The Bicycling World, Vol 3, No 21
Articles in this issue
- The leader editorial notes that the Pope Manufacturing Company's prize competitions for the best literary article on the uses of the bicycle and the best series of bicycling illustrations closed on the 15th of the month, with the judges' decisions due. The editor, having glanced over the manuscripts, praises the literary excellence of practical wheelmen and of the paper's hundred-plus correspondents across the United States and Canada.
- The Cambridge Bicycle Club is organized at Pythian Hall, Cambridgeport, Mass., on 15 September, with Jas. M. Gilmore president, Frank W. Power secretary-treasurer and H. E. Lombard captain; the Holyoke (Mass.) Bicycle Club elects E. C. Clark president and captain, with eleven members and headquarters at 63 Main street.
- Brief personal and news squibs: Capt. Sidey 'still holds the fort' after the Montreal races; a preview of the coming week's racing at Springfield, Brockton, Lansing, Willimantic, Attleboro', the League races at New York and Stenton, Philadelphia; the New York Graphic's 'Hubs, Spokes, and Idiots' headline; Boston Club contest times for Dean and Stall; postal cards tracking Francis Cragin's ride across Indiana and Ohio; and W. J. Langley's request for a companion for a Boston-to-Worcester run.
- Letters from readers: 'Kampten' describes the Philadelphia Club's run through Fairmount Park after the Park Commissioners removed all restrictions on bicycle riding, with observations on horses and their drivers; a Chicago letter derides self-taught riders; 'Relcycib' of Cleveland recounts the Columbus meet, amateur-rule troubles in the West and the lead-cored League badge; a Mercury Club member defends Chaplain Wilmerding against the 'fresh' New York Herald reporter; and a Toronto wheelman promises visiting Americans a hearty welcome despite sand-covered roads.
- First installment of a serialized long-distance cycling tour departing Chicago on September 5, 1881. The rider describes setting out at nine o'clock, crossing Blue Island, and finding the roads between St. Mary and Donovan, Illinois, virtually unrideable due to over six inches of sand, before continuing east toward Sheldon.
- Race reports from three locations: the Montreal Bicycle Club's ten-mile handicap with thirteen entries and staggered starts won after close competition; a half-mile heat contest in Butler, Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh club riders including Frank Hoover (first-heat winner), Charles Beltz, F. L. Owens, and S. G. Ormsby; and an English road race in which a Facile bicycle defeated an ordinary over 25 miles, finishing in 1h 58m 5s through Barnet to the Finchley milestone.
- Official League of American Wheelmen department: corresponding secretary Kingman N. Putnam publishes membership applications from the New Bedford, New York, Middletown (Ohio), Boston and Manhattan clubs plus unattached riders, and calls the Board of Officers' fall business meeting at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, on 6 October, with League members admitted free to the races at the Polo Grounds.
- Publication notices: Geyer's Stationers' Illustrated Catalogue is praised for its specimens of illustrated advertising; Scribner's Monthly closes its twenty-second volume with the October number and will be re-christened 'The Century, Scribner's Illustrated Magazine' in November; also noticed are a medical volume from Shamp & Focht of Lewisburg, Pa., and Keppler & Schwarzmann's new fiction paper.
- Louisville news from the Louisville Commercial: Charles Kunz, a founder of the Falls City Bicycle Club, dies of typhoid fever, and the club passes memorial resolutions; Henry and Thomas Skillman, Alex. Morgan, H. Milward and others of Lexington forfeit their amateur standing by racing for money prizes; and the Louisville Fair Association's planned bicycle race is postponed to the spring meeting for lack of preparation time.