Part 4 - Around the World on Foot - The Bizarre

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By Davy Crockett

Before returning to more serious ultrarunning history, three more “around the world on foot” tales must be told. These stories are so bizarre that they are hard to believe, but they did happen. These individuals gave up years of their lives to gather attention by walking thousands of miles enduring much hardship. Eventually as world conflict exploded into World War I, much of what the public thought was nonsense, disappeared for a time.

These three stories involved a “masked walker,” an English man who tried to walk around the world in an iron mask. Also, an Austrian man who tried to push his family in a baby carriage around the world. And finally, the “king of the casks”, two Italians who tried to roll a giant barrel around the world. While wager conditions surrounding all three were hoaxes, the extreme walking efforts that took place were genuine. Attention was given worldwide to their efforts. Commenting on one of them, it was written, “He is one of the oddest of the cranks that have started to go around the earth.”

The Masked Walker – 1908

The “man in the iron mask” was a prisoner held in a French prison during the 1600s. Books, theatrical plays, and movies have been produced involving his story. In 1847 Alexander Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, wrote a fictional tale about the man in the iron mask which captured the imagination of readers in the 19^th century.

In 1908, word came from England about a bizarre “around the world walk” that had begun, involving a man in an iron mask. A news report included, “When the average English newspaper is looking hard for a genuine unmitigated ass, it’s a plugged Canadian dime to a double eagle that it will settle on an American millionaire.” Indeed, it was believed that an American multi-millionaire put up $100,000 for a person to walk around the world in very unusual circumstances.

The conditions included that the man must wear a mask keeping his identity a secret for the entire journey! In addition, he must start with less than five dollars, earn money along the way, get a signature from a town official from every town he entered along with a cancelled postage stamp, must push a perambulator (baby carriage), and must find a wife along the way.

Many scoffed that this must be a joke. “The English reading public will believe anything that can be invented by the most prolific and imaginative of minds and expressed in the confines of a newspaper column. The English dailies print a whole lot of stories that would be laughed out of an American newspaper office.”

The “iron mask” on a postcard with his assistant

Nevertheless, a man in England took up the challenge, and encased his head in a black iron mask “of the fashion of the Middle Ages” and started from London’s Trafalgar Square on January 1, 1908. He pushed a perambulator into a biting wind to begin his ten-year walk around the world, accompanied by an assistant.

The masked walker said, “I at once made up my mind to accept the wager. Upon telling the millionaire the decision I had come to, he at once made arrangement with another well-known American gentleman to accompany me. He is only doing it for the sport.” The masked walker preferred that he be called “the iron mask” and the press wondered how he would find someone willing to marry him without looking at his face. But they guessed if he had a chance of winning $100,000 that there would be plenty of takers. He stated that his future wife must be between 25-30 years old, well-educated, of even temper, and have some knowledge of music.

As he left Trafalgar Square, he waved to the crowd and yelled, “Farewell, see you in ten years.” He then went over London Bridge and down the Old Kent Road with a large crowd following. He said, “I shall sell photographs and pamphlets while on the journey.” The perambulator was filled with them. That first day he was selling them as fast as he could grab the money. He said he needed to touch every county in England and visit Scotland, Ireland, and Wales along with twenty countries. For that first day, he walked all day until 9:30 p.m.

Within 16 miles, he was stopped at Dartford, England and fined for selling photograph postcards without a peddler’s license. The magistrate allowed the man to wear his mask in court, the fine was paid and, and he resumed his journey.

As word spread across the world about this crazy undertaking comments were made. “He is one of the oddest of the cranks that have started to go around the earth.” In Iowa, “A mysterious individual left London upon a prospecting trip around the world under conditions so bizarre as to cause the affair to seem a ludicrous hoax. A man who wants the money badly enough to accept a bargain of that sort, including the wife, deserves everything a credulous people can do for him.” In Canada, “The funniest thing about the whole affair is the fact that the English press treat the matter seriously. But of course, the man in the helmet is only advertising the baby carriage, the helmet, or himself. I don’t know which, but I’m sure it’s one or the other.”

In February 1908, his baby carriage broke down and he bought a new fancy one, with good tires. He was described to be “a sturdy and well set up man, and his conversation was said to betray that he possessed considerable education and culture.”

At Bexhill, England, a typical reaction was described, “Naturally he caused some excitement. Pushing a perambulator, and, of course, wearing the iron mask, is not exactly an ordinary spectacle. An interested crowd followed him wherever he went. Moreover, as one of the conditions is that he must find a wife en route, the feminine element was in great evidence.” His postcards were selling like hot cakes.

By the time he reached Devon, England, he said he had found his wife who was traveling with him in a caravan, but no one was allowed to see her. The masked walker started wearing a black silk mask at night while indoors. Once a chamber maid hid under the masked walker’s bed in an attempt to identify him and claim a reward, but she was caught.

Postcard sales were doing very well, and he had to get a new stock. Witnesses continued to see him walking through the summer of 1908 in England, but the journey “around the world on foot” came to an end at Woburn Sands, England, in late September 1908. For the next several weeks he travelled without walking to various cities putting on lectures, still making people believe he was walking.

In December 1908, the masked walker explained that he had quit. “I have been wearing this four-pound helmet daily for ten months. I have wheeled the perambulator a distance of 2,400 miles. The strain began to tell upon me. My eyes ached, and I suffered with racking pains in my head. On several occasions I fainted by the roadside, and sometimes I was even confined to my bed for two or three days at a stretch. And then my wife insisted that I should give up the walk. I should have liked to have continued with it, but circumstances were too strong for me.”

He further. admitted that the wager was a tremendous hoax but continued to claim that during his travels he paid his own way by his postcard sales, and supported his caravan, including the horses and attendants. He claimed that he sold a postcard to the King Edward VII and received 200 proposals for marriage.

Who was this masked man?

Harry Bensley was born in 1876 at Thetford, England, the son a laborer in a sawmill. He had five siblings. At an early age he started to get into trouble. In 1890, at the age of fourteen, Bensley was accused of burning some stacks of barley, oats, and hay that belonged to a neighboring butcher. “He was employed as a shepherd boy and was in a field where there were some stacks about six o’clock in the morning tending some sheep. Shortly afterwards he ran to his master’s house and told him the stacks were on fire. He went to the spot but found it was useless to attempt to put out the flames. The master questioned the lad as to the outbreak, and he replied that as he was approaching the stacks the observed some smoke issuing from the top of one. He thought he saw a man running away from the stacks.”

Hensley was brought to trial for felony arson. It was believed that Bensley had actually started a fire to keep warm and accidentally caught the stacks on fire. He was eventually acquitted because his employer gave an excellent character witness for him.

In 1898 Bensley married Kate Green. But in 1902, he deserted his wife and children and went to London to take up a career of being a con artist. He took on an alias of Harry Burrell and claimed that he was heir of a large estate owned by a mythical mayor of Thetford, England. He married a barmaid, Lilly Chapman, in 1903. She later found out that he was already married, but stayed with him. After he conned some businessmen out of 367 pounds, he was on the run from police. He fled to South Africa with his wife, but in 1904 was apprehended in Cape Town. Back in England he plead guilty but denied the charge of bigamy. There was plenty of evidence and he was found guilty on both counts and sentenced to four years in prison.

When Bensley was nearing release in November 1907, he was concerned about what he would do for a living once out of jail. After reading the best-selling book, The Man in the Iron Mask, it inspired his plan for a hoax.

“I began to draw mental pictures of myself passing through life with an iron mask over my face. Gradually they took shape and substance, and I began to evolve a scheme by means of which I could make it a source of profit. I thought of several plans, until at last I hit upon the idea of walking round the world for a bogus wager. Needless to say, a mask was to be the chief feature of the scheme. I spent the remaining weeks of my imprisonment perfecting my plans, writing each detail over and over again on my slate.”

After getting out, he obtained the mask and the perambulator. In London he met an old prison acquaintance, a highly educated German and took him in his confidence. The man wanted in on the con and offered to finance it. Bensley then hired a young man to be his assistant and a false promise to give him a third of the prize. The “wife” that joined his caravan was his mistress, Mabel Reed.

After the iron max hoax was over, Bensley faded away out of the public eye and apparently left the life of a con artist behind. In 1915, while working as an attendant at an asylum, he joined the army as a private. But within a year he was thrown out of the service. During World War II he worked as a bomb checker at an ammunitions factory. Harry Bensley died in 1956 at the age of 79.

Anton Hanslian – 1900-1907 – Carriage Pusher

Anton Fredrick Hanslian of Vienna, Austria, was born in 1865. He was an artisan and married Leopoldine Kleimann (1875-1907). They had a daughter, Leopoldine “Polly,” born in 1897. Hanslian claimed that he also was a bareback rider but left the circus ring to earn a living as a long-distance walking. In 1898 he walked from Vienna, Austria to St. Petersburg Russia with a friend, Franz Sklar. During this trip Hanslian picked up the idea to sell postcards along the way to support themselves.

Vienna to Paris – 1900

In 1900, the world exposition (world’s fair) was held in Paris, France. Many people found unique ways to travel to the event. One man came on stilts, two others rolled a huge barrel there. Hanslian decided that he would take his wife and daughter to the expo, walking all the way, pushing them in a perambulator (a large baby carriage). The Hanslians successfully arrived in Paris, a distance of 1,200 miles, after less than two months, in June, 1900.

Walk around Europe – 1900-1902

While in Paris, Hanslian said he met a wealthy man who offered him wager if he could push his wife and daughter all the way around Europe in two years. He would need to visit all the important countries and towns entirely on foot. He took up the challenge, built a larger, sturdier perambulator with an invalid chair, and included a linen hood that could be raised in bad weather.

Hanslian said his motivation for the trip was not only to win the prize, but also for a love of adventure and a desire to see all the countries of Europe as cheap as possible. He needed to start without money, send post cards from each place he visited, and obtain certificates from local officials. To raise money, the Hanslians would sell postcards along the way.

They started from Vienna on September 12, 1900. Hanslian said, “We left Vienna full of hope and joyous anticipation. We had no idea what toils, difficulties and dangers were before us. The weather was good and the people friendly, and the postcards we sold and the lectures I gave in the village inns brought us in a goodly sum of money.”

Hanslian’s vehicle with occupants and provisions weighed more than 450 pounds. Under the seat was a compartment where he stored a tent, some sleeping blankets and food. He first headed west and walked through Germany where they spent a month, living “in the lap of luxury” because of the generosity of the people. When they reached Holland, things were different because he didn’t speak Dutch. He had difficulty even getting milk for little Polly.

After nearly two months, they crossed into France. Hanslian knew how to speak a little Czech. Because many French people were not fond of Germans, he pretended that he was Czech and then was treated well. At Calais, France, on the English Channel, they took a ship across to Dover, England. They arrived in London on November 7, 1900. He spent the rest of the year walking and pushing through England, Ireland, and Scotland.

At Oxford, he was interviewed by the newspaper. “At first sight one might imagine Anton Hanslian to be one of those kind, patient old Benedicts who take it as one of love’s sweetest privileges to be allowed to bear all the burdens of domestic life, as he trudges along pushing his wife and child before him in a commodious bath chair.” But then it was explained that he was out to win a wager put together by the New York Herald for $2,000. It was explained that the challenge was to go from Austria, France, England, New York and San Francisco in 250 days. (The story soon shifted to a walk around Europe and the time extended. This was a sure clue that the wager was fake.) It was doubted that he would succeed in America because “a great part of it is as bare and God-forsaken today as when Christopher Columbus first sighted America’s shores.”

A newspaper in Wales challenged the validity of Hanslian’s wager. “The statement that Anton Hanslian is walking 7,000 miles in order to win a wager is quite devoid of truth. The statement has been made simply for the purposes of advertisement.”

When asked how he managed to live, he produced a bundle of illustrated postcards and replied, “They come to look at me and I sell them these and so live.” About his wife was written, “Tiring through his task may be child’s play to that of his wife who has to sit in the small vehicle all day and often when she rises from it is so cramped that she cannot stand.”

In England, only a few people took them into their homes for free. Instead of depleting their savings, they spend many nights in the open. “We were protected only by our blankets and reserve clothes and by branches of trees against the inclement weather. Our humble meals, too, we took mostly out of doors, and they often consisted of nothing but potatoes, which we baked in a wood fire.”

Hanslian’s wife, Leopoldine, became quite ill delaying them. They stayed in a run down hut and they suffered from hunger. Little Polly cried incessantly. “On our third day without food, I saw a dog and in my desperation shot him with my revolver, impaled him on a stick and cooked him over a roaring fire of twigs. We ate him with a relish.” He said those were among the darkest days of their journey.

Leaving Britain, they went to Denmark and later to Sweden. There, his wife became seriously sick again and spent four weeks in a hospital. During that time he worked at his trained profession of a “turner” who turned wood on a lathe. But by the time they left Sweden by ship back to Germany in April 1901, they were out of money. Germany treated them well again and in May 1901, they entered the Baltics in Russia, Finland, and Poland. Near St. Petersburg, Russia, they were put in prison by the police who thought they looked like suspicious characters.

From there, Hanslian’s walk took them to Austria and Hungary. They had a scare near Neuhausel, Hungary. “One hot afternoon I was laboriously pushing the perambulator in front of me, while the child and my wife had fallen asleep, when there suddenly appeared right in front of us on the high road a large animal which I almost immediately recognized with a thrill of horror as a tiger.” He at first was paralyzed with fear as he stared at the beast. He remembered his revolver, but his shot went wild. His wife and daughter woke up and shrieked loud and long. That startled the tiger and it moved off into the bushes. It turned out the tiger had escaped from a zoo. “We often joked that the tiger had not cared about attacking us because we had not enough flesh on our bones.”

In October and November 1901, they continued to head south through Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The plan was to visit Constantinople, but Turkish officials would not let them enter the country, so they reversed course back toward Hungary in the dead of winter. “We experienced very hard times in the wild Balkan countries. Hardly anything was to be earned by the sale of our pictorial postcards and the days on which we had enough to eat I could count on my fingers. The unfriendly and indeed directly hostile behavior of may people in Bulgaria and Serbia was a source of great alarm to us.” Hanslian had to pull out his revolver often to keep away unpleasant characters that wanted to rob them. The nights were bitterly cold.

They reached Italy and spent nine weeks walking through the country and still suffered from lack of food. “I sometime had to push my pram the whole day without having eaten more than a bit of dry bread. I knocked one day at the door of a monastery and asked for some soup, but received the surly reply, ‘We have no alms for Austrians.’” They were often chased away by dogs when trying to find shelter.

They went through France and before entering Spain, a kind person helped Hanslian put an “on foot round Europe” sign on his vehicle in Spanish. The sign was amazingly helpful in getting food and shelter through Spain. They circled north and went through France again. “Near Lyons, I crept together with my wife and child into the public baking oven which stood in the middle of the village and we spent the night there well enough, though next morning we were as black as chimney sweepers. In another place we slept excellently in the churchyard, in the tool hut of the grave digger.”

They reached Geneva, Switzerland on May 21, 1902. Hanslian then pushed the perambulator through Switzerland, back into Germany, and then returned to his home in Vienna, Austria on July 10, 1902, after being away for 22 months and covering about 14,980 miles. (The mileage was exaggerated because he would have had to average about 23 miles per day even with weeks stops because of illness. It was probably closer to 11,000 miles. However, it did appear that Hanslian did walk all the way and did not take rides.) It was said that he won the prize of $2,000. He estimated that he sold more than 50,000 post cards.

At the finish in Vienna, he looked sunburned, thin, and his face lined with deep wrinkles. It was obvious that they had suffered. Leopoldine Hanslian also looked very worn. “But in contrast to her parents, the six-year-old girl looked round-cheeked and bright, though her face and hands were as brown as those of a gypsy child.”

Walk Around the World

Hanslian wanted to continue. He claimed to accept a new $10,000 deal with a Vienna sporting club to extend his walk to be around the world, pushing the carriage, returning within six years. On October 3, 1902, they set off again heading through Germany, England, and on to America.

America 1902-1903

After six months, they steamed from Liverpool England on the Teutonic, riding in steerage, on April 1, 1903 and arrived in New York City on April 9^th. At Ellis Island Hanslian shared some details of his walk around Europe. “Fifty thousand postcards were sold on this journey and I earned money too, by giving exhibitions. We were obliged, I must confess, to take frequent advantage of the charity of kindhearted persons along the route, and we were often hungry and cold.”

New Yorkers observed, “Hanslian is on a tour of the world. He pushes before him a wicker-work go-cart in which are seated his wife and child. He stows away the few utensils for camp cooking. The object of his journey is to walk around the world within six years. Hanslian is a wiry fellow 38 years old. His wife is 35 and is the picture of rugged health, as is his little daughter. Hanslian’s costume for his tours is a bicycle suit. The vehicle is a chair much like those in use on boardwalks at seaside resorts”

His plan was to head for San Francisco and then head south through Mexico, Central America, and South America. Then they would steam to Africa, Australia, then to China, and back to Europe through Siberia.

On their third day in the city, they went peddling on Broadway. Members of “The Children’s Society” became concerned and reported them to the police. They were arrested for vagrancy and charged with forcing their six-year-old daughter to beg. They were held on $300 bond. Leopoldine Hanslian was five months pregnant. On April 18^th, Hanslian and his wife were sent back to Ellis Island and Polly was being cared for by the Gerry Society. On April 23^rd immigration authorities ruled that they should be deported on the grounds that they were professional beggars. They all arrived back to Liverpool England on March 6, 1903 on the ship Germanic.

An American commentator wrote, “Inasmuch as the immigration authorities sent him back to Europe because he had not enough money to make it improbable that he would become a public charge, we shall have to consider the wager story a joke. But Hanslian is not easily discouraged, for he is shortly to come back here, and this time he says he will have plenty of money in his pocket.”

They stayed in Great Britain for six months earning money for a return trip. In June 1903 Hanslian was in Wales telling people he was on the way to Liverpool to take a ship to Montevideo, Uruguay. He would then walk through Brazil, Central America, and Mexico. He did not. Just a few weeks later in July, at Sunderland, England, Leopoldine Hanslian gave birth to a daughter, Rosa, who died two months later in London.

North America 1903-1907

Passenger list on the ship Parisian

Four months later, on November 16, 1903, the Hanslian family again took a steamer across the Atlantic, this time to Quebec City, Canada. Leopoldine Hanslian was pregnant again but still wanted to make the trip.

In May 1904 when she was eight months along, after traveling many miles in Canada, they neared the U.S. border at Windsor, across the river from Detroit. “A crowd of small boys followed him down the street in Windsor tantalizing him with rude jibes.” Hanslian mistook a man for being one of his tormentors and knocked him down with a monkey wrench. The man had just been standing nearby watching. Before Hanslian could be arrested, he hustled onto a ferry and crossed the border over to Detroit.

On June 6, 1904 at Grand Junction, Michigan, Leopoldine Hanslian gave birth to a daughter, Birdie Emily Hanslian (1904-2001). Oddly, the baby didn’t continue the journey with them. They evidently found a family to take care of her and they never came back to get her. (She would be raised in Michigan where she would live until her marriage in 1921.)

The Hanslians continued on. At St. Louis, Missouri, they visited the World’s Fair and gave appearances there. But Hanslian soon became very ill. They had to stay many weeks in the city and depleted their funds.

In November 1904, they arrived in Topeka, Kansas, where Hanslian spent a few days repairing the carriage. He was being called “the champion walker of the world.” Accompanying them was a small white dog that Hanslian claimed they found in New York City, which wasn’t true. For some reason Hanslian started to fabricate their story which is a shame because he still appeared to be walking without taking rides. He was telling people they started their America walk at New York City, instead of coming from Quebec City.

“The appearance of Hanslian is as strange as that of his cart and its load. He wears short knickerbockers and a heavy green sweater. His face is tanned and ruddy and his shoulders rounded from walking. But the muscles protrude from his arms and the calves of his legs like bumps on a log.” Strangely, he now claimed to be able to speak 22 languages. He was still in Kansas in December and it was commented, “The fellow is smart, well-educated, and appears to be an ordinary human freak.”

Five months later, at the end of April, 1905, they were still making slow progress, and arrived in San Antonio, Texas. It had now been nearly two and a half years since they left their home in Austria for this walk around the world. He said that the roads in America were by far the worst of any he had traveled but he did like the people of the country. Soon afterwards they contracted yellow fever and also struggled getting stuck on sandy Texas hills. They decided to abandon their westward walk near El Paso, Texas.

While heading back near Houston, Leopoldine Hanslian gave birth again on September 1, 1905, and they stopped again. Sadly, either the child died, or they again found a family to care for the infant because it was not with the Hanslians later on. In December they were in Louisiana. “He attracted considerable attention on the streets, while gaping crowds gathered around the strange man and his cart in which were seated his family of two. He has many amusing tales of adventure to relate and like all world travelers has had many close chases with death.”

In March 1906, they were in Mississippi and in May they were in Tennessee. His plan now was to walk to New York City and then take a steamer to Australia, then to China, through Siberia and then home to Vienna. His phony wager changed from six years to seven years.

Hanslian’s tales were becoming more and more embellished. The tiger story moved from Hungary to Africa where he falsely claimed to have been at Cape Town. He also dishonestly said that he had made it all the way to San Francisco and then headed into Mexico on his way back east.

In July 1906, they were in Kentucky, in August in Ohio, and in September in Pennsylvania. Hanslian falsely claimed that he left from San Francisco in December 1905 (when he actually was in Louisiana.) Leopoldine Hanslian commented that she was tired of spending her life traveling in the carriage. She was again pregnant. At Pittsburgh he set up his tent in an amusement park, Luna Park, for a free exhibition to attract people to the new park. He said he earned $1,500 while at Pittsburgh.

At Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in November, they no longer could stay in their tent because of the cold weather and were dependent on finding generous lodging in hotels. Hanslian went in search of a room while his wife and daughter guarded their belongings. Each of the hotels said they were full. He returned to his family and told them the bad news. The crowd there was annoyed because they knew there were actually plenty of rooms. The newspaper eventually let them stay at their office. “This was gladly accepted and a hasty bed was made with the blankets carried by the party. After some food had been eaten, obtained at a restaurant, the mother and daughter went to sleep.”

By the end of November 1906, they arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He told a false tale about his travels in Arizona (where he didn’t go). “For four days the travelers went without water and were only saved from death by a slight rainfall which he caught in an outspread canvas.” Other tall tales included, “Hanslian has 64 medals for fast and long-distance walking, including one of gold which was awarded him for walking from London to Baron, England, a distance of 52 miles in 11 hours. He at one time traveled with Buffalo Bill and Barnum and Bailey as a racer against running horses.” He claimed that since his trek began, that he had worn out 95 pair of shoes and eight suits of clothes.

Fictionalized map showing their travels through Africa and to San Francisco.

At the end of the year, 1906, the Hanslians were welcomed into New York City, the same city that tossed them out less than three years earlier. On February 6, 1907, Leopoldine gave birth to her third child while in America, a son, Robert Hanslian (1907-1996) at Jersey City Heights, New Jersey. It is again puzzling that they again gave their infant away. A Lorenz family took him in. It is believed that they intended to come back to claim him, but the Lorenz family eventually adopted him. He was raised in Queens, New York, and lived in New York City for many years.

The Hanslians left America during the Spring of 1907. No, they didn’t go to Australia or China, they went back to England. In June they were at Glasgow, Scotland. Sadly on July 1, 1907, Leopoldine Hanslian died of tuberculosis at Sunderland, England, at the age of 32. Some newspapers stated that she died from a nervous attack caused by being arrested as a spy in China (where she never went). Another paper probably more correctly stated that she died of fatigues of the road.

Hanslian with daughter Polly and no carriage

Would Hanslian stop? Would he go back for his children left in America? No, he continued on with Polly. In August, 1907, he was interviewed in London and told many falsehoods about their travels. “We crossed North and South America, Africa, Australia, and China.” He said in Arizona that they had been attacked by wolves and drove them off by firing guns. They met Indians in the west and slept in their wigwams. In China he said he was arrested as a spy. He commented “The load is lighter now, for my wife died in Sunderland.”

In mid-October 1907, Hanslian was in Munich, Germany where he further fabricated his travels, claiming that he had traveled 75,000 miles, worn out 103 pair of shoes, and thirteen baby carriages while walking on five continents. Hanslian claimed that they returned to Vienna, Austria on October 29, 1907 and that he won the wager which was obviously fake.

In May 1908 a newspaper announced that Hanslian won the wager somehow, that he walked 31,250 miles, averaging 12 miles per day, and took 18,000 photographs. (It is estimated that he actually walked about 20,000 miles). “He traversed Europe, America, Australia, and China, and got into trouble during the Russo-Japanese war, narrowly escaping being shot as a spy.” The article stated that he only won half of the $10,000 because his wife had died before returning. Hanslian died that year in 1908. Polly went on to marry a John Pfarter.

Italians rolling a barrel – 1909 – Kings of the Cask

By 1900, strangely, some ultrawalkers started to roll large and even enormous barrels along the way as they walked. Two Austrians rolled a barrel more than 1,000 miles to the Paris World Exposition in 1900. Others copied their feat.

On June 20, 1909, two Italians, Attalio Zanardi (1876-) and Eugenio Vianello (1887-1956), two blacksmiths, age 33 and 22, left St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy wheeling a huge custom barrel for a $10,000 prize to roll it around the world in twelve years.

They started without any money and planned to live on selling postcards and putting on exhibitions of their “rolling home.” The two only spoke Italian and carried a book to be signed by officials of the towns they passed through.

“The barrel, which is of their own manufacture, is divided into two compartments, one of which is provided with a swivel seat in which one of the travelers sits while his companion pushes the strange vehicle. The interior is so constructed that one of the travelers can be seated inside, retaining always an upright position.”

Half of the inside of the barrel was constructed as a kitchen while the other half was used as the seating compartment. The entire barrel could be used as a bed chamber for both walkers. It was made of oak, reinforced with iron hoops. The two believed that they would need to replace it several times during their trip. It was six feet long, four feet high, weighing 480 pounds, but nearly 900 pounds with their contents.

On October 25, 1909 the two rolled into Paris, France. They were escorted out of Paris by a brass band of the Paris Barrel Makers’ union. They next headed to Calais France and then crossed the English Channel to Dover, England.

They arrived in London, England on November 27, 1909, and appeared at the Palace Theatre sharing their experiences thus far. Their rate of progress had averaged about 18 miles per day. They said their toughest stretch of road was going up and over Simplon Pass in Switzerland. “They rolled their barrel to the summit in 36 hours and descended the other side in four. Unfortunately, this rapid rate of progress had the results of damaging their barrel slightly. However, this was soon put right and the rest of their journey across the continent and from Dover to London, was made without further mishap.”

They initially traveled through Switzerland, France, England, Belgium and Holland, arriving in Berlin on May 18, 1910. They said that they had covered 3,400 miles in the first ten months. Two dogs started with them, but both died due to the physical difficulty of the trip. In Switzerland they obtained a St. Bernard puppy, which rode in the barrel while young and then provided protection along the way.

From Germany, they claimed to travel through Russia, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. They said that they had been attacked by a gang of robbers with a giant St. Bernard dog in a Russian mountain pass. “One of the travelers received stab wounds in the arm and stomach, but both succeeded in making their escape after leaving a memento of their proficiency in the art of self-defense in the canine which they stretched lifeless on the ground during the struggle.”

On December 4, 1913, the two arrived at New York City from France, on the French liner, Niagara. They were listed as tourists on the ship manifest. They claimed that they had covered about 24,000 miles during the past three years in Europe, and immediately started rolling toward Yonkers, New York.

They arrived at Princeton, New Jersey on January 28, 1910, setting their mileage at 26,665. “The travelers are now accompanied by an interpreter, as they are not familiar with the English language. They explained through him that they are bound for San Francisco and that their long beards were accounted for the fact that they had pledged themselves not to shave until the end of their journey.” Their interpreter was Frank Delucci, an Italian-American from New York. The Italians were now being called “Kings of the Cask.” They were said to look like twin Rip Van Winkles. After America, they planned to roll through Australia, Asia, African and then back to Venice.

From April to July, 1914, they rolled their barrel across Pennsylvania. At Altoona, with a large Italian population, they were escorted into the city by an Italian band. At the city limits, they were stopped by authorities demanding that they obtain a permit, which they did at city hall after a lot of explanation as to what they were doing. “They are frequently required to sleep in their barrel. When they do this, their dogs take up a position about fifteen feet on either side of the barrel and give alarm in case any person approaches. They make an average of three miles per hour on good roads, where there are not too many hills. They sell post cards bearing a picture of the travelers with their cask at the starting point describing their trip in various languages.”

Witnesses watched them going from town to town. “They have two small dogs that trot along with them, oftentimes running along on the top of the cask while it is in motion. The men cover an average distance daily of about 15 miles, sometimes attaining 20-25 miles when the roads and weather are unusually good.”

At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in June, 1914, police confiscated their barrel for a while until the two could explain what they were doing. Once it was learned that they were out of money, the police put them up at their station. The two said that a condition for the wager was for them to pick up a dog each year, and that in New York a gang took their four dogs and they belongings. They now had just one dog that walked on top of the barrel as it rolled. Dozens of Pittsburgh Italians gathered to greet their fellow countrymen. “Both men were in excellent health and the dog showed no signs of becoming dizzy as the party left Pittsburgh.”

The two stopped their barrel rolling for several years. Vianello settled in Detroit, Michigan and served in World War I as a private. He applied for American citizenship in 1920 and was employed as a waiter. Zanardi settled in Chicago where he was a laborer and registered for the World War I draft while living in Chicago in 1918.

In July 1921, Zanardi showed up at Rockford, Illinois rolling the barrel again, with a new partner, Lorenzo Bellegrin. They said they needed to complete their journey by 1924. Nothing more was heard about their trek. Vianello died in 1956.

Others would attempt crazy stunts going around the world, such a walking backwards. A man even tried to circle the globe wearing handcuffs, getting continually arrested when the police thought he was an escaped prisoner.

Stay tuned for the next episode when the story of the first verified walk around the world will be told.

Read all parts:

Sources:

H. Eisenmann, The Wide World Magazine, “Across Europe in a Perambulator”
Ed Jefferson, “A man in a iron mask spent most of 1908 pushing a pram around Englend. Nobody knows why.”
Ken McNaughton, “The Man in the Iron Mask, Harry Bensley”
Par-Erik Back, “Anton Hanslian – Pushing Wife and Child Around the World”
The Guardian (London, England), January 2, 1908
The Observer (London, England), January 5, 1908
The Indiana Progress (Pennsylvania), Jun 10, 1908
New York Tribune, Jan 19, 1908
Rutland Daily Herald (Vermont), Jan 23, 1908
Des Moines Register (Iowa), Jan 23, 1908
The Province (Vancouver, Canada), Jan 24, 1908
The Glamorgan Gazette (Wales), Dec 18, 1908
The Bury and Norwich Post (England), Dec 2, 1890
The Jewell County Monitor (Kansas), Aug 1, 1900
Jackson’s Oxford Journal (England), Nov 24, 1900
The Brooklyn Citizen (New York), Apr 9, 1903
The Sun (New York City), Apr 13, 1903
Muncie Evening Press (Indiana), Apr 15, 1903
Harrisburg Daily Independent (Pennsylvania), Apr 18, 1903
New York Tribune, Apr 23, 1903
The Marion Star (Ohio), Apr 25, 1903
The Topeka Daily Herald (Kansas), May 23, 1903
Detroit Free Press (Michigan), May 12, 1904
The Windsor Star (Canada), May 12, 1904
The Topeka State Journal (Kansas), Nov 4, 1904
McPherson Freeman (Kansas), Dec 9, 1904
Daily Advocate (Victoria, Texas), Apr 11, 1905
The Jennings Daily Times-Record (Louisiana), Dec 9, 1905
The Crowley Signal (Louisiana), Dec 16, 1905
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana), Feb 5, 1906
The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), Jun 24, 1906
The Daily Notes (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania), Sep 15, 1906
The Pittsburgh Press (Pennsylvania), Sep 27, 1906
Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), Nov 5, 26, Dec 28, 1906
The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Nov 21, 1906
Oakland Tribune (California), Jan 15, 1907
Louis Globe-Democrat (Missouri), Aug 19, 1907
The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois), Oct 12, 1907
The Washington Herald (Washington D.C.), May 31, 1908
The Ludlow Advertiser (England), Dec 19, 1908
The Observer (London, England), Nov 28, 1909
The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), Dec 18, 1909
The Sedalia Democrat (Missouri), Dec 19, 1909
The New York Times, Jun 5, 1910
Pine Bluff Daily Graphic (Arkansas), Jun 21, 1910
The Daily Times (New Philadelphia, Ohio), Oct 25, 1909
Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pennsylvania), Dec 6, 1913
The St. Louis Star and Times (Missouri), Jan 29, 1914
Passaic Daily News (New Jersey), Jan 30, 1914
Altoona Times (Pennsylvania), May 1,15, 1914
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), Jun 1, 1914
Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pennsylvania), Jun 1, 1914
The Billings Gazette (Montana), Jul 6, 1921

41: Around the World on Foot – Part 4 – The Bizarre

By Davy Crockett

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