The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 4, No 26
Articles in this issue
- An unsigned New York front-page letter on the social aftermath of the Springfield meet: sleep lost to the Meriden "Owls" led by Parker, the hissed "hippodrome" combination in the twenty-mile professional race, the Ixions closing their roll at twenty-five franchise members, and "Campanini" Newman planning to swap his 43-inch Humber for Garvey's nine-foot machine.
- A Boston correspondent signing as "Percy" previews the coming Boston and Rambler club races, urging the clubs to handicap their men heavily for exciting racing, praises the Newton (N.B.C.) riders Claflin, Corey and Burnham, and reports meeting Pierre Lallement, the velocipede's original inventor, now working in Pope's rooms and riding a Columbia.
- Reports the Cyclists' Touring Club council meeting held at the Grand Hotel, Birmingham on 8 September, at which a committee of Messrs. Varley, Maddox, Sturmey, Walker and Weston was appointed to consider amendments to the CTC by-laws aimed at expanding the club into a federated international organisation spanning its American division.
- A letter from B. B. Ayers, chairman of the Illinois division Railroad Committee, details cases where baggagemen on the Indiana Bloomington & Western and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads illegally charged Peoria and St. Louis wheelmen for bicycle transport, both charges subsequently refunded; Ayers explains the rules for free carriage and the importance of State division committees in enforcing them.
- Minutes of the L.A.W. Board of Officers meeting held on 20 September at Hotel Warwick, Springfield, covering Treasurer Gilman's financial report showing a treasury balance of $523.68, the confirmation of new chief consuls for Connecticut, Texas and Iowa, resolutions mourning the death of Chief Consul S. Arthur Marsden, and a ruling that the Star, Extraordinary and Facile machines must not be barred from League-sanctioned race events.
- A letter signed "Le Secretaire" from Columbia, South Carolina describes the slow but promising growth of cycling in the state, where the Columbia Bicycle Club — riding Columbias and American Sanspareil machines — is planning a race meet during the November State Fair with prizes from both the club and the State Fair Association.
- A comprehensive three-day race report covering amateur and professional events: Burt Pressy won the mile without hands on a Star machine, A. H. Robinson took the two-mile scratch, George M. Hendee won the gruelling 20-mile amateur in 1h 7m 32s before being knocked unconscious by the crowd, and H. D. Corey broke the ten-miles record in a twilight attempt; in the professional ten-mile handicap John S. Prince of Washington beat England's Robert James and John Keen, while H. W. Higham won the 20-mile professional.
- An editorial arguing that unattached League members should be permitted to participate in parades provided they adopt the official League uniform, so that Division Four presents a uniform appearance rather than the motley display seen at the recent New York League meet; non-League unattached riders should be excluded entirely.
- The full ten-article constitution of the newly formed Ohio Division of the League of American Wheelmen, setting out objects, officer roles, duties of secretary and treasurer, annual meeting procedures, vacancy-filling powers, finance and nominations committees, and amendment procedures.
- Short news items including the Union Pacific Railroad agreeing to carry bicycles free across its 6,000-mile network, the Railroad Committee seeking free rates from Atlantic coast steamers, a call for Indiana wheelmen to organise a state division, and the Springfield Club reportedly clearing $22,000 from their tournament.
- A detailed account of the trade exhibition at the Springfield skating rink, which drew an estimated 40,000 visitors; exhibitors included S. T. Clark & Co. of Baltimore showing the Sanspareil line, the Cunningham Company displaying the Harvard Special and Yale models, Overman Wheel Company with Victor tricycles, Pope Manufacturing showing Columbia bicycles and tricycles in component form, and H. B. Smith Machine Co. exhibiting three full-nickeled American Star machines dubbed "Yankee Blizzards" by English visitors.
- An announcement from Secretary Loutrel Lucas that the Whirling Wheelmen of Maryland club will hold a fifty-mile bicycle race at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore on Wednesday 24 October, contested under L.A.W. rules for club members only, with a solid silver cup valued at $40 as the trophy.