Politics were a big deal in 1880 and some men apparently bet upon results. In Lancaster, William Wilson, a porter, and Theodore Beck, a barber, bet who would carry Maine . Wilson bet that the Republicans would carry that state. The condition of the bet was that if they did not carry Maine , then Wilson would wheel Beck, in a wheelbarrow, from the Cooper house, where Wilson was a porter, to the Pennsylvania railroad depot and back. The Republicans evidently did not carry Maine , as the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer reported On This Day in 1880, that Wilson paid his bet “like a little man” that afternoon. Source Lancaster Daily Intelligencer. ( Lancaster , PA ), 15 September 1880. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress. On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckm...
by Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman