The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 4, No 14
Articles in this issue
- Notice from Treasurer W. V. Gilman explaining that the lithographers mistakenly stamped duplicate red figures on the left of this year's L.A.W. membership cards contrary to orders, and that the true number is the one in the lower centre preceded by the letter 'D' for the League's fourth year.
- Standing list of the many railroads—including the Baltimore & Ohio, Grand Trunk, Michigan Central, and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul—that carry bicycles free in baggage cars at owners' risk on presentation of first-class tickets, with transportation charges noted for the Pennsylvania and Boston & Maine lines.
- An editorial reprinted from The Wheelman for July 1883 arguing the case for every American bicycler to join the L.A.W., noting the League's two-thousand-strong membership is only one-in-ten riders and that non-members unfairly reap benefits secured by those who do join.
- Full report on the June 30th bicycle races at Beacon Park held under the auspices of the Newton and Boston Bicycle Clubs, covering five events including a one-mile handicap won by Byers, the Newton Club championship won by H. D. Corey, and an exciting tricycle race in which W. B. Everett beat F. Morris by a quarter of a second.
- Vivid account of the first race in a world professional championship series between English champion Higham and American champion Prince, held before more than two thousand spectators; Prince won in 18:47 5-8 to Higham's 18:48 5-8 after nineteen laps of close racing, and was carried off the track on supporters' shoulders.
- Report on the Cleveland Bicycle Club's annual summer races on June 27th at Perkins' track, covering five events including a two-mile race won by T. S. Beckwith, a five-mile race won by George Collister (who also set a best-record badge time of 3:25½ for the first mile), and a disputed one-mile championship between Collister and Sterling Beckwith referred to the L.A.W. racing committee.
- Detailed account of five bicycle races before 15,000 spectators on the Boston parade ground on July 4th, including a one-mile amateur won by C. F. Haven, a two-mile amateur won by A. D. Claflin, a five-mile professional disputed between Young (17:18½) and Hosmer, and a five-mile amateur easily won by E. R. Burnham of Newton in 18:35.
- Standing column for the C.T.C. in America, listing new membership applications from cities including Poughkeepsie, Grand Rapids, Baltimore, Chicago, and Cambridge, and announcing the Seventh Annual North of England Meet at Harrogate on 6th August, with notes on the new uniform and the 1883 Hand-book.
- Editorial defending the League's administration of Central Park bicycle access in New York, explaining that it was the Park Commissioners—not League officers—who restricted riding to L.A.W. members after a citizens' committee could not offer satisfactory assurances against reckless riding, and that the arrangement has given complete satisfaction.
- Notice from Victor M. Haldeman, Secretary of the newly formed Pennsylvania Division of the L.A.W. (organized in Philadelphia on June 15th), urging club secretaries across the state to forward member lists and calling on wheelmen to double the division's membership through hearty co-operation.
- Lively travel letter signed 'Rueda' from Los Angeles describing a quail-hunting excursion by buggy to the Pomona foothills with L.A.W. member I. L. Howland, including run-ins with barbed cactus, a bag of 26 birds and 4 rabbits, and a comic incident on Main Street when a rabbit leg caught in a bicycle wheel.
- Letter signed 'Skeezicks' from Woodstown, N.J., responding to a suggestion that the next League Meet be held there to pressure the borough council into repealing its anti-bicycling ordinance; the writer reports that local wheelmen have simply ignored the ordinance as illegal, ride openly without interference, and would welcome visiting wheelmen over fine turnpikes to Gloucester.
- Fred T. Sholes of Cleveland comments on Mail Vote No. 2, supporting the 'Universal Dollar' membership fee and advocating amended state representation rules to allow fractions of one hundred in assigning representatives, while raising concerns about track width safety for close-quarters racing at venues like Beacon Park.
- Club news column covering the formation of a new bicycle club in New London, Ohio (nine members, officers led by Geo. W. Runyan), and a club photograph session and country run by the Hartford Wheel Club at Bushnell Park, concluding with a reception at the residence of club president T. Sedgwick Steele; also lists upcoming fixtures including a 25-mile race in Baltimore on July 21st and the Springfield three-day tournament in September.
- Short humorous piece in mock-gothic style in which a narrator wandering the streets of South Boston at night encounters an old man carrying what proves to be a pot of beans, then discovers through a lit window that 'Meteor' is teaching 'Rex Piraticus' how to plagiarise cycling articles for the South Boston Enquirer.
- Notice from H. S. Tibbs (Chief Consul, Province of Quebec) and J. D. Miller announcing a meeting of L.A.W. members at the Montreal Bicycle Club house on July 12th, 1883, to form a Province of Quebec Division, with all prospective members cordially invited.
- Untitled column of editorial witticisms and personal observations, correcting an earlier attribution of an L.A.W. banquet speech to the Rev. Geo. F. Pentecost rather than his brother Hugh O. Pentecost, joking about a proposal to confer LL.D. on Dr. N. M. Beckwith, the Rational Dress Association's divided skirt for lady tricyclists, and likening the League's 'kickers' to an Indian who lassoed a locomotive.
- Editor's miscellany column noting that L.A.W. applications are running at 438 per month against 113 in June the previous year; reporting that Lieut. Chandler and H. W. Williams rode 45½ miles Cambridge to Newburyport in 4 hours 45 minutes; noting the theft of a 52-inch machine from Messrs. Richards & Sarene of Toledo; and announcing additions to the Railroad Committee including F. T. Sholes, C. D. Standish, and George D. Gideon.