ROUND THE WORLD RECORD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1857, 17 September 1913, Page 5

ROUND THE WORLD RECORD.

21,066 MILES IN 32 DAYS,

With the loss of only a tooth-brush and a large fruit cake at Cleveland, Mr. John Henry Hears, of the New York "Evening Sun," on A.ugust 7, completed the fastest journey over made round the world. His time, compared with tho previous record of M. Andre Jager Schmidt in 1911, was: Hears—32 days 21hrs. 35min. 0 4-ssec. Jager Schmidt—39 days, 19hrs. 42min. 37 3-6 sec. Some delay, Mr. Mears explained, was due to the enthusiasm of his friends at the Grand Central Station, who prevented him from taking a flying leap into the motor-car in which ho completed tho journey to tlie "Evening Sun" offices. "M. Jager Schmidt," he proceeded, "has told me he will lower my record, but that will not bo possible until aeroplanes can carry tho intending record-breaker in safety from Fishguard to London, Dover, and Ostend, and thenco to Berlin and Moscow, thus enabling tlio voyager to take a later steamer from New -York, and until the Russians have accelerated tho Siberian railway service."

As it was, Mr. Mears, after crossing tho Pacific in tho fastest liner, availed himself of the service of a watorplano to cross Puget Sound. The only part of tho journey of 21,066 miles that lie traversed on foot was half a mile in Cleveland for tho purpose of catching the Empire State express. It was in tlio course of that sprint that ho lost his tooth-brush and cake.

"I was delayed eight hours," he said, "when in the Mauretania by fog, and lost eighteen hours through a wash-out on tho Russian railway at Ekaterinburg. It was Mr. Mikami, general passenger agent of the Japanese railways, who 6aved the record for mo by running a special train through Korea, landing me at Shimonoseki in time to catch tho Empress of India on Wednesday, July 23."