2soonjr's N29 Allen & Ginter project

[2soonjr]

Hey everyone, I've been piecing together an 1888 N29 Allen & Ginter set for a while now and thought I'd share my progress and some information about the people featured on the cards. It's the follow up to the landmark N28 set from the previous year, both are 50 card sets. The N29's weren't as popular due to N28 having some big names like Cap Anson among the other 5 baseball hall of famers in there but they seem a little more scarce in comparison. Anyway, hope these are fun to read about (lifting info from wikipedia or wherever else I can find) and I'll keep posting as I get new ones in or about ones I've already got.

Here's the back of the cards with the set checklist for reference:




Thought I'd start with some lawn tennis players




James Dwight

Mr. James Dwight is known as the "Father of American Tennis". His cousin is Richard Sears pictured in the middle.

From his ITHOF page:
One account says that the thickly mustachioed Dwight introduced tennis to the United States in 1874 when he set up a court on his Uncle William Appleton’s smooth lawn in Nahant, Massachusetts.

Dwight was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association, was instrumental in establishing the first U.S. National Championships held at the Newport Casino and the first Davis Cup match at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston in 1900.

- President of the US National Lawn Tennis Association for 21 years and a referee for more than 30 years at the US Nationals.
- Harvard medical graduate which is where the "Dr." on his nameplate comes from
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee in 1955 during it's initial inductions


R.D. Sears

Mr. Richard Dudley Sears there in the middle won the first 7 singles US National Championships from 1881-1887 and 6 doubles championships from 1882 - 1887.

- Undefeated in every match from 1881 through 1887 and retired after that.
- Did not lose a single set in his first 3 championships
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee in 1955 during it's initial inductions
- Tied with two others with the most men's singles championship wins of all time at 7. For reference, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer are next at 5.
- Tied with Holcombe Ward for the most men's doubles championship wins of all time at 6.

In the final match of the singles championships:
- Beat James Dwight in 1883 pictured there on the left
- Beat Henry Slocum in 1887 his final year pictured there on the right

In the doubles championships:
- Partners with James Dwight in all but one year
- Beat Henry Slocum and his partner in the finals in 1885 and 1887


Henry Slocum

- Went to the singles championships for 4 years straight and won twice in 1888 and 1889. Lost to Richard Sears in his first visit (Sears' final championship before retiring)
- Doubles champion in 1889
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee in 1955 during it's initial inductions
- President of the US National Lawn Tennis Association in 1892 and 1893
- Also a collegiate football star at Yale
- Son of Henry Warner Slocum who was a general for the Union in the Civil War. and obviously a pretty interesting fellow himself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Warner_Slocum

[mjohnatgt]

It's a neat set. Look forward to seeing your writeups in the future.

[ilovethelakings]

Those are really cool. Thanks for sharing with us.

[BNB]

I have several from this set. Very cool indeed!

[2soonjr]

Thanks everyone!

Here's my two "Go-As-You-Please" pedestrians from the set:





I had NO idea what a pedestrian was since it's not really used outside of describing someone walking out in public these days. Turns out it was a pretty big deal back in the late 1800's. It also fizzled out right around that time too after cycling became more prominent. The penny-farthing (those old timey bikes with the massive front wheel and the tiny back wheel) were phased out in favor of the faster "safety bikes" which is what we're used to now when we think of bicycles.





Found this NPR article about it and added a few highlights
https://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/29732...s-anything-but

"Huge crowds packed indoor arenas to watch the best walkers walk. Think of it as a six-day NASCAR race ... on feet."

"They'd have little cots set up inside the track where they would nap a total of maybe three hours a day. But generally, for 21 hours a day, they were in motion walking around the track."

"But people didn't go just to watch the people walk. It was a real spectacle. There were brass bands playing songs; there were vendors selling pickled eggs and roasted chestnuts. It was a place to be seen."

"Champagne was considered a stimulant. And a lot of trainers — these guys had trainers — advised their pedestrians to drink a lot of champagne during the race. They thought that this would give them some kind of advantage. The problem was a lot of these guys would drink it by the bottle. That definitely was not a stimulant to say the least."


The best of the best walked 620 or so miles over the course of six days in competition. That's around 103 miles a day. That's like doing almost 4 marathons (26.22 miles each) EVERY DAY FOR SIX DAYS STRAIGHT!



James Albert

• First pedestrian to break the 1,000km mark in a race.
• Won the world's pedestrian championship at Madison Square Gardens, New York in February of 1888. This is the race he set his record 621 3/4 miles in 6 days against a field of 69 other pedestrians. He rested only 19 hours and 22 minutes over the course of the 6 days.
• Was bested later that year by a man named George Littlewood who ended with 623 3/4 miles. Littlewood sandbagged the last day because runners who broke the record would get $1,000 and he wanted to make it easy to break the record again. Albert challenged Littlewood to a race but due to box office sales falling the race never happened and Littlewood's record held for almost a century.
• Was sued for $25,000 in damages for refusing to enter a race by someone named Albert C. Couch who apparently was managing said race. (around $704,000 in today's money according to an inflation calculator) Wasn't much info available outside of a newspaper blurb from that time.

Patrick Fitzgerald

I always think he's a billiards player when I look at his card since his walking stick looks like a pool cue.

• Broke the 1880 record of 566 miles with his 582 miles in 6 days in 1881.
• Broke the 1882 record of 600 miles with his 610 miles in 6 days in 1884.
• Referenced that he won a race two years later in front of a crowd of 12,000 in New York just for reference on how large of a spectator sport this was at the time.
• During the record breaking race, Fitzgerald used a remedy called the "sacrificator". A doctor arrived with the sacrificator which was a rectangular bronze instrument with 16 retractable razor sharp blades. It was placed on his thighs, a trigger pulled, and slashed him 16 times on each quad muscle to relieve leg pressure. (the 1800's were wild!)
• Wore handmade Beneke running shoes. The same brand was worn by Jack Kilrain, a pugilist who can be seen in the previous year's N28 Allen & Ginter set. Fitzgerald penned a brief letter to the Beneke company thanking them for the exceptional shoes.
• Won a purse of $9,000 after a race, (worth about $278,000 in today's money according to an inflation calculator) for reference on the money involved.

[Papa Stephano]

Going through some old vintage posts and too bad this was very short lived. Interesting info in the two posts. I love this kind of stuff and it's why I've decided to start collecting 1800's vintage.

2soonjr, if you're still collected vintage A&G, I'd encourage you to continue this "series".

[GCoombsJr]

I came across your posting while researching my great-grandfather, Albert C. Couch, so I thought I could add a bit of flavor to the story. Albert Couch was basically a conman. He ran schemes across many areas including getting people to invest in short line railroads in New York, an endowment fund for women invested in a cattle ranch in New Mexico, gold and silver mines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Montana, a spring water company, and the 6 day go-as-you-please race at Madison Square Gardens in March 1891. When the race started, the prize money was not there, the money to pay the musicians was not there, multiple vendors were sold the same rights, ten times the number of authorized tickets had been sold, and so on. The race went on anyway and others came up with the money to fulfill the promises, but Albert Couch had to be escorted by police across Central Park to escape the angry crowd of ticket holders who were blocked from entry to the Gardens. Apparently, James Albert had originally committed to participate, but pulled out when things looked shady, resulting in the lawsuit by Couch against Albert. The major pedestrians who did participate were John "the Lepper" Hughes, Peter Hegelman, Gus "The Mexican Stallion" Guerrero,

[2soonjr]

Originally Posted by Papa Stephano

Going through some old vintage posts and too bad this was very short lived. Interesting info in the two posts. I love this kind of stuff and it's why I've decided to start collecting 1800's vintage.

2soonjr, if you're still collected vintage A&G, I'd encourage you to continue this "series".

Hey thanks for the reply, I've been busy with life and everything so I'll drop in from time to time to add some more from the set! I'm still collecting from the Allen & Ginter sets so there's plenty more to come.

Originally Posted by GCoombsJr

I came across your posting while researching my great-grandfather, Albert C. Couch, so I thought I could add a bit of flavor to the story. Albert Couch was basically a conman. He ran schemes across many areas including getting people to invest in short line railroads in New York, an endowment fund for women invested in a cattle ranch in New Mexico, gold and silver mines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Montana, a spring water company, and the 6 day go-as-you-please race at Madison Square Gardens in March 1891. When the race started, the prize money was not there, the money to pay the musicians was not there, multiple vendors were sold the same rights, ten times the number of authorized tickets had been sold, and so on. The race went on anyway and others came up with the money to fulfill the promises, but Albert Couch had to be escorted by police across Central Park to escape the angry crowd of ticket holders who were blocked from entry to the Gardens. Apparently, James Albert had originally committed to participate, but pulled out when things looked shady, resulting in the lawsuit by Couch against Albert. The major pedestrians who did participate were John "the Lepper" Hughes, Peter Hegelman, Gus "The Mexican Stallion" Guerrero,

This is an incredible story, thank you so much for all of the additional info on your great-grandfather! I love hearing old stories like this, there's something fun about learning of characters from generations ago and the interesting things they got into back then.



Here's the two skaters featured in the set:



Axel Paulsen

• If you've ever heard of an "Axel" in figure skating (double Axel, triple Axel, etc.), it was named after Axel Paulsen who was a Norwegian figure skater and speed skater. Ulrich Salchow and Alois Lutz also had their jumps named after them in 1909 and 1913, respectively.
• Inventor of the "Axel" jump and performed it in 1882 at the first international figure skating competition while wearing speed skates. It's the only competition jump with a forward takeoff and is considered skating's oldest and most difficult jump. A double Axel wouldn't be performed in competition until 1948 at the winter Olympics and the triple wasn't until 1978. The quadruple was just performed in September 2022.
• Also won the World Championship in speed skating in 1882 and held the title through 1890 when he lost to Hugh McCormick who is pictured on the other card.
• In 1883 he won in a race in New York against 17 of the fastest skaters from various parts of the world and set the 1 mile, 5 mile, and 10 mile records.
• Credited with constructing the first modern speed skates. He ordered a pair from Strauss Ice Skates located in Saint Paul, MN in 1889. Strauss still exists but was moved from St. Paul to Maplewood in 1970.
• His father owned a coffee shop in Oslo and Axel took it over along with his brother, Edvin, following his father's death. Edvin was also a figure skater and speed skater like his brother.
• World Figure Skating Hall of Famer and was inducted in it's inaugural year in 1976, 38 years after his death.

Hugh J. McCormack

• Canadian speed skater who held various championships from Canada/North America during his 12 years of skating.
• Born of first generation of immigrants from Ireland, grew up in New Brunswick and was able to practice skating along the long stretches of rivers that surrounded the area when they froze over. The McCormick estate still exists on Kennebecasis Island (also known as McCormick's Island), the land was originally granted to the family in 1838.
• Most notable for defeating Axel Paulson in competition in 1890 during a 3-race match held in Minneapolis, MN to become the World Professional Speed Skating Champion.
• Raced against Harold Hagen, Norway's speed skating champion, in 1892 in Oslo but was defeated. He faced Hagen the following year in Minneapolis but was again defeated. He retired from skating in 1895.
  
  *Last name seems to be misspelled as everything I found on him has his name spelled "McCormick" with an "i" instead of "McCormack" with an "a" like on the card but there were a number of other people in the set who had their name's spelled incorrectly too.

Also as a side note, if you've ever played R*'s amazing Red Dead Redemption 2 there is a side quest where you can collect tobacco cards from all over the area in the game. The characters in the "World's Champions" set in the game seems to be largely named after the actual N29 Allen & Ginter World's Champions athletes. Here's a card with a club swinger named "Axel McCormick" which seems to take his name from the 2 skaters I wrote about in this post.

[2soonjr]

Since I mentioned club swinging at the end of that last post, here's the champion club swinger.

Gus Hill

• Actual name is Gustave Metz but got the last name from a local New York sporting resort named Harry Hill's.
  
• Vaudeville entertainer from New York who competed in boxing and wrestling but his primary act consisted of swinging/juggling Indian clubs. The clubs were originally used as a form of exercise but Hill used them in a "feats of strength" capacity.
  
• The clubs themselves were somewhat of a ruse. Hill would have his clubs, which ranged between 10 to 115 lbs., on display before the show so the audience could examine them and try to lift them to see how heavy they were. The clubs had a false bottom which allowed him to drop the lead weights out of them backstage before the performance began. The clubs would still weigh a decent amount, just nowhere near what the audience had been led to believe.
  
• Around the time this A&G card was issued he had began show management along with his club swinging act. He had a reputation for being frugal (and eventually became very wealthy). He performed "trunk shows" which meant that the scenery he used was collapsible and folded down into trunks to avoid having to use additional baggage cars while traveling. The sets, costumes, etc. were all portable and reusable and he selected actors that would accept low wages to minimize costs.
  
• Credited for discovering Montgomery & Stone and Weber & Fields, two popular and influential Vaudeville duos.
  
• By the 1910's he was a cofounder and one of the largest shareholders of the Columbia Amusement Company which produced burlesque shows between 1902 and 1927 as well as president of the American Burlesque Association. Gus pioneered the "wheel" which was a system that got a group of burlesque companies to travel around from theater to theater in succession like a "wheel" and gave the performers steady employment and the participating theaters a constant variety of shows.
  
• Produced 6 Broadway musical comedies.
  

[Hollywood42]

Awesome thread, very cool! TIL what a pedestrian was

[2soonjr]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Awesome thread, very cool! TIL what a pedestrian was

Appreciate it! Yeah looking at old articles and everything, it's interesting to come across a lot of antiquated terms from that period. Something about the day to day activities of people really paint a great picture vs. just reading about major global events.





Today I looked up the weight lifter from this set and wasn't confident that I'd come across much but I went down a rabbit hole! Mr. Queckberner had been mentioned in quite a lot of journals, newspapers, magazines, record books, etc.


I love this photo because there are THREE of the athletes from the N29 set in it! Charles and Ed Lange are in the back row and M.W. Ford in the front row.

C. A. J. Queckberner

ATHLETICS

Queckberner's A&G card itself is kind of strange. He's listed under "weight lifter" but he's more of a weight thrower. His record is in the shot put on the front of the card and seems that the put and hammer throwing were his two main events he competed in. Also of note, even though he's highlighted for a record in the shot put, between 1882 and 1890 he was bested every time by Frank Lambrecht and George Gray in the event in US national championship competitions. I actually wasn't able to find the competition that is stated on the front of the card, but I did find a reference to it in a self-advertisement from a stamp collecting magazine from that period of all places.

The best American record for "putting" the twenty-one pound shot is 35 feet 10 inches, and is held by C. A. J. QUECKBERNER of the Staten Island Athletic Club. You can make a record for yourself by "putting" a dollar and a half in an envelope and sending same to the I.S.J. for one share in the company and a receipt for one year's subscription"

Spalding Official Athletic Almanac published in 1909 had a host of records of every type. Queckberner was listed under the "Amateur Champions of America - Track and Field". There seemed to be some controversy of what constituted an amateur vs. a professional at the time as some athletes were seen setting amateur records when they were clearly competing in professional levels.

• Held various records with the 12lb., 16lb., and 21lb. hammer throws between 1888 and 1891. An article from the New York Times in Nov. 1888 stated:
  C.A.J. Queckberner of the Staten Island Athletic Club broke the hammer-throwing record at three weights on the club grounds yesterday afternoon. The weather was most unfavorable for the trial.
• Record in 56lb. weight throw (no handle, from a standstill) in 1884-1887 and 1890. Another document also mentioned him holding a record in 1883 and 1888 as well.
• Record in the individual tug of war (!) in 1880-1883 and 1891.
• Record in the team tug of war in 1878 (teams of 4 men).
• Record in "Putting the shot" (16lbs.) in 1883 and 1886.

OTHER DETAILS

• The son of Russian parents, Charles Queckberner was originally from Warsaw and immigrated with his family to the US as a young boy.
• Per a court document, he resided at 345 Lafayette Ave in Brooklyn, New York and stated that his occupation was in real estate from around 24-25 years which he would have done alongside his athletic career.
• The court document was interesting! He was the plaintiff in a case appearing in front of the a New York Appellate Court in 1915 regarding injuries sustained eating bread from a local place called Ward Baking Company. In June of 1912 he apparently bit into a piece of bread that contained a nail and lost 6 teeth on his lower jaw as a result. Even crazier is that he continued to purchase from the bakery and 5 months later he again bit into a piece of bread and what appeared to be a tooth of a comb was in the bread and it knocked out a back tooth on his upper jaw. It appears the complaint by Charles against the bakery was dismissed by the court.
• Saved people from drowning on multiple occasions. A report from the Operations of US Life-Saving Service in 1892 states:
  
  May 17, 1886
  "Rescuing from drowning some thirty-five persons between the years 1876 and 1881. A silver bar was awarded Mr. Queckberner June 14, 1886 for saving life in July and August 1882."
  
  June 14, 1886
  Rescue of several persons from drowning in July and August 1882, A Silver medal had previously been awarded Mr. Queckberner for saving life
  
• Served as a Mess Sargent in the National Guard stateside during World War I. He was arrested in 1917 on suspicion of being a German spy but cleared his name. A blurb in the Suffolk Weekly Times from August 1917 stated:
  
  "Arrested As A Spy Chas. A. Queckberner was looking over some maps near the Sag Harbor dock the other day, when some women saw him, They got busy at once and reported to Lieutenant - Jennings, - stationed there, and he took the man to Riverhead jail where he spent the night. The stranger said that he was a member of the Seventh Regiment, and that he was making a drawing for real estate purposes. Colonel Fiske, of Brooklyn, was consulted, and he said that Queck- berner was formerly a supply sergeant in his regiment, He was set free"
  
• Medals that Charles earned in his lifetime are on display at the Bridgewater Historical Society in Bridgewater, Connecticut.
  

If the address hasn't changed over time, this is the Brooklyn home mentioned in the court document. His would be to the left of the one with the white trim and awning.

[2soonjr]

Tom Ray, champion pole vaulter and also the lone pole vaulter in the set. This seems to be one of the tougher to find cards in the set as I've only seen it pop up a couple times over the past few years. I was unfortunately not able to find a picture of Mr. Ray outside of his A&G image.

The following photo is of LeRoy Samse from the 1904 Olympics (look at that crowd size!) and the jump is around 8 inches higher than what Ray attained on the front of his card. I'd imagine Ray would likely have been using a similar set up during his competitions so I thought it would be relevant just give an idea of how pole vaulting looked back then vs. its current form.

• Pole vaulting record holder from 1879 (at 17 years old!) through 1887 and again in 1888. Ernest "Lat" Stones bested Ray's previous record in June of 1888 but Ray beat Stones' height in September that same year.
  
• British AAA Champion in pole vaulting in 1881, 1882, and 1884 through 1887, the competition began in 1880. It appears he tied with "Lat" Stones in 1888 and came in 2nd place in 1889 and 1890.
  
  **It was noted that there was only one competitor in 1883 so I'm not sure what happened with Mr. Ray that year. It only stated that he was notably absent (as he was the current record holder) and also that an Irish athlete, Patrick Davin, entered but did not compete. Based on height of the "winner's" jump, Ray would have beat him easily.
  
• Was also the AAA Champion in the high jump in 1884 and placed 2nd in 1885 and 1888.
  
• The jump cited on the front of Ray's A&G card was from a competition in Barrow-in-Furness in England where he made his 11ft. 8 and 1/2in. jump.
  
• For reference, the current men's outdoor and indoor records are at 6.21m and 6.20m, respectively (around 20ft. 4in.).
  
• Used a hand over hand technique which was banned under American rules in 1890 and later in Olympic rules. He essentially climbed up the pole while it was upright which allowed him to gain additional height. The "swing up" technique was implemented after banning the hand over hand and is more similar to what is used in modern pole vaulting.
  
• Would have used a bamboo pole which was standard at the time. The pole eventually switched over to aluminum and is now a composite material. The landing area would have been in sand or sawdust at the time but obviously gave way to the pads/foam as the sport progressed.
  
• Born in 1862 and moved to Ulverston, Lancashire, England as a young boy. An article cited from 1886 stated that he was inspired to try pole vaulting from Edwin Woodburn, a successful vaulter from the same town. Ray was succeeded by Ernest "Lat" Stones in 1888 and 1889, another Ulverston vaulter. Also from Ulverston? Stan Laurel of the famous Laurel and Hardy comedy duo who was born there in 1890.
  

[2soonjr]

Capt. Matthew Webb
"Nothing Great Is Easy"

• First person to successfully swim the English Channel without use of artificial floatation aids in 1875 (more info on this in a later post). There were 80 failed attempts after Webb until the next successful crossing happened in 1911.
• Won the swimming Championship of England in 1879 and swam 74 miles over the course of 6 days.
• Beat Paul Boyton in a swimming competition called the "World Championship Race". Boyton is another swimmer featured in the N29 set.
• Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, one of its initial inductees in 1965.
• Member of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, one of its initial inductees in 1963
• Died just 10 minutes into his attempt at swimming through the whirlpool rapids below Niagara Falls on July 24, 1883. His body was recovered four days later downstream.

The Channel Swim

• Capt. Webb read about a failed attempt to swim the English Channel which inspired him to attempt the feat himself. He made his first attempt at the Channel at age 27 in 1875 but failed due to poor weather and water conditions that sprung up a handful of hours after he began.
• Made his second attempt 12 days later from Admiralty Pier in Dover. He was covered in porpoise oil, swam into strong currents (delaying him by 5 hours), and was stung by a jellyfish on the attempt but completed it in 21 hours and 45 mins. He swam almost 40 miles (64 km) on his path across to Calais. A straight line across the Channel is 34 km, for reference. A map of his path is below.
• The accomplishment brought him great fame. He continued to swim professionally, was used in product endorsements, and performed stunts like floating in a tank of water for 128 hours.

Misc. Info

• His family moved to Coalbrookdale when he was young and he began his swimming in the adjacent River Severn, Britain's longest river. At age 18 he also rescued his little brother from drowning in this same river.
• Captain of a steamship named Emerald where the "Capt." in his name comes from. Was also in the merchant navy and second mate on a cargo ship prior to this.
• Had THIRTEEN siblings, he is the second oldest in the family.
• Buried in a cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York. Incidentally, buried in the same row he's buried in is the first person to go over the falls in a barrel and the first person to go through the whirlpools (that he drowned in) in a barrel.
• A memorial of Webb stands in the town of Dawley where Capt. Webb was born in Telford, UK (pictured below with the lamp post on top and the quote etched on the side). Additionally, there are two roads and a primary school in the town named after him. He also has a statue of his bust in Dover (pictured below with the flowers surrounding it).
• His great nephew Edward Webb was the first to solo paraglide across the English Channel in 1992.
• His picture featured on a box of matches he endorsed is said to have been the inspiration for the physical appearance of Inspector Clouseau played by Peter Sellers in the original Pink Panther films.

This is the first person I've read about from the set who wasn't alive at the time the cards were issued. I think it's nice he was honored amongst the other champions.