The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 9
Articles in this issue
- The editor thanks advertisers, calls for news correspondents from across the country to send concise postal-card dispatches, and names friends and enemies of the Park Rights and Privileges bill—crediting Senators Cantor and Pitts as introducers, and censuring Senator Daly, Senator Dunham, Assemblyman Shea, Mayor Hewitt, and Park Commissioner Beekman for opposing wheelmen's access to Central Park.
- Comprehensive three-day account of the L.A.W. annual meeting in St. Louis, May 19–21, covering the arrival of delegates including Col. Albert Pope, Thomas Stevens, and Secretary-Editor Abbot Bassett; the Missouri Bicycle Club's gala reception with dancing and entertainment; the Friday Board of Officers' meeting at which T.J. Kirkpatrick of Springfield, Ohio was unanimously elected President and Herbert W. Hayes Vice-President; and the Saturday parade of an estimated 600 wheelmen through the city streets to Forest Park.
- Letter from Edward J. Schriver urging New York wheelmen to use their nearly ten thousand votes to punish at the ballot box the opponents of the Park Liberty Bill, specifically Senator Daly, Senator Dunham, Assemblyman Shea, and Park Commissioner Beekman—now engineering his candidacy for Mayor—while cautiously awaiting Governor Hill's decision on signing the bill.
- Letter from dealers Geo. W. Rouse & Son reporting that Bert Meyers won the Peoria Bicycle Club's ten-mile road race on a 52-inch Light Champion in 40:27 over a fourteen-hill course, with John Seery second on a full Roadster Champion.
- The Kings County Wheelmen's June 1887 calendar of club runs and events, including outings to Roslyn, Coney Island, Brighton Beach Hotel, Morristown, and Staten Island, plus the annual parade on June 23 and the race meet at Brooklyn A.A. grounds on June 25.
- Correspondent 'Jonah' previews the upcoming Interstate Road Race at Irvington-Milburn on Decoration Day, analyzing the prospects of six teams—with Kings County (Hall, Valentine, Weber, Bridgman) favored—and reporting Saturday trial times for Hudson County's Stenken (36:35 for ten miles), Greenman (37:42), Bowman (39:13), and Kluge (39:19), and Union County's Pierson, Moore, Burnett, and Farrington through twenty-five miles.
- Correspondent 'Victor' reports a pleasant forty-mile Sunday ride to the Eastern Shore with 'Egg,' 'Fancy,' and 'Zephyr' of the Ramblers and Marylands clubs; notes that H.L. Kingsland is developing into a fine fancy rider and racer alongside Eberman; and urges the Maryland Bicycle Club to revive its reputation as the hardest-riding club in the South ahead of the June 20–21 meet.
- Rainy May weather has curtailed road riding in New Orleans; Prince Wells, 'champion trick and unicycle rider of America,' completed a ten-mile unicycle record ride on St. Charles Avenue asphalt in actual riding time 1:09:58¼, timed by Crane, Rea, Fenner, and Guedry of the N.O.B.C., then departed for Louisville. A concluding note reports that L. Roberts of the Pennsylvania Club will soon depart on a tricycle photographic tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Continent.
- A correspondent takes issue with Chris Wheeler's 'History of Cycling in Philadelphia' serialized in the Wheelman's Gazette, arguing it omits the key contributions of W.R. Tucker and Joseph Pennell in gaining Fairmount Park access; also reports that Mr. and Mrs. Harold R. Lewis of the Philadelphia Club have departed for a European tandem tour.
- A brief comic exchange of limericks between 'D SY.' (reprinted from the American Aesthetic) and 'Dixey,' trading verses on velvet toques and bicycle committee politics.
- Report on the Kentucky Division L.A.W. annual meeting at the Kenton Wheel Club in Covington, covering the lengthy debate between Longley and Rodgers over bond requirements and incorporation in the proposed State Constitution, the adoption of a $200 bond and gerrymander of the state into three geographic divisions, and the re-election of Thomas J. Willison as Secretary-Treasurer, with the session ending in ice cream and cake.
- Humorous follow-up notes from correspondent 'Norb' on the Kentucky Division meeting, covering Longley's advocacy for admitting professionals to the L.A.W., the Louisville-Lebanon membership-money dispute involving Horace Beddo, and Chief Consul Croninger's appointments of local consuls across the state including Covington, Louisville, Dayton, Cynthiana, and Lebanon.
- The Michigan Division L.A.W. has issued a leather-bound pocket road book with 61 routes, numerous maps, and nearly 100 pages compiled from a report by Chief Consul Johnson; furnished free to Michigan members and sold to other League members for $1.00.
- Trade news column reporting that Henry C. Squires at 178 Broadway has secured the sole U.S. agency for the Royal Mail bicycle; that Joseph J. Byers is producing a new patent epauletted ventilated waterproof riding coat for cyclists; and that Spalding & Brothers is closing out imported Spalding bicycles at $100 (original $135) and Kangaroos at $90 (original $130).
- Letter dated Berlin, May 14, from Charles Richards Dodge describing the thriving bicycle clubs of Munich (three clubs with predominantly mature, bearded membership), police restrictions on city-street riding in Berlin, cycling culture in Salzburg, Vienna, and Dresden (where club members in blue and gray uniforms filled the cafes), and a street-side glimpse of Emperor Wilhelm I, over 90 years old and apparently still vigorous.
- Full entry list for the 25-mile Interstate Road Race over the Irvington-Milburn course on Decoration Day, May 30, starting at 1 p.m., with six four-man club teams: Union County Wheelmen (Pierson, Moore, Burnett, Farrington), Elizabeth Wheelmen (L.B. Bonnett, Caldwell, Barrows, Bowman), Kings County Wheelmen (Hall, Valentine, Weber, Bridgman), Hudson County Wheelmen (Stenken, Smith, Baggot, Meyers), Ilderan Bicycle Club (Bradley, Greenman, Richardson, Schoefer), and Rutherford Wheelmen (Dean, Ivison, Jackson, Burgess).
- Notes signed 'Rick' reporting the Harlem Wheelmen team of Halstead, Parker, Griffith, and Pearse (substitutes Locke and Steiner) training for the Irvington road race, with Powers having declined to enter despite being considered fast enough for first place; also notes treasurer Walter Zugalla's resignation and a cycling boom on Sixth Avenue since New York Bicycle Company and Bartlett and McDonald opened nearby stores.
- Cablegram report and Pall Mall Gazette interview with American professional cycling team manager Morgan, noting that Woodside, Morgan, and Temple have arrived in London after touring Ireland and Scotland—Woodside having lowered Dublin's records before leaving—with plans to race Howell on the Alexandra Park track on Monday for the ten-mile championship of the world.
- Letter from Karl Kron at West Springfield, Mass., announcing that the final pages of 'X. M. Miles on a Bi.' have gone into type, with 1,000 copies per week to be bound and the book expected in New York before June 10, available at 12 Warren Street and 313 W. 58th Street, with distribution through a 125-town agency network.
- Opinion piece by Julius Wilcox arguing that the Rover-type safety bicycle—essentially a revival of Lawson's 1879 Bicyclette—has inherent structural vulnerabilities at the seat tube, back fork, head, neck, and front fork due to its extreme rake and unusual load distribution, and that the Kangaroo's rapid fall from fashion after similar extravagant promotion should counsel caution before buying the unproven type.
- Detailed architectural description of the new Kings County Wheelmen four-story club house planned for Fulton and Bedford Avenues, Brooklyn, featuring a wheel room with tool bench, bowling alleys, billiard and card room, individual lockers, marble bath, parlor, library, and a 42-by-14-foot top-floor gymnasium lit from the roof; with a brief history of the club from its 1881 founding to nearly a hundred members and racing men Hall, Valentine, Bridgman, Rich, and Weber.
- Brief cable dispatch reporting that American champion Woodside lost a ten-mile bicycle race at Birmingham to Englishman Howell by ten yards in 33m. 35s., with both men maintaining a moderate pace and then sprinting near the finish.
- Report from Herkimer, N.Y., on Pope Manufacturing Company's arrangement to send journalist George W. Nellis Jr. of the Herkimer Citizen overland to California on a nickel-plated Columbia bicycle, starting around May 24 and accompanied as far as Niagara Falls by Charles P. Avery, then riding alone via Chicago, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Wyoming; followed by a note that Henry Sturmey is completing the sixth edition of the 'Indispensable Bicyclists' Handbook.'
- Regular cycling news department covering collegiate bicycle race results at Yale (Work, 7m. 17½s.), Harvard (Merrill, 6m. 31s.), Princeton (Voorhees, 7m. 14½s.), Lehigh (Miller, 7m. 50s.), Swarthmore (Lightfoot, 3m. 40s.), and Wesleyan (Treat, 8m. 03s.); the death of Benjamin Clegg, founder of the Bicycling News in 1876; the Clarksville Road Race won by Neilson in 6h. 49m. on a Victor wheel, with Doane second and Crocker third; the Brooklyn Bicycle Club's multi-day Decoration Day tour to Staten Island, New Brunswick, and the Inter-Club race course; and an editorial assessment that Powers has not yet proven himself equal to Rich.
- Calendar of upcoming lawn tennis tournaments for the 1887 season, listing the Brooklyn Hill Tennis Club Tournament (June 8–10), Championship of Middle States at St. George's Cricket Grounds, Hoboken (June 1–4), New England Championship at New Haven Lawn Club (June 13–16), Orange Lawn Tennis Open Tournament (June 22–24), and the U.S. National Association Championship (August 22–25).
- Analysis from the American Cricketer explaining William Renshaw's continued dominance of English lawn tennis: established players improve as fast as newcomers, and Renshaw each season invents new strokes and strategies that younger players can only learn by close observation or practice with him.
- Announcement of the New Haven Lawn Club's open tournament beginning Monday, June 13, on Whitney Avenue grounds, for gentlemen's singles and doubles, with a 'Championship of New England Prize' for singles that must be won three times to become the permanent property of the winner; entries at $2 for singles due by June 11 to Secretary Arthur S. Osborne.
- Report on the Somerville, Mass., Tennis Association annual meeting at president John L. Nichols's residence, where the club voted to join the Middlesex County Tennis League, held the membership limit at eighty despite twenty pending applications, set dues at $5 for men and $2.50 for women, and elected E.F. Woods as President.
- Announcement that the tennis championship of the Middle States will be held at St. George's Cricket Club, Hoboken, June 2–4, for a $250 silver challenge cup, open to all comers for singles only; entries (fee $2) due by noon Tuesday, May 31, to secretary Walter Trimble at 160 Broadway; confirmed entrants include Clark of Philadelphia, Slocum of New York, Brinley of Trinity, and Fred Mansfield.
- Brief items on lawn tennis clubs: the Harlem Lawn Tennis Club plays on a private ground at 130th Street; Cyrus W. Field is considering building a Newport-style casino at Tarrytown; over four hundred clubs play at Prospect Park; recent Longwood grounds play saw Mansfield (taking odds of 15) defeat champion R.D. Sears four sets to one on Monday, with Sears winning on subsequent days; and Earnest Renshaw is now considered second only to his brother the champion.
- Feature article reviewing the history of lawn tennis in America from its first set played at Newport in 1874, through the leading clubs including Staten Island, Orange, and Longwoods of Boston, to the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association championship (R.D. Sears, singles champion; Sears and Dwight, doubles) and the Intercollegiate Association (G.H. Brinley of Trinity, singles champion), concluding with a recommendation of James Dwight's new instructional book on the game.