The Canadian Wheelman, Vol 4, No 4
Articles in this issue
- Reprints a Detroit Tribune interview with Rev. Dr. Ryan praising brick (and fire-brick, as used at Wheeling) as the smooth, durable pavement of the future, superior to wooden cedar-block roads.
- A humorous C.T.C. Gazette item about three cyclists stopped by a Glasgow policeman, one of whom gives his name as William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon.
- Comic anecdote of a heavy St. Louis business-college principal who rides a low Kangaroo machine and is soaked by a boy with a hose on Locust street.
- Editorial urging Ontario and Quebec members of the C.W.A. Board of Officers to attend the spring meeting at the Walker House, Toronto, on 25 February, where increasing membership, the "D 322" by-law changes and the choice of the Annual Meet location will be discussed.
- Reports the League of American Wheelmen board electing Abbott Bassett of Boston secretary (85 votes to John A. Wells's 51) after Eugene A. Aaron was deposed for malfeasance over a Bulletin deficit, with Aaron's denial that the shortage was $5,800.
- Account of the Newmarket Bicycle Club's first annual supper at A. Simpson's restaurant, chaired by Dr. Widdifield, M.P.P., with President J. E. Hughes and guests including Toronto's Wanderers' Bi. Club.
- From the Globe: the Toronto Wanderers replaced their annual supper with a four-in-hand drive on 20 January to the Glen Cove Club House, hosted by E. and R. Simpson, with songs, speeches and a mouth-organ selection by Mr. Brown.
- "Rex" comments on Harry Etherington of Wheeling, O. E. Fleming's $5,000 libel suit against the Amherstburg Echo over "Boodler Fleming," the "D322" reform scheme, Jubilee titles and the Montreal winter carnival.
- "Pete" reports early-season bicycle sales and odd trade offers, the theft of Dr. Doolittle's medals, the Wanderers' sleigh ride to Glen Cove, and ridicules a Wheel writer who confused Toronto's steamer Chicora with "Choracusa."
- Prints F. Cathcart's letter inviting the C.W.A. to raise a team for the Great Jubilee International Cycling Tournament at Alexandra Park, London, on 23-25 June 1887, suggesting a subscription as the Irish and Scotch did.
- Chief Consul W. P. Way's circular asking Midland District No. 4 local consuls to report by 28 February the names and addresses of non-member wheelmen so he can recruit them to the C.W.A.
- Dr. P. E. Doolittle of Toronto has had his gold and silver bicycling medals, worth $400-$500, stolen from his residence at 237 Front street east, the thieves entering through the cellar.
- J. E. Marshall and Mr. Broen of the Cape Colony civil service rode nearly 600 miles from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth in 11 days 13 hours, over mountain ranges and rough tracks in South Africa.
- A column of short items including the Springfield Club declining to join the L.A.W., League membership rising to 10,264, W. A. Rowe's record tally, the rumoured sale of the Cycle, and the Gormully & Jeffery incorporation.
- A narrative poem by President Bates (reprinted from Outing) in which Richard races on his rubber-and-steel wheel to fetch a doctor for dying little Mary, beating the doctor's mare and "the champion, Death."
- A satirical Puck sketch by "Smith" recounting his miserable, terrifying experience tobogganing on the Orange Hills in a ridiculous flannel uniform.
- Schock beat the world six-day bicycle record at Minneapolis with 1,405 miles in 142 hours; Morgan scored 1,165 miles and Armaindo 1,042-plus, with post-race weights of the contestants given.
- Instructional notes from W. C. Goulding and F. Wale on learning to mount an ordinary bicycle by the pedal, reprinted from Bi. News.
- Recounts Wm. Payne of London, Ontario, importing the first bicycles into Canada in 1879 and the success of his 'Xtraordinary Challenge machines, of which over $4,000 worth will be in stock; notes Dr. Doolittle's prizes won on the Challenge.
- Prints a letter from Thomas Stevens (San Francisco, 18 January) telling Outing his route east via Portland, St. Paul and Minneapolis to Chicago and his plan to visit his mother in Missouri; also a 120-strong Bay City wheelmen's run in his honour.
- A notice praising Vick's Floral Guide for 1887 for its illustrations of flowers and vegetables and practical gardening articles.
- From the Shanghai Courier: Thomas Stevens describes the arduous Chinese leg of his round-the-world Columbia tour, from Canton over the Mei-ling Pass, the stoning mob at Kin-gan-foo, and his river passage under guard to Kiukiang.
- A Wheeling ghost story in which a cyclist named "Bertie," riding home at night on his "Salvo," is stopped by the voice of his dead fiancee Alice just before a fallen elm limb across the road, then dies in a racing fall on her death's anniversary.