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- [Narrator] The 
Vermont was bruised,

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but to everyone's relief, 
still able to run.

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(old time trumpet music)

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They drove on,

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through Syracuse, 
Utica, Schenectady,

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determined now not 
to stop for anything.

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They crossed the 
Hudson at Albany,

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and turned south to follow 
the east bank of the river.

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News of their approach 
brought out cheering crowds,

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as they passed through 
the towns of Hudson

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and Poughkeepsie.

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In Peekskill, they 
were delayed briefly

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to patch a punctured tire

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by the glow of a 
hotel's outside light.

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There a delegation of reporters, 
Winton company officials,

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and Jackson's wife Bertha 
met them in a fleet of cars

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to join in the final miles.

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It was 4:30 in the morning 
on Sunday, July 26,

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when they crossed the 
Harlem river into Manhattan,

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drove down the city's 
deserted streets,

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and finally honked their horn 
to awaken the night porter

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at the Harlem House Hotel on 
30th Street and 5th Avenue.

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Jackson had made it from 
San Francisco in 63 days,

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12 hours and 30 minutes,

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well within his 
wager of 90 days.

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And having become the first

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to drive a car 
across the nation,

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once New York woke 
up to the news,

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he and Crocker and Bud 
were the toast of the town.

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(marching band fanfare music)

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The New York Herald.

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Dr. H. Nelson Jackson 
and Sewall K. Crocker,

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his chauffeur, finished 
the first trans-continental

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automobile trip at 
half past four o'clock

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yesterday morning.

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On their arrival, 
the mud besmirched

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and travel stained vehicle,

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which had born them so 
faithfully and sturdily over

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5600 miles of roads was housed

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in a garage in west 58th street.

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All day yesterday it was visited 
by admiring automobilists,

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and curious passersby 
peeped in upon it.

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In honor of it's achievement,

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it was decorated with tiny flags

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and draped with 
national standards.

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A thick coating of 
mud gave evidence

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that it had been somewhere,

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and that somewhere 
a long way off.

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Newspapers all across the 
nation retold Jackson's story,

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sometimes embellishing details,

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including one report 
that claimed the Vermont

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had floated across rivers,

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using it's revolving 
wheels as propellers.

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Jackson had lost 20 pounds 
during the long journey,

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and he had spent $8,000 
of his own money.

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The price of the car, 
a salary for Crocker,

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food and lodging, the 
seemingly endless need

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for new tires and 
replacement parts.

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800 gallons of gasoline and 
the $15 to purchase Bud.

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But, he said, it was worth 
every cent and every pound

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to win that $50 bet.

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And yet, when it was all over,

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he never bothered to 
collect his winnings.

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- He never collected 
the $50 bet.

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- Never.

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- Never.

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It wasn't the money.

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I don't think that was 
what drove him to do this.