The Bearings, Vol 9, No 19
Articles in this issue
- W.C. Sanger wins the Class B half-mile dash and the second Class B half-mile at the Troy Bicycle Club meet on June 4 before 3,000 spectators at Renssalaer Park; Watson Coleman takes the mile handicap while Johnson, Bald, Tyler, Callahan, and Murphy contest ten events across two classes.
- The Rambler team (Bliss, Zeigler, Foster, Terrill, Wells, and Long) sets new coast records on Stockton's half-mile track, with Foster clocking :29½ for the flying quarter and Wells covering 22 miles in one hour; Oscar Osen of the San Jose Road Club completes a 641-mile solo ride from San Francisco to San Diego in 3 days, 19 hours, 10 minutes.
- Seventeen-year-old Horace Rumsey of the Pastime Athletic Club wins the Forest Park Road Race in St. Louis on June 2 with an 8:30 handicap, never headed after catching the first man on the first lap; William Van Wagoner of Syracuse wins first time prize in 53:47, breaking the previous Forest Park record of 57:10 set by Bert Harding.
- The Cohoes Wheel Club meet on June 6 produces chaos: Murphy beats Johnson in a re-started half-mile after Tom Eck's stratagem, Tyler beats Sanger in the mile open, and the one-third-mile open ends in a crash that sends W.W. Taxis unconscious into the fence; Jenny and Steenson clash in fierce Class A events, with Jenny thrown out of a state championship victory by a collision with Steenson.
- Leading racing men gathered at Troy, outraged at C.M. Murphy's riding at Plainfield and Cohoes, circulate a petition to Chairman Raymond for his indefinite suspension; W.W. Taxis, whose ear is nearly severed in the Plainfield crash Murphy is blamed for, may never race again despite his wealthy mother's anguish.
- The editor accuses the Bicycling World of pirating Good Roads magazine cuts belonging to the L.A.W. and republishing them with fraudulent captions—a Fontainebleau forest scene labeled 'Lynn woods,' a Flushing-Jamaica road view called 'Coast into Newton,' and a Lake of Thun scene titled 'Wild landscape near Boston'—calling it 'petty swindling' unworthy of any reputable paper.
- The Bearings compares its Decoration Day race coverage against rivals: it alone covered 36 events versus Cycling Life's 30, The Wheel's 29, and The Referee's 17, and was the only paper to cover the Southern California division meet at National City and to publish its own photographs of the Chicago road race start and finish, with a detailed column-inch table proving its superiority.
- The May 18 storm—the greatest to visit Lake Michigan in years—drove scores of vessels toward Chicago's south shore, grounding seven within two miles; Bearings staff and visiting cyclists at 48 Van Buren Street watched rescue crews fail twice to reach disabled ships, while some wheelmen helped pull survivors from wrecked vessels.
- New Jersey wins the 150-mile interstate relay race from New York to Philadelphia on June 3 with 70 points (Pennsylvania second with 60, New York third with 50) across six 25-mile legs; Pennsylvania's Measure rides the final stage with one handle-bar for 17 miles after a fall near Bristol before finishing only seconds behind New York's Davidson, who crashes into a fence at Nicetown Lane.
- The Lakeside Club applies for a July 13–14 race sanction that conflicts with the C.W.C.'s circuit-awarded July 20–21 dates, prompting a formal C.W.C. protest; H.A. Truax of Chicago passes through Cleveland en route to a Chicago-to-New York record attempt, having averaged 125 miles per day over the first 3½ days.
- Buffalo analysis of the Martin 25-mile road race: Louis Callahan wins on a 20-pound Stearns, drawing the notice of Asa Windle and Tom Eck; A.B. Goehler wins second time prize by only 5 seconds off Callahan despite training only part-time; Van Wagoner loses the time prize to a wheel accident; W.F. Buse leads on the home stretch until his front wheel strikes an obstruction and he falls.
- Irwin Strauss of Ripon arranges a twelve-meet Wisconsin Division state circuit from June 18 (Beloit) through July 13 (Black River Falls); the Cedarburg-Milwaukee 16-mile road race on June 16 offers $2,200 in prizes including a $250 piano; Misses Alma and Louise Roth become the first Milwaukee women to appear publicly in bloomers, leading 500 mounted wheelmen in the Memorial Day parade to the Soldiers Home.
- G.P. Mills rides Edinburgh to London in 29:28:00, cutting 3 hours 27 minutes off R.H. Carlisle's 1892 record, with Shorland and Leitch among his pacers; Carlisle then breaks the end-to-end record despite a bad accident 70 miles from Wick; Herne Hill's Hospital Sports feature P.W. Brown winning the half-mile for London Corporation's $260 challenge cup and Stroud taking the five-mile Stanley Cup.
- A Portland, Maine police court fines a reckless teamster only $10 for running down 57-year-old L.A.W. member Alfred Walker and breaking his arm, incapacitating him for months; despite diligent prosecution by Maine Division officers, the judge's $10 sentence for fast driving angers both cyclists and the general public.
- Mrs. Louis A. Lesure and Mrs. G.H. Chase ride 414 miles from Philadelphia to Boston in 49 hours 15 minutes actual riding time, wearing riding tights with attached skirts rather than bloomers and carrying revolvers; they were escorted out of Philadelphia by the Time Wheelmen, entertained by cyclists in New York, Hartford, and Springfield, and delayed eight days in Springfield by rain before completing the trip.
- Six Louisville cyclists returning from Jacob Park arrive first at a burning suburban house in Wilder's Park on June 4, saving nearly all first-floor furniture and the wine cellar's contents (except a barrel of 22-year-old whisky); within 20 minutes, 60 wheelmen were on the scene, and not one other conveyance arrived before the house burned to the ground.
- Magistrate McCann of Louisville rules in favor of cyclist B.B. Lowenson against a carriage driver who turned wrongly around a corner and damaged his wheel ($75 repair cost), affirming that a bicycle has the same rights of the road as any other vehicle and a rider on the right side is not obliged to yield to any other vehicle.
- Philadelphia's social elite forms the Centaur Club at 1709 Rittenhouse Street—president Dr. J. William White—with over 100 members including 15 women, inspired by Parisian aristocracy who ride in Worth-designed cycling costumes; the Seventh Annual Newark-to-Philadelphia Century Run is set for the following Saturday, and the Century Wheelmen accept the Quaker City Wheelmen's challenge to a September 8 five-mile team race.
- W.W. Hamilton of the Denver Wheel Club wins the city's sixth annual 25-mile road race on Decoration Day from scratch in 1:22:03 in rain and three inches of mud, passing all 88 riders who started ahead of him before the seven-mile post and finishing four minutes clear; Himstreet of Cheyenne (2:00 mark) is second, H.R. Renshaw third.
- Walter Sanger declines a June 23 New York trophy race against John S. Johnson, saying he will see 'enough of Johnson before the season is over,' prompting Johnson's fury; Zimmerman, training at Troy with Wheeler and paced by Shorland, writes from Europe that Johnson will have ample opportunity to try conclusions on his return.
- Harry Wheeler defeats Louvet (100-km champion of France) in a six-and-one-fifth-mile race at the Paris Buffalo track, outsprinting the Frenchman in the final 30 yards; at the same meeting Crooks wins the 900-meter handicap and Edwards beats veteran Medinger two races to one for an $800 purse; the Bordeaux-Paris road race (591 km) is won by Swiss rider Lesna in 25:11:07, with Englishman Lucas second 30 minutes back after going the entire distance unattended and unfed.
- Chicago editorial column celebrates the cycling craze reaching high society—Mrs. Jack Gardner, Mrs. Astor, and Tuxedo Park ladies all reported cycling—and argues the wheel belongs permanently to the democratic masses whatever aristocracy does; includes a humorous anecdote of a boy unable to dismount his high-wheel for blocks, and a sharp condemnation of a cyclist who ran over the eight-year-old daughter of ex-City Clerk Van Cleave on Michigan Avenue and fled without stopping.
- Full account of the Crescent Wheelmen's meet at Plainfield, N.J., June 2 before 3,000 spectators: Taxis turns a complete somersault in the one-third-mile scratch and is found unconscious by Drs. Lowrie and Fritts; Murphy wins by default after Titus and Wells refuse to re-ride with him, while Wells files a formal protest with Chairman Raymond challenging referee Prial's ruling.
- Circuit gossip from the Troy-area meets: Charlie Iven of Rochester returns to form (fourth in the Irvington-Milburn, last five miles in 13:06); Palmer tires win 18 of 30 prizes at Troy; Sanger denies marriage rumors; Dirnberger may leave the Rambler team; trainer 'Arry Leeming feuds with Tyler after losing Sanger's training contract; the Canton Cycling Association's Mississippi Decoration Day meet is won by B.L. Roberts in the mile and ten-mile championships.
- The newly incorporated National Cycle Exhibit Co., composed of Chicago cycle press men, books two adjoining lake-front armories (totaling approximately the floor space of Madison Square Garden) for a January cycle show; this may be the only national event if the U.S. government acquires Madison Square Garden for a New York post office.
- Survey of Baltimore's 26 cycle dealers: Clark Cycle Co. handles Warwick and America with a renting branch at 2949 Madison Avenue; N. Tip Slee is the dominant Rambler agent; the Maryland Bicycle Club has 300 members and a $20,000 clubhouse on Mt. Royal Avenue; Baltimore holds two national circuit dates.
- London trade correspondent covers the North British Rubber vs. Macintosh pneumatic tire patent case (expert report inconclusive, adjournment granted); J.E.B. Walker's dynamo-powered electric bicycle lamp (too heavy and expensive for practical sale); the C.T.C. vote demanding member discounts that manufacturers are urged to resist; and Dunlop's refusal to guarantee tires fitted with puncture-proof bands.
- Miscellany column: General Poorman's $200 time medal for the July 4 Cincinnati 15-mile road race draws entries from C.H. Peck, Bainbridge, and G.K. Barrett; Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. introduce the 'Vassar' ladies' wheel (29 lbs., $125, wooden mudguards) by St. Nicholas Mfg. Co.; post-Decoration Day editorial notes that twenty Eagles fitted with aluminum rims survived the Chicago road race unscathed while wood rims broke by the dozen; Henning Mfg. Co. of Peoria launches three cane-seated saddle models.
- Factory tour of the Keating bicycle works at Holyoke, Mass.: 18 automatic machines turn parts from solid steel bars with chain tolerances held to ±1/1000 inch; management combines Robert Keating (mechanical), Chas. D. Rood of the Hamilton Watch Co. (president), and William B. Osgood (business); Charles B. Burleigh of Chelsea carries his son on a child's seat—combined weight 236½ lbs.—without a single repair.
- National trade briefs from 15+ cities: Eclipse Bicycle Co. (Beaver Falls, Pa.) has built over 6,000 machines since January; March-Davis Cycle Co. (Chicago) embroiled in fraud warrant dispute between partners A.R. March, Walter Davis, and C.C. Murray; Irvington-Milburn winner A.H. Barnett confirms in a signed letter to A.G. Spalding & Bros. that he rode a Spalding throughout that race, purchased one week before the event.