encircle tbe globe. Two years ago he was believed to be insane, and was sent to the asylum at Indianap >lis. After a short confinement It was shown that he was not a subject for mental treatment, and was released. A distinguished authority on nervous diseases gave it as his opinion at the time that if Snyder we~e to be bound hand and foot he would become a laving- maniac, and die ia a few hours. He has walked ever since, and cannot atop If he halta'foc a f w seconds his legs become cramped and exhibit convulsive tendencies, and there is do rest or relief but to continue hie t-amp. A etrange feature ia related in connection with his pedestrian tendencies. A few months sgo he was pnt to sleep in a rernmbent position by the use of opiates. On awaking he was so surcharged with the demon of disquiet that he sprang up and ran for five hours at a rate of about t elve miles an hour, when he again lapsed into his accustomed gait, which he has since maintained without interruption. He appears to be thoroughly and permanently wound up, and until he runs d iwn will remain the best example of perpetual motion that has yet been dltcovered. Snyder is about sixty years old, and has a large fa nily. In other respects his health is go >d, and, aside from a haunted and hag. ard expression, there is Eo'hmg unusual in bis appearance. His steps lacks spring and spr'ghtlinees, and gives tie repression of sore feet and an a'most intolerable weariness. All belief that his mild rase is an assumed one has 1- ng .iuce been dissipated. His case la a remarkable one, and is apparently beyond the ken of physicians • r scientists.