The Bicycling World, Vol 3, No 11
Articles in this issue
- Brief weekly notes: the Milwaukee Run is described as 'a brilliant affair'; a New York Supreme Court verdict rules in favour of cyclists against a horse-owner whose horse was frightened; Fred N. Bosson's thigh-bone fracture on Ipswich Hill is cited as a warning against reckless coasting; various club and rider squibs.
- Comic poem by Carrie P. Richards addressing a thin-legged male cyclist, begging him to pull down his trouser legs and conceal his 'spindles' before riding out in public.
- Brief editorial on the need for improved tricycle design; notes that none of the three machines in the Boston 4 July tricycle race (Excelsior, Challenge, Special Salvo) impressed spectators, and argues the tricycle must become easier to propel and steer before it can rival the bicycle in general use.
- Detailed account by 'Steno' of the Milwaukee Bicycle Club's second annual three-day run (2-4 July): nearly 100 riders from Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Ariel, Columbus, Chicago, Joliet, Lafayette, Hartford, Waltham, Kankakee, Elgin, Fond du Lac, and Neenah clubs ride to Lakeside at Pewaukee Lake (24 miles) on the first day, then to Oconomowoc (16 miles) on the second, with a grand ball, floral bicycle on the hotel lawn, and moonlit club songs; organiser Angus Hibbard forced to withdraw with a sprained wrist.
- Letter from W.B. Everett (Boston Club) written at Holyoke, 12 July, describing his solo tour in progress: Connecticut roads from Providence via Willimantic to Middletown were so rough that he walked 20 of the 47 miles; good roads through Hartford and Springfield to Holyoke; plans to continue to Lake George via Brattleboro, Bennington, and Saratoga Springs.
- Route report by J.R. Heard (captain, Roxbury Bi. Club) of a 26-mile solo ride from Boston to Easton via Canton and Stoughton; good roads to Stoughton, rough gravel turnpike beyond; 50.5 miles total in 6 hours' riding time.
- Letter from W.E. (St. Louis, 21 May) describing excellent cycling roads around St. Louis: Manchester Road offers 40 miles of splendid riding; Forest Park has 1,300 acres and 15 miles of gravel drives; Tower Grove Park and the fair grounds amphitheatre promenade are also recommended.
- Humorous account by Ixion — already 5,200 cyclometric miles on his Columbia — of his attempts to mount and ride an American Star bicycle (small front wheel forward); he requires a coachman to steady the machine, damages it twice, but eventually masters it well enough to ride to the post-office and dismount before an assembled crowd.
- Narrative poem by J. Park Street about a cyclist who arms himself with a fencing foil and uses it to strike back at a bulldog that has bitten him; followed by a serious proposal that all cyclists adopt a nickel-plated foil over the shoulder as standard defence against dogs.
- League of American Wheelmen membership applications from the New Haven, Montreal, New Brunswick (N.J.), and Scranton bicycle clubs plus many individual unattached riders; corrections to previously published application names; W. Noble Campbell appointed L.A.W. director for Quebec.
- News from Boston Bi. Club (60 members, 3 vacancies); Halifax Bi. Club organised 11 June (second bicycle club in the Dominion of Canada; Capt. H. Lethbridge; blue serge uniforms); Aeolus Wheel Club (Worcester) 13 July field day results (J.C. Spiers wins gold badge with 316 points; F.E. Higgins wins colours with half-mile in 1:40); Philadelphia Bicycle Club new officers (T.K. Longstreth, president; Jno. Fergusson, captain) and new club room at 60 N. 13th St. with 20 wheel racks; Montreal Bi. Club season summary (24 rides, 270 miles total; G.M. Smith wins the two-mile championship).
- Notes on Fred N. Bossun's thigh-bone fracture from a fall at Ipswich Hill; L.A.W. Director E.J. Waring's four-year-old son Walter killed by a horse kick on 5 July; George F. Fiske (Amherst) completes a remarkable 200-mile ride in two days (52 miles Amherst to Worcester, then Cambridge and back to Framingham); Browning and Johnson ride Orange to Long Branch 55 miles; Charles R. Percival and wife sail for Europe 16 July.
- Weekly compilation of horse accidents (4-15 July): incidents in Amesbury (bear on the road frightens a horse), Boston, East Boston, Hopkinton (Fred. Phipps fatally injured), Quincy, Walpole, Philadelphia (Mary Cowen and C.W. Haines killed), Albany, and Newport (Frank Gray Griswold breaks his knee-pan).
- Query on how to keep cycling stockings up (editor recommends the safety-pin); inquiry about 'All-around Oil' for lamps; upcoming events listed: New England Fair bicycle races at Worcester (7 September), Brockton Bi. Club races (5 October), Sacramento agricultural fair bicycle races.
- Biographical profile of Col. Albert A. Pope: born in Boston 1843, Civil War officer brevetted for gallantry at South Mountain, Antietam, and Petersburg; founded the Pope Manufacturing Company and introduced Columbia bicycles to America in 1878; a founder of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club and L.A.W. member No. 152; factory capacity of 1,200 machines per month and 6,000 Columbias in use nationwide; described as having done more than any other man to extend American bicycling.