Boston: the Canadian Story
By David Blaikie ©

Caffery's great rival was Billy Sherring, whose accomplishments have been widely celebrated and whose memory has been commemorated by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. What has gone unremembered is that Caffery defeated Sherring decisively on numerous occasions. Had Caffery gone to Athens and run the race he ran in 1901 at Boston, it was calculated that he would have beaten Sherring by three and one half miles. The comparison is less than fair, given the heat and hills Sherring encountered in Greece, but it does illustrate Caffery's formidable skills. Yet today his memory is all but extinguished. (a)

Three books have been written about the Boston Marathon. Each mentions Caffery only in passing and all spell his name erroneously, listing him as James J. Caffrey or John J. Caffrey. In fact, his name was John Peter Caffery and he was known to family and friends as Jack. The errors survive today whenever his name is mentioned, which is rarely. When Jerome Drayton won the Boston Marathon in 1977, and Caftery was listed as a previous winner, the old mistakes were reprinted anew, one paper giving his name as James McCaffrey. The reason for Caffery's obscurity seems to be the blinding light of Olympic gold. Such was the impact of Sherring's marathon victory in 1906 at Athens that it towers over the achievements of other runners of the time.

Born May 21, 1879, (b) Caffery was the only child of Robert and Maria Caffery, immigrants from Ireland who lived modestly and turned over what money they could spare to the Roman Catholic Church. Records of the day give no indication that athletics ran in the family and what attracted Caffery to running is unclear. Sports at the turn of the century were looked upon as healthy and enjoyable but essentially frivolous activities. Participation was judged a waste of time except for those of obvious ability. The assumption is that Caffery was drawn out by the fall spectacle of the race around Hamilton Bay. Trophies were displayed beforehand in the window of the Hamilton Herald, the race sponsor, and the sight of them gleaming through the glass must have been a powerful attraction to young runners.

Caffery first trained seriously for the race around the bay in the fall of 1897. He ran with a peculiar shuffling gait that seemed unimpressive at first glance but was in tact deceptive. As he progressed Caffery found he was capable of both speed and endurance. He also displayed unusual tenacity for the times. On several occasions prior to the Thanksgiving race he circled the entire course to harden his one-hundred-and-twenty- eight-pound frame for the challenge. Such zeal was considered extreme, most athletes and trainers believing it would drain a runner and leave him weakened for the race, but Caffery was undeterred. In later years he would insist that going the full distance in training was the key to his finest moments as a runner.

Rain drummed on the roof of Caffery's home at 262 Hannah Street the morning of the race, November 25, 1897. Thanksgiving Day in Canada tell a month later on the calendar at the turn of the century than it does today and when Caffery peered out it was to a chill and gloomy day. An unpleasant wind rumpled the grey expanse of Hamilton Bay as runners gathered for the race, and the roads they ran over were an obstacle course of muck and ooze. Conditions were so bad at one point that runners took the rail line in preference. Caffery ran a promising race for a newcomer. leading for a time as the field swept around the far side of the bay. But in the end he was a victim of his own enthusiasm, unable to hold the swift pace he had set when he reached the final taxing miles. Charley Bates, a young elevator boy, won the race in 2:01:30, a fast time under the adverse circumstances of the day. In fact, it broke the existing course record by eleven minutes and caused celebration among those who had bet in advance that a new mark would be set and had then written off their chances because of the roads. Caffery faded to fourth, arriving exhausted at the Herald offices in 2:19:18 1/2. En route he was passed by Billy Sherring who finished third. It was the first of their many duels.

Caffery came into his own in the race around Hamilton Bay in 1898, turning it into a rout by running away from every challenger in sight. Rigs and bicycles bounced over ruts and potholes to keep pace as Catfery attacked the course from beginning to end. So fast did he run that supporters feared he would again run out of energy and wilt in the closing miles. But it was not the case. Neither the rolling hills that preceded it nor the steep twisting climb up the Valley Inn hill slowed him down, and when he swept across the finish line, soaked in sweat but seemingly none the worse for the journey, it was to a new course record of 1:54:05, the first time anyone had circled the bay in less than two hours. Sherring ran fourth, a disappointment to friends and a blow to the betting crowd that had expected him to do well.

The Around the Bay Race of 1899 was memorable for other reasons, becoming one of the most debated and controversial ever. Caffery was anxious to prove his victory was not a fluke in 1898 and Sherring, stung by having fallen short of expectations, was determined to redeem himself. The Herald gave the contest its usual extravagant build-up and as Thanksgiving neared it was once again the talk of the town, especially at Billy Carroll's store and in bars where the sporting crowd hung out. The city was in an expansive mood. The harvest of 1899 was bountiful and the Central Market was well stocked for the holiday. Customers bantered about the race as they filled baskets for Thanksgiving dinner (squash one dollar a dozen, turkey eight cents a pound, potatoes forty-five cents a bag) and neighbors made plans to meet and watch the runners go by.

Although some thought Sherring too light at one hundred and fifteen pounds to stand up to Caffery, Sherring emerged the betting favorite the morning of the race. The two runners met on the starting line with an air of resolute purpose, their presence overshadowing others in the field, each encouraged by a band of shouting supporters. They leaped away at the crack of the gun, neither allowing the other an inch, and it appeared quickly as if the pattern was set for a long and exciting race. But a surprising turn of events occurred less than a mile out. As the two turned east on Barton Street, running scarcely a pace apart, Caffery tumbled and crashed to the street. Instantly, Sherring was gone. Caffery, his knee gashed and an arm scraped, got to his feet and gave chase, blood running down the injured leg. He struggled for the rest of the race to close the gap that Sherring had opened but the effort was in vain.

Sherring won the race in 1:53:30. The time broke Caffery's course record of 1898 and Sherring, happy and exhausted, was shouldered in triumph away from the finish line. Caffery arrived second, a minute and seventeen seconds later, his leg a mess and confusion reigning around him. Trainers and supporters, shouting angrily, jumped from carriages and ushered Caffery into the Herald building where, to the surprise of race officials, a formal protest was filed against Sherring. Caffery accused Sherring of deliberate tripping in the incident that occurred on Barton Street and sought to have him disqualified. Sherring denied the charge and it fell to organizers to resolve the dispute. The protest was eventually dismissed, for lack of hard evidence, but resentment remained and tempers flared. The Herald reported the incident tactfully but sympathized with Caffery.

"We are not sure Caffery is not the real hero of yesterday's race," the newspaper said. ''Cut, battered and bruised, he rose, pulled himself together and pushed on, ignoring his injuries. ... As evidence of genuine pluck his achievement was even superior to that of the winner."

Feelings ran high when prizes were presented the night of the race at the Grand Opera House, Mayor J. V. Teetzel presiding from a theatre box after the second act of The Bride Elect. A mixture of hisses and cheers greeted Sherring as he accepted the winning trophy. On the surface it seemed a stinging judgment but accounts of the occasion attributed the negative reaction more to lingering memories over his failure the previous year than suspicions that he had defeated Caffery unfairly. Caffery, on the other hand, was cheered lustily. The greatest reception, however, was reserved for Dennis Carroll, an affable and popular athlete who ran third. ''The gallery fairly let itself loose when he came forward, in sweater and coat, to receive his prize,'' noted the Herald. Carroll, thought to be related to the city's much-loved bookmaker, figured in an odd incident the following spring when Canadian runners made their debut at Boston.

So heartened was Carroll by the bay race that he vowed to win the Boston Marathon or never again return to Hamilton. True to his word when Caffery swept to victory, Carroll made hasty arrangements with Tommy Powers, one of the Hamilton businessmen who had financed the trip, to forward a trunk containing his belongings. That night as his friends boarded the train to return to Hamilton, Carroll stood on the Boston railway platform and bid them farewell. He settled in Boston and never moved back to his native city.

Victory over Sherring was sweet revenge for Caffery at Boston in 1900, although no signs of animosity were evident during the trip. Whatever his feelings toward Sherring at the time, Caffery put them aside. The two shook hands at the starting line in Ashland and when Sherring collapsed on the course Caffery paused to offer assistance before continuing (8).

Their next showdown, the Around the Bay Race in the fall of 1900, was another classic contest. Caffery was the favorite, his Boston triumph still a thing of wonder to the city, and he disappointed no one. The two runners raced head to head until the Hendrie Farm on the far side of the bay before Caffery made his move. Then, dressed in an eye-catching white outfit, he sprinted and left Sherring behind on dry and dusty roads. Caffery flew at record pace over the final section of the course, arriving at the Herald building to an ovation in 1:51:52, another course record. So thick were the crowds that police had difficulty keeping the course open. Sherring finished second, more than three minutes behind.

Race organizers marvelled at Caffery's condition. A couple of years earlier he had suffered a serious bout of pneumonia but no signs remained. His pulse was checked and found to be excellent and he seemed so relaxed that a doctor cited him as proof that complete recovery from pneumonia was sometimes possible. Caffery sauntered over to the Mansion House on Hughson Street to celebrate with Tommy Powers, its genial proprietor. Tommy, who later bought the Hub Hotel at King and Ferguson streets, was as popular in sports circles as Billy Carroll, his hotel a favored watering hole for runners and trainers. Members of the St. Patrick's Athletic Club, to which Caffery belonged and in whose colors he competed, were regular patrons. Caffery's trainers, Dick Robinson and Dan Donovan, often stopped by. Tommy took almost as much interest in Caffery's athletic career as they did, having travelled with them to Boston and come back considerably richer for the journey.

A warm and generous man with a large family, Tommy bustled about the Mansion House in a large white apron, children often scampering at his feet. His bar was busy and often soaked with beer. Beer was cheap at the turn of the century, a half barrel selling for about three dollars and fifty cents, and bartenders tended to let foam spill freely over the brim as they plunked glasses down before customers. Patrons added to the disorder by blowing foam onto the floor to avoid soaking moustaches and beards. Sawdust was scaled about to absorb the slop. When he moved to the Hub, where the premises were larger, Tommy made use of an alley to shuffle customers in and out discreetly on Sundays when drinking establishments were supposed to be closed, a gesture that inspired uncommon loyalty among his clientele.

Caffery seems not to have been a drinker beyond perhaps a celebratory toast on special occasions. His habits were as upright and exemplary as his demeanor was modest and retiring. Yet he often dropped into the Mansion House. Much of the business between athletes and trainers, not to mention with the ubiquitous bookmakers, was ironed out in the comfortable confines of hotel bars. The banter between Caffery and Powers on this day was buoyant and happy. It was Caffery's third major triumph over Sherring and Tommy presumably benefitted accordingly by pocketing yet another betting windfall.

Billy Sherring was not among the confident delegation of Canadians that departed Hamilton for the Boston Marathon of 1901, and accounts of the day give no explanation for his absence. Runners making the trip included Caffery, Fred Hughson again, and Bill Davis, an Indian runner who had placed third in the bay race the previous fall.

A leading organizer of the excursion, and an unflagging promoter of the Canadian cause, was F. A. Pasmore, editor of the Hamilton Herald. Pasmore estimated the cost of the trip at more than a thousand dollars, exclusive of the expenses run up by a separate group of Hamilton residents who had come along as spectators. (9) Caffery and Hughson stayed at a hotel near the headquarters of the Boston Athletic Association. Davis found a room with his old friend Dennis Carroll, now the operator of a Boston inn.

Even the Americans conceded Caffery the favorite in 1901. For almost a year he had been in continuous training, once having covered twenty-five miles in two hours and twenty-five minutes, almost fifteen minutes faster than he had run the Boston course in 1900. He completed his training by running the full course once again in advance.

American hopes in 1901 were pinned on Ronald McDonald, a student from nearby Cambridge who had won the race in 1898. A Canadian by birth, McDonald came from Grant's Landing. Nova Scotia, and often returned to visit his father during the summer. But he had been living in the United States long enough at the time to be considered an American runner.

Patriot's Day in 1901 was overcast and cool, perfect for racing. On the train out to the starting point at Ashland. Caffery confided that he was in the best condition of his life and hoped to "fracture'' the record. Few took him lightly. At the Columbia House, where runners gathered for medical examinations by a team of physicians directed by Dr. J. B. Blake, bets totalling a thousand dollars were placed in little over an hour, most on Caffery at even money against the field. Those betting on McDonald, his trainer included, demanded and got odds of two to one.

Forty-one runners were entered officially in the race. including a lone athlete from Greece identified as John Vranzanis. But only thirty-six stepped forward for the noon start on the bridge over the Boston and Albany railroad tracks, and several of the missing were said to have dropped out that morning when Caffrery confirmed that he would defend his title as advertised. The race unfolded much as expected. Caffery set off at a fast pace with a noisy entourage of backers and well-wishers in tow, many wearing buttons decorated with his photograph and strands of red and green ribbon, the colors of the St. Patrick's Athletic Club. McDonald matched him stride for stride and Hughson and Davis ran close behind.

As would so many great races in years to come, the Boston Marathon of 1901 was settled in the Newton Hills. McDonald kept pace with Caffery until the two swung into the three taxing grades that began at seventeen miles, then the strain began to show. Cresting the last and steepest of the hills by Boston College, McDonald faded and fell back. Caftery, whose hunched shuffing style contrasted sharply with McDonald's smooth even stride, sped down the other side past the Chestnut Hill reservoir and turned left onto Beacon Street, assembled crowds cheering his passage. He ran alone to a rousing finish on Exeter Street, breaking his own course record by more than ten full minutes with a clocking of 2:29:23 3/5. Tommy Powers broke into a wide grin, having bet fifty dollars before the race that Caffery would cut the record below two hours and a half. Davis finished second in 2:34:45 2/5, giving Canada the top two places, and Sammy Mellor of New York took third, far behind at 2:44:34 2/5.

For the Canadians it was another heady triumph but one that turned out for some of them to be short-lived. Several found themselves barred from the BAA clubhouse when they attempted to enter and join the celebration. The BAA pointed out, not inaccurately, that the Canadian contingent included a goodly number of ''undesirables'' whose primary interest in the race was gambling. Nonetheless, the Canadians viewed the incident as sour grapes on the part of the Americans and bitter words were exchanged. The ill feeling among Canadians was at least cushioned by the flush condition of their wallets, and the rancor might have ended there had not another far more serious incident occurred.

At its centre was Ronald McDonald. Unbeknownst to Caffery, McDonald had dropped out of the race at twenty miles, collapsing without warning just moments after Caffery had broken into the lead. Attendants lifted the stricken runner onto a carriage and took him away. That evening, from his home across the Charles River in Cambridge, McDonald accused the Canadians of engineering his demise by means of a bizarre plot involving drugs. Pointing the finger at a Canadian who had been friendly toward him at Ashland before the race began, McDonald alleged that his water supply had been laced with chloroform. The tampering was not discovered until his brother, following on a bicycle, handed him a wet sponge at nineteen miles, McDonald said.

''I drank from the sponge twice and then handed it back. When I put the sponge to my mouth I noticed a strong pungent odor, but, thinking it was brandy, supposed everything was all right. Almost immediately my mouth and throat began to burn terribly and I was attacked with violent cramps in the stomach. (10)

McDonald claimed the incident might have been fatal had not his personal physician, Dr. J. S. Thompson of Cambridge, been waiting by coincidence at the twenty-mile point. To strengthen his heart for the remainder of the race the doctor gave him two pills of strychnine. Without the stimulus he might not have pulled out of the chloroform stupor that overcame him a few yards later, McDonald said. Thompson backed up the story, saying the sponge had been thrown by chance into the carriage that took McDonald away and that, indeed, it had been laced with chloroform.

McDonald cast himself as the victim of unscrupulous bettors out to ensure that their wagers on Caffery paid off, but almost no one took his tale seriously. A Boston medical examiner dismissed the notion that chloroform could have knocked McDonald unconscious as he claimed and the BAA seemed embarrassed that a Bostonian would try to peddle such an outlandish alibi. Herbert Houlton, a BAA executive member, spoke for most when he called McDonald "a cry baby'' and accused him of concocting a story without foundation. Rather than Canadian bettors being behind the affair, McDonald was trying to save face before the legions of American bettors who had backed him and lost, Houlton said. The Boston newspapers agreed, letting the records of the two runners speak for themselves.

"Caffery has done the distance in two hours and twenty-nine minutes,'' noted The Post. "McDonald's record was two hours and forty-two minutes — a difference of over two miles at the clip the men cut Friday.''

The Canadians departed Boston with almost as many bad memories as good, most vowing not to return.

"I put it mildly when I say that there was little cordiality shown us,'' said F. A. Pasmore of the Hamilton Herald. ''There is no man running today who can beat Caffery at twenty-five miles. He would carry all the money in Hamilton on him in a match with any man. It is absurd to suggest that we found it necessary to drug any man in order to win. And it is ungentlemanly to insinuate that we would do so under any circumstances.''

Their pockets lined with winnings, the Canadians journeyed home, as Webber Bessey had done the previous year, via New York. While there Caffery and one of his trainers, Dick Robinson, took a ride in an automobile but were less than impressed with the invention. The tires blew and they waited three hours for repairs.

Caffery arrived home on the evening of April 24, 1901, to a second memorable welcome from the citizens of Hamilton. A huge parade, organized by a civic committee in co-operation with the St. Patrick's Athletic Club, awaited when he stepped from the train at the A. H. & B. Station. He was ferried through the streets on a cacophony of band music and rowdy acclaim. Fireworks exploded and City Hall shone with lights in his honor, the first time it had been illuminated at night. Caffery rode at the head of the parade in a rig with Mayor Hendrie (Mayor Teetzel had left office and was soon to become a judge) and the chairman of the reception committee, an imposing weighty aldemman named Walker. In front of the Palace Hotel on King Street the carriage collapsed from the strain. Caffery and the mayor switched to a rig carrying celebrants from the Victoria Yacht Club but Alderman Walker was banished to find his way on foot.

Bill Davis, whose second-place finish was all but forgotten in the tumult over Caffery, had the misfortune to ride behind with a high-spirited group that began setting off fireworks from their carriage. The noise frightened the horses and the driver sought to restore order by turning his whip on the occupants. Davis fled from the stinging lash and the rig was quickly removed from the procession. But so large was the crowd that he was unable to make his way to the steps of City Hall for formal welcoming ceremonies. (c)

Mayor Hendrie heaped praise on Caffery, noting that crowds had besieged city newspaper offices for word of the race as it progressed.

"We are proud to claim you as a Hamilton boy, not only for what you have achieved but also for the necessary self-denial, pluck and stamina you have shown,'' he said. ''Your victory was more creditable in that you had to meet men who had more leisure than you to train, and your competitors were drawn from seventy-five million people (the U.S. population figure of the day), many of them being trained athletes from colleges.'' P> endrie also had lavish praise for Fred Hughson, who had run in or near the lead for more than half the race before being forced ultimately to drop out with foot problems. Only in passing did the mayor mention the remarkable econd-place run of Bill Davis and when he did so it was in the condescending manner in which whites tended to treat Indians at the turn of the century.

"Mr. Davis made a most plucky fight ... showing that the aboriginal race who stood by the British flag in the past and fought side by side with the British troops has not degenerated," said the mayor.

Ceremonies over, the parade set off once more, this time for the St. Patrick's Club headquarters and another long night of revelry. Liquor flowed like a river and the place rang until far beyond midnight with speeches, song and cheers. For once, Caffery was persuaded to say a few words. His father sat in the crowd and listened, "proud as a peacock," as one account said.

Caffery returned to Boston in 1902, hoping to win the marathon for a third time, but to the surprise of everyone he dropped out at the starting line. Moments before the noon gun he was stricken with severe cramps, the agony so great he was scarcely able to stand let alone run. William Stull, a Hamilton carriage driver who had taken over as his trainer, administered brandy as a last resort but, not surprisingly, it only made matters worse.

He still might have run the race had it not been for a small fortune in bets that hinged once again on a Caffery victory. Fearing he might disappoint his supporters he withdrew and watched the field depart without him. Caffery followed part of the race from an automobile and then returned dejectedly to the BAA Clubhouse, the sight of him stepping out in street clothes catching the crowds by surprise. He blamed the illness on something he had eaten that morning.

"I was in fine shape up to within half an hour of starting,'' he said. "I thought the record would be broken again.''

Victory in the 1902 Boston Marathon went to Sammy Mellor, the Holywood Inn Athletic Club athlete from New York who had run third the previous year. His time of 2:43:12 was so far off Caffery's course record that Caffery wondered whether he might not have won again in any case. Keenly disappointed, he returned to Hamilton, declaring that his racing career was over. That fall, however, he relented for one last Around the Bay Race. But it too was a lesson in frustration. Mellor came up from New York for the race and became the first American to win it. His time of 1:52:31 was within seconds of Caffery's course record. Caffery failed to finish the race, later admitting that he had entered in less than top condition.

Ashamed at his performance, Caffery tried a final time to redeem himself in the Boston Marathon of 1903, once again engaging in a memorable duel with Mellor. For fifteen miles they ran a furious pace and then Caffery cracked from the strain, unable to continue. Mellor was overtaken toward the finish by John Lorden of Cambridge, who won the race in 2:41:29 4/5, but the New York runner held on for second. Caffery's only solace was that his Boston record seemed safely beyond the reach of any runner at the time.

Back home, the Hamilton Evening Times wondered openly whether Caffery's downfall might be the fault of William Stull, the new trainer he had chosen a couple of years earlier to replace Dick Robinson and Dan Donovan. The concern was academic, however. Caftery announced he was finally through with running and retired.

Stull returned to the streets of Hamilton as a hack driver, eventually failing at that too. The emergence of the automobile did away with horses, and the familiar sight of them munching from feedbags at curbside vanished from downtown Hamilton. Stull later bought a Ford sedan, telling old cronies at the Royal Hotel, his favorite haunt, that he might as well get a bit of pleasure from the contraption that put him out of business." (11)

Caffery's name faded from prominence in local sports circles with his retirement but a few months later it was back in the news for other reasons. A front page story in The Spectator of July 22, 1903. told why:

Caffery-Campbell
The Well-Known Runner Married at St. Lawrence Church

John Caffery, the well-known long distance runner, was married this morning to Miss Jane Campbell, daughter of Peter Campbell, 487 Catharine street north. The ceremony took place in St. Lawrence's Church, Rev. Father Brady being the officiating priest. There was a large attendance of friends of the young couple, which testified to the high esteem in which they were held. Miss Mary Campbell, sister of the bride, was bridesmaid, and the groom was assisted by his cousin, Chester Kouber. At the conclusion of the marriage ceremony Rev. Father Brady made a short address, in which he congratulated the young couple on being married under such favorable circumstances. Mr. and Mrs. Caffery left immediately after the service for their honeymoon through the eastern states. On returning to the city they will reside at 190 Bold street.

The many handsome presents testify to the high esteem in which Jack Caffery and his bride are held. The groom's gift to the bride was a sunburst and crescent brooch set with diamonds, and to the bridesmaid a pretty gold ring. The bride's going-away gown was a navy broadcloth suit trimmed with white lace.

Prior to marriage Caffery made a living at several lines of work, including carpentry and clerking in a hardware store. After marriage he was best known as a shoe merchant. He and his young wife ran a store for a couple of years at 244 James Street, living overhead as their family began to arrive. In all, they had six children, three boys and three girls. Later they moved to a more permanent address at the corner of Locke and Melbourne streets. Caffery fell sick with a chest ailment and spent part of one year in northern Ontario where the air was thought more appropriate for recovery. He regained his health and a few years later jolted friends and family by coming out of retirement to try for the team that Canada sent to London for the Olympic Games of 1908.

Not a few people tried to dissuade him, arguing that a comeback was not worth the damage it might do to his reputation if he failed. But he was adamant and, almost certainly, his motivation was the triumph of Billy Sherring in the Athens Olympics of 1906. Such was the outpouring of affection and fame following Sherring's marathon victory that the status of Caffery's Boston heroics seemed small by comparison. The concern of friends seemed justified nonetheless when Caffery was forced by foot problems to drop out of the Olympic marathon trial June 8, 1908, at Toronto. ''Jack Caffery's day has passed,'' said a newspaper, and most agreed. But Caffery refused to quit, offering to pay his own way to London if necessary to compete in the Olympics. His friends relented and helped him raise the money but none expected him to win or even place highly in such exacting competition.

One key reason was the prominence that year of a legendary Canadian Indian named Tom Longboat. Longboat's name stood at the pinnacle of the marathon world in 1908, his status so exalted he was considered virtually certain to triumph at the London Olympics. Longboat burst to prominence in 1906 by winning the Around the Bay Race and then smashed Caffery's durable 1900 record with an amazing conquest at the Boston Marathon in 1907.

A total of twelve Canadian marathoners made the journey to London in 1908, their numbers unrestricted by size limits imposed on modern Olympic teams. Longboat towered over the lot, and those of all other marathon teams at the games, but he shocked the sports world by failing to finish, dropping out in the heat at nineteen miles. The top Canadian runners were William Wood, Fred Simpson and Harry Lawson, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. A weary Jack Catfery trudged home eleventh in 3:12:46, the slowest marathon of his life.

The race remains perhaps the most famous of all Olympic marathons. Not only did it establish the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42 kilometres, 195 metres) as the official standard for the marathon, it also included the most dramatic finish ever. Dorando Pietri of Italy, who seized the lead in the final mile, arrived at the stadium so spent he turned the wrong way on the cinder track and collapsed. Onlookers helped him semi-conscious across the finish line in a moment caught by cameras and published by newspapers around the world. Pietri was disqualified, Olympic rules forbidding such assistance, and the race was awarded to Johnny Hayes of the United States. Charles Hefferon of South Africa was second and American Joseph Forshaw third. In the aftermath marathoning was compared in brutality with bull fighting and boxing and many doubted that the event would ever again be included in the Olympics.

For Canada, the disappointment in its marathoners was assuaged somewhat by an intriguing story that ran a couple of days later in the Toronto Daily Star. The account suggested that Canada might have some claim after all to Olympic marathon celebrity.

Marathon Winner Comes From Ottawa
Special to The Star

Ottawa, July 25 — If the claims put forward by Ottawa people are well-founded, Canada has the first two places in yesterday's marathon.

For not only is Hayes, the winner, said to have been born in the capital, but one of the Ottawa men who served in South Africa is authority for the statement that Hefferon, who took second place in yesterday's contest, went to South Africa with one of the Canadian contingents.

John Gervan of Ottawa was among those who went with Hefferon to South Africa under Major D. I. V. Eaton, in 1901. Hefferon, he says, comes from Westem Ontario and was most popular with his comrades-in-arms, and during the progress of the campaign won prizes in several military sports in which he participated.

After the war he married in Bloemfontein and made his home in South Africa." (d)

Also helping to offset Canadian disappointment over the outcome of the marathon was the victory of Hamilton sprinter Bobby Kerr in the Olympic two-hundred-metres race. Sprinters did not have the status of marathoners in 1908 but an Olympic victory was still cause for high celebration. So once more Hamilton prepared to welcome a conquering hero home. Caffery, whose pluck in going to London revived memories of his great Boston days, shared the spotlight with Kerr. They travelled the last leg home by steamship, taking the Turbania in Toronto and arriving in Hamilton on August 10, 1908. The air rang with ship whistles and cannon blasts as the boat neared the Hamilton wharf and a crowd of ten thousand sent up an ovation. Speeches followed at an open-air reception in Victoria Park, where Caffery was described as ''the daddy of all" marathoners and presented with a commemorative souvenir. The revelry went on into the night but the occasion had its dark side.

Overzealous police resorted to what The Spectator called "the hated and pernicious handling of clubs'' to hold crowds in check and a riot almost ensued. The newspaper sympathized with victims whacked over the head without reason and lectured the police for using unnecessary force.

The evening was also memorable for the cold treatment of Tom Longboat by organizers of the celebration. His failure in London earned him exclusion from the ceremonies despite his status as the most lionized runner of the day. Longboat stood alone at the foot of John Street as the boat arrived and would have been ignored entirely had it not been for a group of small boys. ''Why don't you give Tom a ride?" they demanded as the parade formed and moved off. Eventually someone did and Longboat was introduced to the crowd at Victoria Park.

Caffery, tanned and relaxed, had no excuses for his Olympic showing, nor could he explain what had happened to the mighty Canadian team. All might have fared better in cooler weather but no one could say so with certainty, he told friends. The Toronto Globe looked back on the marathon and thought Caffery had acquitted himself well by running and finishing the race, his time and standing aside.

''The real hero of the marathon race was not the Italian who fell short of victory in such a sensational manner, nor yet J. J. Hayes," the newspaper said. "It was little Jack Caffery of Hamilton. All the big fellows and loudly trumpeted possibilities fell by the way but Jack Caffery came home. It justified his faith in himself and proved that his heart is as stout as in the days when he was the undisputed champion of the course around Hamilton Bay, which has been the nursery of road racing in Canada.''

Caffery never again trained seriously although his love of running was too deeply ingrained to abandon it entirely. He continued to run for the pleasure it gave him, often donning the uniforms of his glory days for Sunday morning runs over the old bay course. As Sherring had done, Caffery also turned to coaching, training Jimmy George for his run to victory around the bay in 1909 and dispensing the wisdom of his years to aspiring young runners.

Caffery's name returned briefly to public attention when Jimmy Duffy, another Hamilton runner, won the Boston Marathon in 1914. Caffery was there when Dufty came home a hero, and his own great days as a runner were recalled with nostalgia, but his days in the spotlight were over.

Caffery tended to family concerns and the demands of his shoe business. One year he bought a new car and augmented his income by hiring out as a chauffeur. Later, in a pattern that went back to the pneumonia and chest ailments of earlier years, Caffery struggled with ill health and was confined indoors for lengthy periods. His wife kept the shoe business going when he was too sick to look after it himself.

In 1918 Caffery was stricken with Spanish influenza, as were scores of others in a great epidemic of the dayf and he did not recover. Early on February 2, 1919, Caffery died at his home at 2 Melbourne Street. Jane was left to raise their six children, the oldest just thirteen.

Tributes poured in from friends and rivals. "No gamer runner ever lived than poor old Jack Caffery,'' said Billy Sherring. 'I often thought that if Caffery had been in his prime when the indoor marathon craze was on in New York he would have showed them all up.'' Tommy Powers recalled Caffery's love of running and influence on the training methods of his time. "He liked to run,'' said Powers, "and if I sent him out in the morning to go to a named point and back, you could always count on his covering the ground. I believe Jack revolutionized training. For until he went to Boston no runner ever thought of taking a trial over the course a few days before the race. I think he was the greatest distance man ever developed despite the fact that all his records have been broken.''

Jack Caffery was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on the far side of Hamilton Bay. Located on the Plains Road near the Hendrie Farm, it was a familiar spot to Caftery. So often as he passed it in those grand old bay races, when the fall air was crisp in his lungs and his legs were full of running, he was on his way to victory.

Footnotes

(a) The principal accounts that remain exist here and there in newspapers of the day. Some have been lost and those that have been preserved are scattered unindexed across reels of newspaper microfilm in libraries and museums.

(b) Caffery was close in age to Billy Sherring who was born September 19, 1878.

(c) The parade formed up the following way: Carriage containing Peter N. Kenney and George Shambrook, marshalls of the Sons of England Band, Sons of England Band; Carriage containing Mayor Henrie, Jack Caffery, trainer Robinson and St. Patrick's Club president Cox; Carriage containing Bill Davis, trainer Farr, Tommy Powers and Dan Donovan; Carnage containing Fred Hughson, trainer Elliot and reception committee members; St. Patrick's Club members in carriages; Burke's Symphony Band, Ramblers' Bicycle Club, Victoria Yacht Club, St. Lawrence Club, Collegiate Cadets, Pipers' Band, Bugle Band — Thirteenth Regiment, Hamilton Bicycle Club, Germania Club, Twentieth Century Club, Maple Leaf Club, West End Pleasure Club Woodlands' Band, Longshoremen, Citizens.

(d) * Military records at the Public Archives in Ottawa do not list Hefferon among Canadians who fought in the Boer War at the turn of the century but authorities point out that the records are incomplete. Like Hefferon, Hayes' nationality has not been firmly established.

Dedication
Author's Note
Introduction
Boston (1900)
Around the Bay
Jack Caffery (1901)
Tom Longboat (1907)
Fred Cameron (1910)
Ashland to Boston (1914)
Jimmy Duffy (1914)
Edouard Fabre (1915)