The Bicycling World, Vol 9, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Editorial contrasting H. J. Webb's reckless brakeless Humber tricycle ride from Land's End to John-o'-Groats -- including a bloody crash descending Berriedale Brae and nearly being taken for a lunatic by the police at Wick -- with Alfred Nixon's steadier run on a ninety-pound Imperial Club tricycle, arguing that recklessness should not be celebrated over safe riding.
- Miscellaneous editorial squibs: a warning that future road-record claims must be properly authenticated before publication, praise for the ladies who tricycled at the Springfield meet, a proposal to raise a subscription fund to send top American amateurs to race in England, and credit to William E. Gilman (a former editor of the World) for originating the mile-by-mile 'record' prize format used at the Springfield tournament.
- Signed defence by Abbot Bassett of the Racing Board rebutting the New York Spirit of the Times' attacks on the revised L.A.W. racing rules; compares the L.A.W.'s and N.A.A.A.A.'s referee/starter/judge structures and defends timing races from the pistol's report rather than its flash.
- Two contrasting press notices on League hotel discounts: the Athlete jokes that one staffer's savings on a two-day League-rate hotel stay were enough to cover two years' dues, while the Wheel counters that Albany wheelmen were only saved fifty cents a day and that members want good accommodation, not a slight discount.
- Minutes of the L.A.W. Board of Officers' fall meeting held in Philadelphia on 13 September, chaired by President N. M. Beckwith, reporting 1,301 membership applications received and a treasury balance of $2,864.40, and discussing combining the secretary and treasurer offices, annual-meeting credentials, and route slips.
- Dispatches from the C.T.C. American Division's autumn 'Wheel Around the Hub' tour, 22-23 September 1884: about nineteen riders under Capt. Harrison pass through Dedham and climb Blue Hill to the Massapoag House, where Chief Consul F. W. Weston chairs a business meeting that votes to have state consuls handle C.T.C. applications, raises a $53 subscription for danger and caution signs, and elects Abbot Bassett club treasurer.
- Correspondence from William E. Gilman protesting that the Wheel reproduced his account of the Massachusetts Wheelmen's meet and Ramblers' races -- originally written for the Boston Daily Advertiser -- as if it were a letter to the paper's own columns, without acknowledgement.
- Correspondence signed 'Eph.' recounting the St. Louis Ramblers' hundred-mile 'dude run' over rough Missouri roads: riders nicknamed Jack, Fred and Art. crash and lose their nerve, a 'highway hog' farmer blocks the road and is talked down, and an injured rider dubbed 'The Corpse' still sets a fifteen-mile-an-hour pace on the way home.
- Satirical correspondence proposing a joint 'ticket' of Mrs. Lockwood for president and L.A.W. chief consul Dr. N. M. Beckwith for vice-president, playing on the 1884 presidential campaign to court both the wheelmen's and the 'silent vote' of the ladies.
- Miscellany: Alfred Nixon rides his Imperial Club tricycle 395 miles from London to Edinburgh in three days, W. F. Sutton aims for the John-o'-Groats record on a Cruiser tricycle, the Amesbury Bicycle Club's Tuxbury brothers complete a 104-mile century, William Read & Sons cable for fifty Kangaroos, and the Boston Bicycle Club announces its second annual 100-mile road race for 4 October.
- Trade review of the John Wilkinson Company's (Chicago) adjustable saddle, praising its shallow dip and easy thumb-screw tension adjustment -- usable with or without its spring -- but criticizing its decoratively stamped leather top as impractical; retails for $4.00.
- Trade notes from the Springfield tournament: Read & Sons tout Prince's 2:39 mile and Chambers's tricycle wins on the Royal Mail, Hillman, Herbert & Cooper's Kangaroo and the Coventry Machinists' new tandem and Ranelagh racing tricycles draw attention, a party tours the Weed Sewing Machine Co.'s Columbia works as Col. Pope's guests, and Wm. Andrews of Birmingham (maker of the Sanspareil) is reported to have compounded with his creditors.
- Multi-page results covering the Springfield Bicycle Club's four-day tournament (16-19 September, headlined by John S. Prince's 2:39 world's-mile record and R. Chambers's tricycle marks) plus meets at New Haven, Albany, Philadelphia, Waverly N.J., Schenectady, Freehold N.J., Montgomery, Ala., and Angelica, N.Y., with tables of the season's American amateur, professional and tandem bicycle and tricycle records.
- Brief club notices: the newly organized Dearborn 'Cycling Club of Chicago (president F. W. Gookin), the fifteen-member Danvers Club (captain Frank C. Damon), and the Massasoit Club of Springfield (president W. C. Stone).
- News from the Cyclists' Touring Club American Division, including membership dues, a call for applications ahead of the first annual autumn 'Wheel Around the Hub' tour, a list of provisionally elected new members with addresses, and Canadian Division consul contact information under Horace S. Tibbs of Montreal.
- Short answers to individual correspondents (identified by initials such as C. E. H. and J. H. Wright) on subscription orders, back numbers and other practical matters.
- Race calendar for the season's final weeks: the Boston tournament (26-27 September), club meets at Worcester, Lynn and Lawrence, the N.A.A.A.A./L.A.W. championships at Brooklyn (27 September), the Boston Bicycle Club's 100-mile road race (4 October), and meets at Northampton, Scranton, Pa., and Cleveland (23 October).