The Bicycling World, Vol 13, No 12
Articles in this issue
- The unheaded leader paragraphs cover President Beckwith's removal of Massachusetts chief consul Ducker, the English N.C.U.'s endorsement of the L.A.W. Racing Board, the League's recognition of the A.C.U., and the alarming fashion of 24-hour "long-distance" records made over short seventeen- and ten-mile selected circuits. The editors also ask whether rank-and-file members actually read the Bulletin, and question how far the A.C.U. or L.A.W. can properly recognise road racing.
- "Philo" reports that the Chicago and Northwestern railroad demanded a dollar apiece to carry bicycles to Waukesha, so the Western Division tourists euchred the road by taking the Goodrich steamer to Milwaukee instead. He also notes the successful sixty-rider Indiana Tour reported by Ed. Wilcox and strong entries for the Chicago Club races on the 31st.
- Dr. N. M. Beckwith, president of the L.A.W., was arrested in New York on a warrant issued by D. H. Renton, and ex-New York chief consul Edward F. Hill was arrested at Peekskill, over Renton's son's expulsion from the League at the 22 February board meeting. Warrants are also out for others who recommended the expulsion, including Dr. G. Carleton Brown of Newark and T. J. Kirkpatrick of Springfield, Ohio.
- A list of recent cycle patents from the office of Boston patent attorney Henry W. Williams, including L. E. Whiton's bicycle tire with imbedded metallic strips, R. Goodyear's polycycle, W. L. Fish's bicycle saddle, and a velocipede fork improvement by Jas. N. Waite assigned to the Pope Manufacturing Company.
- New York, Long Island and Jersey City clubs wheeled to the Wild West show at Elm Park, Staten Island, where riders volunteered as passengers on the attacked coach; the new Harlem Wheelmen are planning New York's first open-air race meet. Also noted are Fred Jenkins's successful eye operation and the money-losing horse-versus-bicycle act of Morgan and Woodside at Washington Park, Brooklyn.
- The rumor column reports that Ducker refuses to hand the chief consul's effects to Mr. Hayes, that F. Russ Cook's reinstatement will make the Pacific slope solid for the L.A.W., that Dr. N. P. Tyler will be the League's official handicapper, that Van Meerbeke has reached New Mexico en route to San Francisco, and that Willard Burns won the road race at Great Barrington.
- A humorous letter in the style of P.G. Hamerton offers ironic advice to a young man who wishes to become a prominent cyclist, discussing how doubling up on long rides and cultivating the right social connections are keys to prominence.
- A correspondent signing "Anti-Fashion" questions the supposed advantages of handle-bar steering for tricycles, arguing that side steering gives freer breathing, less vibration, an easier escape in a spill, and can be mounted and ridden by a lady.
- Secretary J. G. Calhoun forwards a resolution of the Connecticut Bicycle Club's 14 July meeting tabling the motion to strike the L.A.W. clause from its by-laws, pending the League's steps to remedy the Racing Board decisions' injustice to racing men and clubs who give races.
- Geo. E. Blackham argues that the L.A.W. cannot abandon its supervision of racing because "racing is the intemperance of cycling" — it may be regulated but not suppressed — and refuses to see the League abdicate its position as arbiter of American cycling to the A.C.U., while defending his signature on Ducker's mail-vote request.
- Short notes on the Ducker-Beckwith fight over the Massachusetts consulship, G. P. Mills's attempt on Lennox's Land's End to John o'Groats record, and Australian amateur champion W. H. Langdown's journey to race at Springfield. The column continues past the advertising pages with Boston notes: Sumner B. Ely and Harry Slade start awheel for Portland, Maine, the Massachusetts Club adds a wheel-room gallery, and a policeman will preside over the new Jamaica Plain Club.
- Clippings include the Bulletin's sarcastic response to the rumored L.A.W.-A.C.U. peace, praise for Foote's anti-header sold by the Overman Wheel Company, Hartford doubts about Secretary Aaron's Bulletin editing, and R. P. Gormully of Gormully & Jeffery sailing for Europe on the Etruria, worn out by the firm's large business.
- Faed's London trade letter notes the continuing Cripper tricycle rage and Add. Fletcher's 251 miles in 24 hours on a Beeston Humber, and reprints the English press "A Correction" showing the North Road Club fifty-mile road race was won by Charles Edgar Liles and Arthur J. Wilson on a Beeston Humber tandem, not by the advertised Golder and Buckingham. New goods include the Claviger lever-action bicycles, Lamplugh & Bown's handle-bar luggage carrier, and the Premier Safety and tandem.
- John S. Prince beats the horse "High Wind" over five miles at North Adams; F. W. Berridge claims twenty miles and thirty yards within the hour at Lillie Bridge on a Rover Safety; W. Banker takes the Wheeling, W. Va. thirty-mile road race. A. A. McCurdy rides 275 miles to approach Hollingsworth's 24-hour short-course figure, E. F. Perry of the Massachusetts Club claims the twenty- and twenty-five-mile road records, and the Pittsfield tournament programme is given.
- The C.T.C. department lists acting chief consul C. H. Potter of Cleveland and the state consuls, and publishes provisional membership applications including Galloupe Morton and Chas. I. Giddings of Boston and Mrs. Fred G. Bourne of New York.
- The events calendar lists the Brockton Bicycle Club run to Natick, the Chicago Bicycle Club races on 31 July, the L.A.W. Tour from Rochester to Harper's Ferry, the New Jersey division meet at Millville, the Connecticut Bicycle Club meeting at Charter Oak Park, the Springfield tournament, and the three-day Lynn Tournament.