Eugene Willard, of Chelsea, Mass., easily is the champion barefoot walker of the United States. A dozen years ago Willard decided to take up barefoot pedestrianism as a pastime, and has kept at it ever since. Of course, he occasionally gets out his shoes, brushes off the dust which has accumulated on them, and puts them on, but he doesn’t keep them on any longer than is absolutely necessary. “Barefoot Gene,” as he is known in his home city, has made some long barefoot walks. One of those was between Philadelphia, Pa., and St. Louis, Mo., and at another time he covered the entire distance between Savannah, Ga., and Tampa, Fla. He has under consideration a barefoot walk between Boston, Mass., and El Paso, Texas. In Prison Twenty-one Years, Weds. After serving twenty-one years in the Joliet Penitentiary, William Roach, paroled last week, is on his honeymoon. Roach was sent up for murder. Toward the latter part of his sentence he became a “trusty.” As trusty he was allowed to visit the town. On one of his visits he met Hannah Edwards, who worked in the restaurant owned by her mother, Mrs. William Edwards. Although Roach never knew that he would be free, he was unable to keep from falling in love. Once a week he saw Hannah, and then the authorities decided that he had been in prison long enough. Roach was paroled. He came back to Chicago, and went to his old home in Wilmette. And then he returned to Joliet for Hannah. They were married by the Reverend T. de Witt Tanner. Shot Stealing Bread for Starving Family. Shot twice through the body as he was attempting to steal a loaf of bread from the rear gallery of the home of Joseph Haseman, John Reou, of New Orleans, La., was rushed to the Charity Hospital. From his hospital cot he explained the motive for the attempted theft. “My eight children were crying all night for food,” he said. “I listened to their sobs until I could not bear their suffering any longer. So I went out to steal them a loaf of bread.” Haseman, who is a street-car conductor, did the shooting. He has been arrested. The police say the case is the most pitiful that has come under their notice in several years. The charge against Reou will probably be dropped. One of the bullets Haseman fired at the father of eight hungry children struck him in the right arm and another in the left side. Neither of the wounds is considered serious. Reou, now broken in health and spirits, married twenty-one years ago. He has always borne a good reputation, which is vouched for by several members of the police department who know him and by friends and former employers. Recently he lost his position as a clerk in a grocery store because his eyesight was failing and his health was broken. He tried many times to get work, and failed. Gradually the small sum saved by him and his wife was gone.