An Unfinished Race by Ambrose Bierce (Public Domain Text)
“An Unfinished Race” was first published in the San Francisco Examiner (October 14th, 1888). It details the disappearance of James Worson, a British shoemaker who vanished like a puff of smoke in front of witnesses.
At first blush “An Unfinished Race” appears to be Bierce’s retelling of a real-life event. However, some sources suggest the story about the disappearance of James Worson may be an urban legend based on Bierce’s story.
I have no idea which is the case. However, if Bierce did base his story on an actual disappearance, it’s interesting. If it’s a work of fiction, it’s disappointing because there isn’t enough to the story to make reading it worthwhile. It’s a carcass with no meat on the bones.
About Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce was a journalist, satirist, and author of short stories. He was a prolific writer who once ranked among the most influential journalists in the US.
Bierce’s war stories are known to have influenced many famous writers, including Ernest Hemingway, and his horror stories have been ranked alongside renowned authors of dark fiction H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
Bierce disappeared in 1913 while travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the revolution. Although there has been much speculation about what happened to him, it is unlikely that anyone will ever learn the truth and his fate remains a mystery to this day.
An Unfinished Race
by Ambrose Bierce
(Unabridged Online Text)
James Burne Worson was a shoemaker who lived in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He had a little shop in one of the by-ways leading off the road to Warwick. In his humble sphere he was esteemed an honest man, although like many of his class in English towns he was somewhat addicted to drink. When in liquor he would make foolish wagers. On one of these too frequent occasions he was boasting of his prowess as a pedestrian and athlete, and the outcome was a match against nature. For a stake of one sovereign he undertook to run all the way to Coventry and back, a distance of something more than forty miles. This was on the 3d day of September in 1873. He set out at once, the man with whom he had made the bet—whose name is not remembered—accompanied by Barham Wise, a linen draper, and Hamerson Burns, a photographer, I think, following in a light cart or wagon.
For several miles Worson went on very well, at an easy gait, without apparent fatigue, for he had really great powers of endurance and was not sufficiently intoxicated to enfeeble them. The three men in the wagon kept a short distance in the rear, giving him occasional friendly “chaff” or encouragement, as the spirit moved them. Suddenly—in the very middle of the roadway, not a dozen yards from them, and with their eyes full upon him—the man seemed to stumble, pitched headlong forward, uttered a terrible cry and vanished! He did not fall to the earth—he vanished before touching it. No trace of him was ever discovered.
After remaining at and about the spot for some time, with aimless irresolution, the three men returned to Leamington, told their astonishing story and were afterward taken into custody. But they were of good standing, had always been considered truthful, were sober at the time of the occurrence, and nothing ever transpired to discredit their sworn account of their extraordinary adventure, concerning the truth of which, nevertheless, public opinion was divided,
throughout the United Kingdom. If they had something to conceal, their choice of means is certainly one of the most amazing ever made by sane human beings.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 — 19??)