ON A DONKEY TO THE PACIFIC

This article from the New York Tribune, dated November 9, 1896, was perhaps the first article announcing the wager (and its loss by Woodward).

November 9, 1896

ON A DONKEY TO THE PACIFIC

NOVEL TERMS OF AN ELECTION BET WHICH A YOUNG MAN OF BROOKLYN WILL FULFILL.

Of all the election bets of the season, perhaps the most extraordinary and amusing has just come to light, in spite of the precautions taken by the parties thereto to preserve the secret. In order to preserve his honor and carry out the conditions of the bet he so rashly contracted with Benjamin Tillard, a publisher, of New York, a modest and dignified young society man of Brooklyn must ride from New York to San Francisco.

It was only by accident that the news has finally got into print. It was altogether too rich a joke for some confidant to keep, and he told his sister, andÐhence. Robert P. Woodward is the unfortunate man, and deeply mortified he is, realizing as he does the rare amusement he is to afford his friends and the public in general.

When seen by a Tribune reporter, and asked if the report were true, Mr. Woodward's surprise was too genuine to admit of its denial.

"Yes," said he, "I bet on the silver candidate, and lost, and as Mr. Tillard would surely have made good his wager, I shall do no less than carry out my part to the letter."

"When do you start on your journey?", the reporter inquired.

"Immediately after Thanksgiving," Mr. Woodward replied with a faint smile. "I want a good dinner to start on, you know. It is hard to have to do such an absurd, disagreeable thing, but I have purchased my donkey and made my will, and I shall go. After making such an ass of myself, I think if I am so lucky as to reach the coast I shall go right on round the worldÐbut not on a donkey. I won't care to show my face in Brooklyn for some years to come."

"But how do your parents regard the matter?" the reporter asked.

"My mother has disowned me; my father says it serves me right."

"I think perhaps they are too severe in the treatment of the matter," the reporter ventured in a comforting tone.

"It is not the trip overland that is so shocking to them and to me, but the conditions. You see, I must parade on my donkey certain popular thoroughfares in New York City before starting. No, I decline to name the streets. I don't want to see a familiar face on that occasion. Both my steed and myself must wear spectacles, and I a frock coat and silk hat, and on my transcontinental trip I must visit both the victorious and the defeated candidate. I must start within one month after Election Day." And Mr. Woodward's countenance depicted utter disgust as the reporter departed.

Mr. Tillard was found in his office in New York and on learning that his co-bettor had explained the terms of the bet said it was all true.