The Referee, Vol 9, No 25
Articles in this issue
- Editorial leader warning that the disastrous 1892 season saw failures caused by poor management and undercapitalized racing men dabbling in the trade, and cautioning dealers not to over-extend in the belief that World's Fair year will recoup all losses.
- London letter of Oct. 8 reporting Osmond's failed standing-start mile at Herne Hill, new English records by M. B. Fowler and Bidlake's London-to-York tricycle mark, the Stanley vs. National show battle, and English makers (Triumph, Pneumatic Tire Co.) preparing for America and the new Dunlop detachable tire.
- Account of the Columbus Day cycle parade in New York, quoting the Sun, Herald and Recorder on the 4,500 wheelmen and a 150-strong ladies' division led by military cyclists under grand marshal G. Minturn Worden, with lists of the participating metropolitan clubs.
- Signed argument that cash prizes produce the best racing and that the professional class should be governed separately, quoting an advance Kings County Wheelmen 'Announcer' article lamenting the loss of the old long-distance amateur and the rise of the trade-backed 'professional amateur.'
- Attack on the Sporting Life's 'manufacturers' special' advertising-car scheme run by Frank Egan and manager James C. Dayton, followed (p.3) by an expose of Frank Hall and A. N. Ridgley's proposed seven-day Paris bicycle race and Ridgley's Australian skating-rink swindle.
- Preview of the Chicago Cycling Club's two-day Washington Park meet, describing the eastern contingent (Zimmerman, Tyler, Smith, Hess, Dorntge) in training, the 45,000-seat grand stand, transport arrangements, the run-on-time plan and the two-day programme.
- Reports of the Aurora Cycling Club meet (Lumsden taking four events, John Taylor winning the championship with a broken sprocket) and the Milwaukee Mercury Cycling Club's annual eight-mile road race won by dark horse Wells Prichard in 23:20, with summaries.
- Signed trade-and-sport commentary by 'La Cote Mal Taile' on the bright prospects for 1893 if makers keep their heads, the ever-earlier selling season, and a defence of the dwarf/geared ordinary against the safety.
- Buffalo correspondence by 'Willie Dunn' on the Cycling Protective League, club-run attendance, doubtful century records by Press C. C. and Ramblers men, club entertainments, and Klipfel and Foell's centuries over the Le Roy course.
- Edward Mushing of Centaur and lampmaker Joseph Lucas give their views on the Dunlop tire and place western agencies (Mcintosh-Huntington, Cleveland), followed by 'Stanley's' London letter on the Stanley Show, the Rudge Company's show plans, Perry's geared hub and London front-driver makers.
- Technical description with diagrams of the 1893 wired Dunlop detachable tire and its special rim, explaining how the continuous edge wires let the cover be fitted and repaired in minutes, and the new smaller deflating valve.
- Chicago trade-news department reporting Western Wheel Works' 17,500 pairs of tires, Thorsen & Cassady's 4,000-wheel season, Gormully & Jeffery's window display, Coventry Machinists' remodelled Wabash Avenue store, and Louis Jordan's expanded repair and gun shop.
- Patent departments listing recent U.S. bicycle patents (Burwell tire, Brookes saddles) reported by W. E. Aughinbaugh, and abstracts of new English patent applications (Shaw & Sydenham driving gear, Rickards tire repair) prepared by G. Douglas Leechman of Coventry.
- Trade-news department (Stokes in California, Morgan & Wright imitators, Coventry Machinists' Swift racers, Ned Oliver's Garford saddle contracts) running into 'Foreign Press Opinions' (p.14), reprinting British comment on Johnson's 1:56 mile and a proposed Zimmerman-vs-Nancy Hanks match.
- Editorial leaders criticizing the L. A. W. racing board's secrecy and demanding open meetings, and rebuking Walter C. Sanger for surliness and his habit of crying foul whenever he is beaten; the page also carries 'Time to Move' and 'That Committee of Seven.'
- Dr. E. B. Turner's reprinted article (Bicycling News) advising that healthy children may cycle from about age six on a properly fitted light machine, with short reach and upright position, and judging the right distance by how the child sleeps and eats afterward.
- New York letter covering callers at the Eastern office, the Brooklyn anti-Sunday-riding circular row on Bedford Avenue, Australian rider Tom Busst on cash prizes, W. B. Curtis's attack on Philadelphia amateur prizes, the author's failed call on Grover Cleveland, and 'Some Cash Prize Poetry.'
- Illustrated portrait sketches of Milwaukee wheelmen Oscar E. Binner of the Binner Engraving Company (of 'Papa, my Rambler and Me' fame) and L. M. Richardson, leaving the Humber-Rover company to manage the Monarch Cycle Company.
- Feature on the eastern racing men's week as guests of the Chicago Cycling Club, Zimmerman's shyness and admiration for the city, and the story of 'the Dark Secret,' colored lad John Backus who beat his way from Freehold to Chicago to follow Zimmy.
- Full report of the Chicago Cycling Club's two-day meet closing the 1892 season: fine weather, a fast track, three records broken (Johnson's 4:41 competition two miles, triplet half-mile marks by Banker, Merrill and Winship), Zimmerman not riding, and complete first- and second-day race summaries.
- Zimmy and Sanger Not Matched. There Was Talk of Such a Thing, but That Was All. (opens in a new tab)Debunking of daily-paper reports of a $1,000-a-side Zimmerman-Sanger series, tracing it to a boast by P. H. Sercombe and a $500 forfeit deposited with the Chicago Tribune, with the Milwaukee side insisting Sanger's friends mean business.
- Signed interview-essay by J. K. Starley of Coventry on his first American visit, praising Chicago and the World's Fair, predicting America will soon make most of its own machines, recounting the evolution from hobby-horse to Rover, and arguing the geared ordinary is a step backward.
- New York trade letter of Oct. 25 reporting Robert Willis of the English Ormonde company on the gloomy home trade, Gendron's new sulky wheels, Phelps & Dingle's clamping-device patent purchase, New Howe agency shuffles, and the Anglo-American company's larger quarters.
- Trade reports describing the new Yost Manufacturing Company works on Dorr Street, Toledo, in nearly full running order, and the third annual Philadelphia cycle show secured for the new Bourse market-house, opening January 4 for ten days.
- Report of the L. A. W. racing board's long secret session at the Great Northern Hotel: Roy Keator suspended pending an amateur inquiry, Julien P. Bliss shelved sixty days, Windle's records accepted while Johnson's were returned for signatures, plus international-race and cash-prize discussion.
- Account of the good roads convention at Central Music Hall, with Col. Pope, Clem Studebaker and Gov. Fuller attending, Gen. Roy Stone estimating Illinois farmers' bad-roads loss at $16,000,000 a year, and Judge Thayer of Iowa elected president.