- [Narrator] The
Vermont was bruised,

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

(old time trumpet music)

They drove on,

through Syracuse,
Utica, Schenectady,

determined now not
to stop for anything.

They crossed the
Hudson at Albany,

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

News of their approach
brought out cheering crowds,

as they passed through
the towns of Hudson

and Poughkeepsie.

In Peekskill, they
were delayed briefly

to patch a punctured tire

by the glow of a
hotel's outside light.

There a delegation of reporters,
Winton company officials,

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

to join in the final miles.

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

when they crossed the
Harlem river into Manhattan,

drove down the city's
deserted streets,

and finally honked their horn
to awaken the night porter

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

Jackson had made it from
San Francisco in 63 days,

12 hours and 30 minutes,

well within his
wager of 90 days.

And having become the first

to drive a car
across the nation,

once New York woke
up to the news,

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

(marching band fanfare music)

The New York Herald.

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

his chauffeur, finished
the first trans-continental

automobile trip at
half past four o'clock

yesterday morning.

On their arrival,
the mud besmirched

and travel stained vehicle,

which had born them so
faithfully and sturdily over

5600 miles of roads was housed

in a garage in west 58th street.

All day yesterday it was visited
by admiring automobilists,

and curious passersby
peeped in upon it.

In honor of it's achievement,

it was decorated with tiny flags

and draped with
national standards.

A thick coating of
mud gave evidence

that it had been somewhere,

and that somewhere
a long way off.

Newspapers all across the
nation retold Jackson's story,

sometimes embellishing details,

including one report
that claimed the Vermont

had floated across rivers,

using it's revolving
wheels as propellers.

Jackson had lost 20 pounds
during the long journey,

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

The price of the car,
a salary for Crocker,

food and lodging, the
seemingly endless need

for new tires and
replacement parts.

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

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

to win that $50 bet.

And yet, when it was all over,

he never bothered to
collect his winnings.

- He never collected
the $50 bet.

- Never.

- Never.

It wasn't the money.

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