The Bicycling World, Vol 5, No 4
Articles in this issue
- "Bicyclers' Rights" argues that wheelmen have full legal standing on public roads, citing an English court ruling that a bicycle is a carriage and an Illinois Supreme Court opinion that streets cannot exclude new modes of transport; "Explanatory and Apologetic" retracts inflammatory language from an earlier piece on amateur racing that drew a public rebuke in the English sporting press, clarifying the criticism was aimed at disorganized agricultural-fair games rather than legitimate athletic associations.
- Club reports arrive from Holyoke, Mass. (a growing club of 20+ riders expecting permanent headquarters), Oakland, Cal. (a joint run of 31 riders with the San Francisco club to Hayward's, commanded by Capt. George Strong), Charleston, S.C. (five new members elected and a June parade planned), Phillips Andover Academy (A.J. du Pont elected captain), Hamilton, Ont. (new club with tri-weekly runs and a July bicycle display), and the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, where 30–40 members in full uniform rode to Col. Albert Pope's Newton home on 24 May for an evening of supper and music.
- At the third annual L.A.W. Meet in Chicago, Monday's races at the Chicago Driving Park were won by W.A. Friese of Milwaukee (two-mile, 8m 55s), Arthur Young of the Missouri Club of St. Louis (one-mile), and Clarence H. Jenkins of Louisville (quarter-mile); Tuesday's grand parade of 150+ wheelmen along Michigan Avenue, led by Commander A.S. Marsden of New Haven with clubs from Boston, Massachusetts, Falls City (Louisville), Chicago, Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Milwaukee among others, was followed by a business meeting at the Grand Pacific Hotel where treasurer Dillwyn Wistar reported total receipts of $2,441.92 and a balance of $515.38, and W.H. Miller of Columbus was elected League president.
- The B.T.C. annual meet on 27 May assembled members from the Manhattan, Lenox, Ixion, and New York clubs at 791 Fifth Avenue, departing at Capt. Weber's bugle signal under the lead of Frank W. Weston of Boston, and rode via St. Nicholas Avenue and Kingsbridge Road to Yonkers, where 17 riders lunched at the Peabody Hotel before returning at 3.30.
- The first annual meet of bicyclists of Essex County was held in Lawrence, Mass., drawing about 150 riders from Salem, Lynn, Marblehead, Beverly, Newburyport, Haverhill, Andover and Bradford for a parade through the town; the new Essex County League of Wheelmen elected M.D. Currier of Lawrence president, E.F. Davenport of Marblehead vice-president, J. Fred Adams of Haverhill secretary, J.S. Burbank of Salem treasurer and W.O. Faulkner of Lynn commander, and visitors were entertained at a banquet.
- The 50-mile handicap at Boston's Casino on 25 May between champion John Prince and Louise Armaindo ended with Prince winning by half a lap after overcoming cramps, breaking multiple American professional records through 30 miles despite Armaindo holding the lead until the final stretch; also covered are the Boston Casino horse-vs.-bicycle contest (Le Roy on 10 horses trailing Prince and Rollinson 122–148 miles after day one) and results from New York intercollegiate, Philadelphia, Princeton, Charleston, and Melbourne club races.
- A San Francisco rider disputes a published account of a local handicap race, arguing the handicapping was mathematically unsound and his performance unfairly characterized; "K.K." in Montreal offers a humorous update on club members including "Jingling Johnny" and "Freddie" Holden preparing for the season; "The Tourist" recounts a grueling 93-mile two-day ride from St. Louis through Fox Creek crossings and the Meramec River bluffs; and "Kol Kron" defends plain road reports over literary writing, urging wheelmen to document practical route notes.
- A lively miscellany comments on Prince's hard-fought 50-mile victory over Louise Armaindo, professional Thomas Harrison's return from Europe with a 55-inch Rudge racer, Jack Keen training for a 20-mile-within-an-hour attempt, and Lewis Frye's recovery from a head injury sustained on the Southboro' road; other notes cover the new "Sporting Gentleman" magazine edited by Marius Lazare, the Massachusetts Club's Decoration Day run through West Roxbury, Dedham and Needham to Hotel Wellesley, and a digest from "Kol Kron" showing Harvard leading American college bicycle clubs with 105 members, followed by Princeton (50) and Michigan University (30).
- Foreign notes report booming English demand for tricycles over bicycles, Harry Etherington's marriage on 25 May, the adoption of the divided skirt by lady tricyclists, a Leeds Mercury comparison ranking bicycling fastest against swimming, walking and running over a mile, and the ninth annual Oxford-vs-Cambridge bicycle races of 6 May, won by Oxford's W.F. Buckley at two miles and Cambridge's J.S. Whatton at ten miles, with Cambridge's G.D. Day taking the twenty-five-mile event.
- A comic verse recounts a 56-inch-wheel rider ("the deacon") taking a header into the mud of a sprinkler-cart-soaked Chestnut Street while chasing a Standard-model rider, signed "a.y." and dated from a bicycle club meeting on 12 May 1882.
- Under "Answers to Correspondents," J.H. in Boston learns John Prince's professional mile record was lowered to 3.13 on 25 May; K.T. in Chelsea is told S. Corbett of England holds the tricycle mile record at 3:34 2-5; J.M.B. in Chicago is informed that amateurs may race with professionals in England only under Bicycle Union sanction; H.D.C. in Columbus is told that Cortis on Training is still in press; and A.G.F. in Philadelphia is given a recipe for "shandygaff" (lager and ginger ale in equal parts).
- The column lists cycling books and periodicals available through E.C. Hodges & Co. in Boston, including the Cyclist & Wheel World Annual edited by Nairn and Sturmey (300 pages, 500 illustrations, 50 cents), Henry Sturmey's Indispensable Bicyclist's Hand-Book, the Wheelman's Year-Book compiled by W.D. Welford, and Charles Cordingley's Tricyclist's Vade Mecum.