But these statements were too much for the imagination of his hearers--or rather for their lack of it.

He was greeted by a chorus of hoots and yells of disbelief, that developed into a volley of boots and spurs and cans and anything that could be thrown, and he was fairly driven from the room.
And the odd part of it was that Single was only a little ahead of his time.

For there was an Indian boy living then who afterwards did things as hard to believe, so marvelous that I must tell about him.
His name is Jim Thorpe, and he is a Sac and Fox Indian.

His running record for one hundred yards is ten seconds.

For one hundred and twenty yards, with three-feet-six-inch hurdles, fifteen seconds; running broad jump, over twenty-three feet; running high jump, over six feet.