An Unfinished Race

2023-05-31T16:12:59Z

2A02:C7F:D07:8000:FC8A:833C:CEF5:241C: /* Summary */ The story also states that the bet included the run back, so the distance is doubled

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox short story|title=An Unfinished Race|author=[[Ambrose Bierce]]|published_in=1888|genre=[[Horror fiction]]}}

"'''An Unfinished Race'''" is a [[short story]] by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer [[Ambrose Bierce]]. The story, dealing with a mysterious disappearance of a man, was first published in ''[[The San Francisco Examiner]]'' on October 14, 1888, and was included in Bierce's collection ''Can Such Things Be?'' (1893). Bierce himself mysteriously disappeared in October 1914.

"An Unfinished Race" was collected in the third volume of Bierce's complete works, which included the ghost stories from his earlier book ''Can Such Things Be?'' The updated version included three new stories under the heading "Mysterious Disappearances", including "The Unfinished Race".<ref>Morris, Jr., Roy. ''Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company''. Oxford University Press, 1999: 262. {{ISBN|9780195126280}}</ref>

==Summary==
The three-paragraph story is set in 1873. James Worson, a shoemaker who lived in [[Leamington Spa]], [[Warwickshire]], England, undertook a bet, while under the influence of liquor. The bet stated that he could run non-stop from Leamington Spa to [[Coventry]], then back again, a distance of over {{convert|40|mi|abbr=on}} (in reality, the full distance is approximately {{convert|22|mi|abbr=on}}). He started to run, accompanied by the unnamed receiver of the bet, a linen draper named Barham Wise and a photographer named Hamerson Burns, who followed him in a wagon. Several miles into the run, Worson stumbled, fell "with a terrible cry", and vanished before he hit the ground. He was never seen again. The witnesses were suspects for a time, but were freed later that day. No trace of Worson was ever found.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=6350&pageno=41 Direct link to the page of the book covering the James Worson incident]
* {{librivox book | title=An Unfinished Race | author=Ambrose Bierce}}

{{Ambrose Bierce}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unfinished Race, An}}
[[Category:Short stories by Ambrose Bierce]]
[[Category:1888 short stories]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1873]]
[[Category:Warwickshire in fiction]]
[[Category:Works originally published in the San Francisco Examiner]]

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An Unfinished Race