The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 3, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Editorial squibs noting the cancellation of the amateur event at the January 26th races, plugging the Annual Charity Ball, asking for the editor's borrowed silk umbrella back, and urging Treasurer Gilman to supply League membership-renewal lists; it also answers a Washington correspondent by naming the Boston, Buffalo, Massachusetts, Worcester and other clubs formed before 1880.
- A Louisville, Ky. correspondent compares the Star to the Expert on a forty-mile run, then reports the Kentucky Bicycle Club's annual election and its January 12th entertainment at Exposition Building, including fancy riding by Chas. H. Jenkins and races won by Prince Wells, N. G. Crawford (over Chicago's W. R. Crawford of the Hermes Club and Cincinnati's W. H. Reed) and Wm. Franke.
- A Columbus, Ohio correspondent denounces a bill introduced by Mr. Green of Shelby that would force cyclists to dismount twenty-five feet from any approaching horse, reports that the Buckeye wheelmen are lobbying to kill it, and reprints the offending clause in full.
- Edward K. Hill of the Massachusetts Division L.A.W. describes the official guide-board shape and the League's three stencil signs — direction, caution and danger — adopted for use in Massachusetts and recommended to the League at large, while a companion Worcester letter forwards the electrotype and official stencil.
- Report on the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's evening of rhetorical and musical selections at Horticultural Hall, featuring solos by Willis Clark and Mrs. Abbie Clark Ford, a banjo quartet, character impersonations by Edward T. Phelan, and especially novel bicycle balancing acts by Messrs. Wilmot and Atkins.
- Detailed account of races at the Institute building on Huntington Avenue, Boston on January 20th: a five-mile championship won by Frank R. Miller, an open five-mile amateur race won by E. Burnham over H. H. Thompson and Sabin, the Pope Mfg. Co.'s presentation of a gold medal to John S. Prince by Charles E. Pratt, and the ten-mile professional championship in which Prince beat Frye for $600 in 32:49.
- Editorial arguing that cyclists have an inherent right to use the public roads, drawing parallels with the early opposition faced by steam railways and horse-railroads, and warning that Ohio's proposed bill requiring cyclists to dismount twenty-five feet from any horse would amount to a virtual prohibition of travel.
- Reports that the Central Park case — testing whether wheelmen may ride in the park — was argued before the New York General Term on January 19th by attorney Edward Wetmore on behalf of the cyclists, with the judges reserving their decision, and notes the case may be carried to the Court of Appeals or even the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Lists the League of American Wheelmen nominations for New York State Consul (Dr. N. M. Beckwith) and Representatives (Dr. A. G. Coleman of Canandaigua and C. K. Alley of Buffalo), with elections set for March 1st.
- A short poem signed "D." recalling the spectacle of early cyclists riding through Boston's Trinity Square in 1878 and the hush of wonder they inspired in onlookers gathered before the city's churches.
- A comic sketch in which St. James Simpson, a clerk at Macy's, courts the haughty Count O'Houlihan's daughter Estelle, who defies her father and vows to become "a bicyler's bride," with cycling metaphors woven throughout the dialogue.
- Official Bicycle Touring Club organ matter giving membership terms via Chief Consul Frank Weston of Savin Hill, a list of names forwarded for membership (Edwin Oliver, Harry Jones and others), a notice of the B.T.C. excursion to England sailing July 21st, 1883, and the Ixion Bicycle Club's offer of its 4 East 59th Street rooms to visiting B.T.C. members.
- Official League notices listing the Board of Officers and standing committees, newly forwarded membership applications from the Massachusetts, Greenfield, Missouri, Middletown and Binghamton clubs, and consul appointments for Gloucester, Mass. (J. S. Webber) and New York City (F. A. Egan).
- A gossipy column of rhetorical questions on club personalities and the coming American Institute races, asking whether V. C. Place is turning professional, why Capt. "Tommie" has retired from public riding, and needling figures from the Springfield, Ixion and Lennox clubs.