The Bearings, Vol 9, No 6
Articles in this issue
- The Bearings Publishing Co. wins the contract to publish the official League of American Wheelmen organ, outbidding the Bicycling World, Outing Publishing Co., Sporting Life, and Cycling by offering to furnish the paper gratis, backed by a $30,000 bond; the new weekly L. A. W. Bulletin will be fully illustrated and free of trade advertising.
- London, Feb. 24 dispatch: E. A. Lamb appointed Stanley C.C. show secretary; Miss Bacon's paper on 'Rational Dress for Wheelwomen' draws a large audience at the Society of Cyclists and coverage in the Daily Telegraph; the Lady Cyclists' Association holds a social evening at Queen's Hall for 350 persons; A. J. Wilson leaves Dunlop to manage advertising for the John Griffiths Corporation.
- Alderman Pothoff of Chicago's Twentieth Ward, who introduced an ordinance hostile to cyclists, is up for re-election and wheelmen of the district are working to prevent his return to the council.
- Louisville, Ky., March 5 dispatch: W. W. Watts declines two L.A.W. committee chairmanships; the Kentucky division launches a recruiting circular to boom League membership; Henry Zink, former publisher of the Southern Wheelman, is sentenced to two years in the Jeffersonville penitentiary for mailing obscene material; Tennessee's chief consul Charles Scherer remains optimistic about southern membership growth under the new L.A.W. Bulletin.
- Milwaukee, Wis., March 5 dispatch: Walter Sanger closes his deal with the Union Co. and will train at Birmingham, Ala. under trainer Culver; local professional Henry Kanaska seeks reinstatement; the North Side Club plans its first road race for June 16.
- W. J. Corcoran, trainer of Zimmerman, Taylor, Laurie, and Yale and N.Y.A.C. teams, is appointed superintendent of the Waltham track for 1894; with a new metalithic surface soon to be laid, Corcoran predicts Waltham will be the fastest track in the world.
- L. W. Fox, holder of the unpaced mile record of 2:15, fractures his collar bone while training for a twenty-five-mile road race and will be out of action for some time, though he expects to recover for the eastern racing season.
- Boston, Mass., March 3 dispatch: colored L.A.W. members hold a mass meeting condemning the League's 'white amendment,' with leader Robert Teamoh introducing a resolution of censure in the Massachusetts legislature; they accuse W. W. Watts of fabricating the Union Club letter read at the Louisville convention and vow to use political power against any L.A.W. delegate seeking office; notes also cover the planned April 19 season opening replacing Fast Day, and the McDuffee brothers' race-meet plans at Saugus.
- Walter Sanger's contract with the Union Co. is confirmed during Harry Tyler's visit to Chicago; both men prefer trainer Charles Culver, who is expected to be engaged, and Sanger plans gymnasium work before training on a northern track.
- The Bearings announces that this 84-page issue is the largest regular edition in the history of cycle journalism, surpassing all previous issues in both reading matter and advertising patronage.
- Editorial on the aftermath of the L.A.W.'s 'white amendment': the paper defends its role in advocating the amendment as serving the League's southern membership growth, arguing northerners voted for it not from malice but to build the organization, and dismissing the criticism from the African American Massachusetts legislator who introduced a resolution of censure.
- Editorial arguing that cycling is doing more for women's dress reform than years of organized advocacy, because a woman on a wheel feels acutely the need for practical clothing and can convert Mrs. Grundy by the simple example of riding comfortably in reformed dress.
- Editorial department: a Denver judge awards Henry Turk the $450 first-prize piano after setting aside the referee's disqualification from a D.C.U. road race, creating a dangerous precedent undermining referee authority; Alex Schwalbach evades suspension by H. E. Raymond by arguing that training a 6-day race competitor was merely practicing his veterinary profession; C. R. Culver rates English rider M. B. Fowler as Zimmerman's potential equal if properly trained, and laments that Osmond was ruined by the old over-training system.
- New York, March 6: after a twelve-hour session the L.A.W. executive committee awards The Bearings Publishing Co. the official bulletin contract; Good Roads is suspended and I. B. Potter ordered to stop all expenditure; the League is found to owe about $5,000; Isaac B. Potter and George A. Perkins are matched in bicycle and foot races at the Massachusetts division meet this summer.
- A member of the Lincoln Cycling Club of Chicago resigns his membership and his office as lieutenant because he feels Sunday runs are incompatible with his Christian faith, printing the full text of his resignation letter to the board of directors.
- Charlie Knisely, Illinois Club racer and winner of the Pullman Road Race, retires from the track to join his brother's tin-roofing business; his career included breaking the American ten-mile record times innumerable and a memorable trophy-race ride at the old Parkside track.
- Feature presenting two contrasting reader letters on women's cycling dress: Irena Fischer of Palmer, Mass. argues passionately for bloomers and knickerbockers as sensible and correct, while Alice E. Poole of Chicago describes her practical gored skirt with ankle straps that she has ridden successfully for several seasons; also notes Colonel Pope's Redfern-designed Columbia costume of light-weight tweed.
- Chicago's Clover Bicycle Club, a mixed-gender club of fifty members, has settled into new rooms at 31½ Forty-third street, holding informal dances every Saturday night, monthly parties, and an annual ride to Milwaukee open to both ladies and gentlemen.
- The Chicago Cycling Club holds its opening stag at the new clubhouse at 3016 Lake Park avenue, drawing representatives from all the city's clubs including a fifty-member Minnette Club delegation, with entertainment by mind-reader Professor King and singer W. B. Hennessey.
- Willis B. Troy is engaged to personally travel with and train Zimmerman through the 1894 season, as Zimmy acknowledges for the first time that he must keep in prime condition against the speedy younger generation; Zimmerman has also heard from South African champion Meintjes, who is anxious to return to America.
- Paris, Feb. 14. A. G. Roux reports: Baras of France defeats Italian visitor C. F. Barden in a closely contested ten-mile paced race in 24:51½, within two seconds of the world record; the Fossier brothers win a forty-kilometer tandem race in 1:09:05 after the favored Farman brothers puncture and fall on the turn.
- Paris, Feb. 18. International 25-kilometer match: Schofield is thrown when Linton's pedal breaks, but Linton rides heroically on one pedal and reclaims the lead before losing to Baras by a length on the final straight; Linton is loudly cheered for his plucky riding.
- Humorous sketch in which Mrs. Smith tries to discuss household crises with her cycling-obsessed husband, who responds to every problem with cycling metaphors: suggesting the slow servant needs 'a higher gear,' asking who won the broken cup, and offering the rent collector a mortgage 'with time payments.'
- Humorous advice column responding to a young lady asking whether to adopt cycling knickerbockers; the editor catalogs practical hazards including aggressive dogs irresistibly attracted to short trousers, loss of right-of-way from road-hog drivers, and the possible need for a lawyer if an over-scrupulous officer arrests her for 'disturbing the peace.'
- Editorial note questioning whether Zimmerman or a 'fool friend' is behind the growing press reports that Harry Wheeler is offering to back the champion against all of Europe for a stake of $10,000.
- Humorous sketch in which a brash new club member loudly disparages racer Skratchmann as a fraud, a chump, and a bluffer who puts tacks on the road, only to discover that the lanky, laconic man he has been haranguing is Skratchmann himself.
- First-person editorial column recounting the narrator's recent experiences: a bowling injury that proved to be in the wrong shoulder, an interchangeable-gear demonstration at the Philadelphia show, getting lost in Boston, the pleasures of the Boston barbershop hot-towel treatment, and anecdotes from the L.A.W. Louisville Assembly including Loomis's three degrees of wheelmen enthusiasm and Dan Canary's nerve-wracking wait for his amateur reinstatement.
- Cleveland, O., March 5 dispatch: C.W.C. walkers on a Sunday excursion are mistaken by locals for an A.P.A. group arriving from Toledo; fifty-seven club members attend the Wilbur Opera Co.'s 'Black Hussar' at the Lyceum, where actor Kohnle makes a comic first attempt to ride a bicycle on stage; the Lakeside Cycling Club defeats the Cleveland Grays 13-1 at indoor football.
- H. E. Raymond is invited to speak at the Atalanta Wheelmen's dinner in Newark and the Maryland Bicycle Club dinner in Baltimore; the Orange Athletic Association will enlarge its track from one-fifth to one-quarter mile; Denver seeks the week of August 27–September 1 for the national L.A.W. meet; Dan H. Lewis leaves the American Wheelman; new racing sanctions are listed for clubs across New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California.
- New York, March 7 special: Zimmerman tells a Bearings representative he is negotiating with parties in France and will forsake the amateur ranks if the inducements are sufficient; a Baltimore dispatch separately reports he rejected a $15,000 cable offer from Wheeler as insufficient to give up his amateur status.
- Baltimore, Md., March 5: the Maryland division's rotten-rock track has become a chronic drain after two seasons of costly maintenance; a proposal to change rental from 40% net profits to 25% gross receipts provokes opposition from the club that made $700 on its meet, arguing the new basis would turn that profit into a $100 loss.
- C. R. Culver, who trained Walter Sanger to championship form in 1893, signs a contract with the Sterling Cycle Works of Chicago and will represent the firm in the east, setting aside plans to train Sanger again this year.
- London, Feb. 17. C. W. Hartung reports on the rain-soaked return of the London County Club's Anchor Shield to the Anchor Inn at Ripley: G. L. Hillier marshals a bedraggled dozen riders including G. E. Osmond on a quadricycle through leaden skies and sodden roads, cheered only by a handful of laborers and urchins, while Hillier himself maintains Spartan determination in the drizzle.
- The N.C.U. council at Leeds adopts a scheme for controlling professional racing, including an annual championship open to both amateurs and professionals, overriding the opposition of Dr. Turner and G. L. Hillier who had argued against mixed championships at the London Centre meeting.
- Syracuse, N.Y.: Cycling Captain George C. Westfall recounts the tale of George Harris, who dressed himself in phosphorous to pose as a ghost and terrified six fellow club members riding high-wheel ordinaries in the dark returning from Fayetteville, only to crash full-speed into a toll-gate bar and be found cold and helpless in the road.
- Brief note revealing that prominent cycling figures John O. Blake of Gormully & Jeffery, Thomas F. Sheridan (late L.A.W. presidential candidate), Dan Canary, Chief Consul Billingsley of Illinois, and Grant Newell were all telegraph operators in Connecticut before entering the cycling world.
- Syracuse, N.Y., March 4: Cycling Captain George C. Westfall's surprise resignation from the Syracuse Athletic Association shocks the club after his narrow election victory over W. Fred Hazleton; Hazleton is immediately appointed successor and praised as a firm friend of Chairman Raymond and President Luscomb.
- John S. Johnson and manager Tom Eck visit Syracuse; Johnson is determined to meet Zimmerman and Sanger in the amateur ranks and will ride a Stearns for the Century Cycling Club; Eck dismisses Zimmerman's $5,000–$10,000 challenge as 'all bosh.'
- Washington, D.C., March 4: the Georgetown Cycle Club's two-week fair closes, netting at least $500 for the race track fund; the Nomads Cycle Club and Arlington Wheelmen hold progressive euchre parties and dances; Yokohama's telegram-delivery-by-cyclist trial has been unsuccessful due to bad roads.
- Philadelphia, Pa., March 4: the Tioga Athletic Association faces bankruptcy as non-cycling members who benefited from the track—especially cricket players—refuse to help cover debts; wheelmen who funded the track suspect a scheme to reorganize under a new name while leaving them unpaid; an earlier attempt to form a League of Colored Riders in Philadelphia failed for lack of starting capital.
- Editorial arguing that the proliferation of local cycle shows after the big New York and Philadelphia exhibitions benefits the trade; Martin's second annual Buffalo show proves the format can pay, and two major permanent shows—one in New York and one in Chicago—would best serve the industry.
- Editorial on trade outlook: cycle salesmen find agencies easy to place but orders are conservatively small as dealers avoid the overstocking errors of 1893; eastern business is better than western, and sound manufacturers pursuing conservative methods need not fear the season's results.
- New York, March 6 dispatch: L. C. Jandorf & Co. carry Smalley and Sterling and plan a downtown Broadway branch by April 1; H. H. Devine opens his own cycle business at 1775 Broadway with Spaldings and Credenas; Raleigh Cycle Co. exhibits a 23-pound tandem built for the McDonald children; the Schwalbach Cycle Co. renames itself the Brooklyn Cycle Co. under S. F. Frasick.
- The Boston branch of the Union Cycle Mfg. Co. holds a successful spring opening on Washington's Birthday, drawing large crowds to Cycle Row and reporting strong sales under manager 'Jack' Fecitt ever since.
- A. G. Spalding & Bros. purchases the retail business of Peck & Snyder at 126–130 Nassau Street, New York, consolidating with an adjacent leased store at 15–17 Beekman Street to create the largest athletic goods store in the world.
- Washington, D.C., March 1: Georgetown Cycle Club's two-week show at the Washington Light Infantry armory draws over 12,000 visitors, raising at least $500 for the track fund; Gormully & Jeffery shows a full '94 line plus a Rambler triplet, Cline Bros. exhibits Victors, and the League Chainless Safety draws crowds every night; the Washington Road Club wins the $50 club popularity banner by 500 votes.
- London, Feb. 17 trade dispatch: F. B. Bale moves to Coventry to manage the Coventry Machinists' Co.; the Ivel Cycle Co. goes into liquidation with Dan Albone attempting reorganization; F. T. Bidlake is defeated for the North Road Club captaincy after attacking trade influence in club management; tandem safeties are gaining popularity; manufacturers' price-cutting is eroding margins; A. J. Wilson takes over advertising for the John Griffiths Corporation; the Dunlop company prepares a new racing tire and the New Howe Co. introduces an improved roller brake.
- Ed. Porter, one of Chicago's oldest century riders, is touring Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana promoting Palmer tires with hands-on demonstrations using fabric samples and valves; at Rockford, onlookers accidentally pulled the valve from his racing tire but Porter repaired it instantly with the new Palmer valve fitting.
- Fred E. McEwen returns from a successful agency-placing trip for the Hill Cycle Mfg. Co. through Illinois and Iowa, visiting Rockford, Beloit, Dubuque, Rock Island, Cedar Rapids, Quincy, and dozens of other cities by taking the reverse of the usual route to steal a march on competitors.
- Cycling interest in Rockford, Ill. is growing steadily; J. T. Buker carries the largest and best-selected cycle line in the state—including Victor, Premier, Monarch, Spalding, and Fowler—and the city hopes to join the national racing circuit.
- Compilation of bicycle trade incorporations, successions, and closures across the country, including the Chinnock Pneumatic Tire Co. incorporating in Madison, N.J.; Peck & Snyder sold to Spalding in New York; the Providence Cycle Co. under attachment with the Pope Co. negotiating for its purchase; and the Gendron Iron Wheel Co. closing all branch offices.
- Philadelphia, Pa., March 4 dispatch: Frank L. Donlevy Hardware Co. opens a bicycle department featuring the Derby wheel; the Victor Philadelphia branch opening is delayed by late consignment; the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club closes its social season with a dance; the Philadelphia Turners-Cyclers host a smoker for 600 guests with the Venango Military Band and Century Wheelmen's Banjo Club; D. R. Perkenpine, four-times national show committee member, is seriously ill with spinal trouble from overwork at the recent exhibition.
- The Lincoln Cycling Club of Chicago plans a cycle show this month, inviting the entire city trade to exhibit high-grade wheels in the decorated clubhouse to attract North Side residents and recruit new members.
- Profile of Harry Chapman, treasurer of the Chapman Hardware Co. of Toledo, O., whose firm has built one of the leading bicycle businesses in the city through close financial management, with bicycles now the primary line over hardware.
- Lizzie Heggerty, holder of fifteen century bars, joins the Overman Wheel Co. as stenographer and will ride a Victoria; Miss Porter, with fourteen century bars, opens an office with the Palmer Tire Co.; both ladies are seeking a publisher to sponsor a touring ride to New York written up from a lady-rider's standpoint.
- R. Philip Gormully of Gormully & Jeffery is appointed Honorable Consul of Venezuela in Chicago by President Cleveland and Secretary Gresham, in recognition of his assistance to Venezuelan representatives at the World's Fair; this follows his earlier appointment as chevalier by the same government.
- Newark, N.J., March 4 dispatch: all Newark dealers report improving business as spring weather brings in customers; H. A. Smith & Co. push the American Excelsior; the Puritan Cycle Co. opens a new store at 504 Broad Street; Geo. W. Coffin carries Victors, Luminum, Lyndhurst, and Sterling; Gendron Iron Wheel Co. increases daily bicycle production to twenty; cycling retail has grown from two stores to eleven in the city over five years.
- Profile of Horace Bell, one of the oldest figures in the American bicycle trade, who trained with Humber in England before managing for Overman Wheel Co., Gormully & Jeffery, and the Humber Cycle Importing Co.; as Montgomery, Ward & Co. closes their bicycle business Bell is available, described as an exceptional manager and buyer without equal.
- The Wilson-Myers Co. will move its wholesale operations to 4 Warren Street, New York, while retaining the Broadway store at 1786 under Stephen T. Moen and opening Liberty Hall at 1217–1221 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, to be managed by Alex Schwalbach for the Long Island cycle trade.