The Bearings, Vol 8, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Julian P. Bliss and Mike Dirnberger are in Nashville attempting to break all short-distance world records up to the two-mile, having already broken the 100-yard standing and flying records and the eighth-mile standing record using the running horse Clarkson and specially built Rambler triplets as pacemakers.
- New Colorado LAW chief consul J.A. McGuire advocates strongly for Denver to secure the 1894 national meet, while Denver Cyclists' Union president Boles calls a special board meeting to discuss building a three-lap cinder track at Broadway Athletic Park.
- George A. Perkins of Cambridge wins the Massachusetts LAW chief consulship over Josiah S. Dean by 2,070 to 782 votes in a decisive vindication of the old administration; results of LAW division elections across Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Colorado are also reported.
- The Bearings argues the Racing Board faces an unavoidable dilemma now that horse-paced records — like Johnson's mile marks at Independence — have been demonstrated inferior to bicycle-paced records, and recommends accepting all horse-paced records as regular rather than impugning the board's own earlier judgment.
- The Century Road Club of America has finally published a constitution and rules pamphlet after eight months in office, but The Bearings criticizes the road record rules for failing to address downhill or out-and-back course requirements, wind assistance, and permissible course length.
- Mixed editorial column including J.R. Nesbit of the Scottish Cyclist defending American timing methods against English critics of the Springfield records; G. Lacy Hillier championing women's right to wear masculine cycling costume; and a Louisville street railway president's admission that bicycles are cutting into his passenger revenues.
- A decorative holiday poem by editor Geo. K. Barrett toasting the record-breaking harvest of 1893 and celebrating cycling as 'the sport of sports,' welcoming winter without fear because the sport's fellowship transcends the season.
- Boston correspondent reports that the LAW executive committee has agreed the Bicycling World (official organ) will be sent to members only once a month rather than weekly, citing divisions that violated their contract by establishing rival organs; commentary argues the Wheelman Co. is covertly relieved to shed the financial burden of 36,150 League subscriptions.
- Henry Zink, ex-publisher of the Southern Wheelman in Louisville, has been arrested by federal authorities for sending obscene literature and pictures through the mail, and has reportedly admitted his guilt, facing fines up to $5,000 or up to ten years' imprisonment.
- Samuel Bowen, aged 74, a prominent resident of Leedspoint, New Jersey, died in Atlantic City from injuries sustained when run over by a bicycle more than a week earlier; the rider of the wheel remains unknown.
- Milwaukee cycling clubs plan a joint reception and installation ceremony for outgoing and incoming Wisconsin division officers on December 1; Walter Sanger is recovering from a fall from a windmill that injured his groin and will return to racing next season; the North Side Club plans a Thanksgiving road race over the Whitefish Bay course.
- Kansas City reports superb late-fall cycling conditions with over 25 miles of asphalt and six well-paved macadam roads enabling year-round riding; the Kansas City Cyclists held runs to Raytown and Indian Creek on the previous Sunday, with a third annual hare-and-hounds scheduled for Thanksgiving Day.
- A two-hour dispute at the Cleveland Wheel Club ends with Skinkle's resignation declined and the auditing committee withdrawing its controversial report pending revision; separately, a stolen C.W.C. wheel belonging to Geo. Myers is recovered after a young swindler registered as C.A. Merrifield left it as collateral at the Prospect House, fleeing on a Buffalo-bound boat.
- London correspondent C.W. Hartung reports F.T. Bowen broke world tricycle records from two to five miles at Herne Hill; the Bicycling News is converting to a newspaper format and losing editor E.H. Godbold, who will become associate editor of R.J. Mecredy's new journal The Cycle, launching around December 1.
- Zimmerman, Harry Wheeler, and the Banker brothers arrived in Savannah to local fanfare, with an escorted band ride and lantern ride to Thunderbolt for oysters; Wheeler departed for Europe, while the Banker brothers will ride the Augusta races November 22-25 and Zimmerman will visit the Augusta exposition.
- Harry C. Wheeler sailed on the Etruria for Nottingham and then France and Italy, planning to ride his Raleigh against European professionals for one to two years after winning $3,150 in cash prizes this season; Buffalo's Crooks and W.F. Murphy of the N.Y.A.C. are also reportedly preparing to turn professional in Europe.
- W.C. Bryan is organizing a party of cash-prize riders — including C.W. Price, Harry Wheeler, Jack Prince, H. Kanaska, A.B. Rich, and others — to race at a series of meets in Havana arranged by Cuban promoters.
- An unsigned editorial column catalogs the recurring characters and preoccupations of the late cycling season — the club booster, the road rider eyeing a new wheel trade, the maker planning '94 models, and the English show coverage — giving a wry panoramic sketch of the sport entering winter.
- A meditative editorial traces Gutenberg's press, Watt's steam engine, and Morse's telegraph to single founding ideas, concluding that the bicycle — which harnesses gyroscopic balance and draws on all the mechanical arts and sciences — is the last of the truly great ideas.
- The editor calls for a League presidential candidate willing to declare openly that he wants the office and commit to uniting the 50,000 members, pressing legislators, and centralizing the League's power, rather than the evasive, enmity-fearing candidates the body typically produces.
- A brief humorous observation that had bicycles existed in Moses' time, the Israelites' forty-year journey from Goshen to Kadesh-barnea would have been a mere two-day run for Tommy Stevens.
- A short satirical cycling fiction in which scheming road racer Reginald de Buskirk attempts to coerce Violet Hanrahan into marriage, but she disarms him by producing stable boy Jimmy Duffer, who reveals that Reginald secretly trained to race against the professional Windle.
- St. Louis wheelmen held a meeting to arrange a large 1894 tournament and secure a circuit date; two hare-and-hounds events are scheduled — one for Thanksgiving under the Missouri division and another on December 3 by the St. Louis Cycling Club.
- Signed analysis by 'Brakespeare' comparing Zimmerman, Sanger, Tyler, Windle, and Johnson, arguing that Johnson excels as a time-trial athlete of extraordinary persistence and endurance but is clearly outmatched in man-to-man competition against Zimmerman and Sanger, and that his record-breaking success depended on extraordinary pacing resources and the Independence track.
- Profile of E.V. Minor of Indianapolis, who rode the third seat on the 'Yellow Fellow' quadruplet as one of Johnson's key pacemakers at Independence; Minor also won the five-mile handicap at Columbus, beating Meintjes, Conn Baker, and Gus Steele for a $500 piano prize.
- The Toledo Cycling Club has organized pool, bowling, and handball tournaments to maintain membership through the off-season, and a new city ordinance taxing bicycles 50 cents per year — collecting 17 cents for the partial year since October 31 — has given wheels formal legal recognition on Toledo streets.
- Melbourne correspondent reports Arthur Turner won the fifty-mile inter-club road championship on September 30 despite a hurricane and thunderstorm, with the Southern District Club taking the team title; a new three-and-a-quarter-lap asphalt track at the St. Kilda cricket ground nears completion ahead of the Austral meeting.
- A brief snowfall halted Peoria cycling and left roads unridable while club billiard rooms filled; a planned football match between the Chicago C.C. and a Peoria team was cancelled for unstated reasons.
- The Century Wheelmen defeated the Park Avenue Wheelmen 12-6 before 2,000 spectators in Philadelphia on November 18, with standout performances from Belyen, Griffiths, Wood, Kelly, and Thomas, and two players disqualified for slugging.
- The Bearings exposes the Northwestern Cyclist of Mitchell, S.D. for sending a profane, threatening letter to Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. after the firm declined to advertise, publishing the full letter as evidence of blackmail tactics used by small cycling papers to coerce advertising from makers.
- Judge Johnson has ordered the Wisconsin Trust Co. as receiver to auction all tangible property and patents of the defunct Sercombe-Bolte Mfg. Co. of Milwaukee on December 20, ending hopes of reorganization after no capital could be found to restart bicycle manufacturing.
- A traveling trade correspondent reports the southern cycle trade is dull heading into 1894, predicting Memphis dealer numbers will fall from sixteen to four and that widespread installment selling must be curtailed to restore profitability.
- Four of France's largest bicycle manufacturers — Clemont, Rochet, Aucoc & Darracq, and Machiels & Petit — have merged to form the Compagnie Generale des Cycles with $1,200,000 capital under general manager M. Machiels, a move expected to largely shut English makers out of the French market.
- The Rich & Sager Co. has prevailed at all points in the Harvey v. Keith patent case covering their Beauty child's seat, and announces vigorous prosecution of all future infringers; the seat has sold internationally in Germany, England, and Australia alongside the Sager saddles.
- The Chicago bureau of detection of the Cycle Board of Trade publishes an extensive list of stolen bicycles — including numerous Ramblers, Columbias, Credendas, and others — alongside a long roster of recovered wheels awaiting identification; trade notes include 10,000 orders for Hagar wooden rims, Pope Mfg. Co. appointing M.A. High and C.H. Thuring as western road representatives, and Palmer Tire Co. moving its Chicago branch to Van Buren Street.