The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 7, No 16
Articles in this issue
- The editor extracts Fairmount Park police statistics showing 37,796 bicycle entries in 1884—a 33⅓% increase over 1883—and notes wheelmen caused only 4 of 49 runaways and were among the best-behaved park users; a closing aside chides the Boston 'Bicycling World' for begrudging Karl Kron's 'Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle' the coverage The Wheel first promoted.
- Boston correspondent 'Lewee' argues a large bicycle tournament could be made to pay in Boston if run by the Massachusetts or Boston Bicycle Club at Beacon Park rather than a private company, weighs the Phil Hammill pacing charge against Woodside, and reports the new Massachusetts Club house on Newbury Street plus officer elections at the Brockton, Wakefield, Somerville and Boston clubs.
- Karl Kron reports that his fiftieth week of canvassing for 'Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle' brings the pledge total to 2,301, with ten new names from Clearfield, Pa. gathered by gun dealer J. E. Harder, and counts 35 English (25 London) and 120 non-U.S. American subscribers.
- N. H. Van Sicklen, Chairman of the Illinois Division Racing Board, writes to clarify that he certified only the track measurement and timing of Woodside's records—not their acceptance as L.A.W. records—and notes the Chicago track had no solid curb, only a painted line three feet from the railing.
- A. J. Wilson (reprinted from the Wheel World) traces the rise and fall of the British Tricycle Union from its disputed 1882 founding through its failures over road races and park access, ending with Dr. B. W. Richardson's proposal to dissolve it into a scientific cyclists' society and leave 'cycling to the National 'Cyclists' Union.
- A short comic poem reprinted from the Courier-Journal on a girl and a man taking spills on roller skates.
- Club notes give the Capital Bicycle Club's election (J. West Wagner, president) and describe the Fort Schuyler Wheelmen of Utica's New Year reception at the Devereux Block, with a banquet, toasts and a black-satin banneret presented by the members' lady friends.
- 'Pierre' recounts taking his 52-inch Expert on a trip to a small Nebraska town, where with the help of telegraph operator 'Frank B.' he feigned awkwardness for weeks before beating the local crack runner in a 300-yard Fourth-of-July race and winning over the sceptical crowd.
- 'Pedibus' compares the Star against the crank-driven ordinary point by point—answering claims from the Smith Machine Co. and the 'What and Why' pamphlet—finding the Star safer and better for rough hilly Western roads but harder to mount, while the crank suits crowded cities and smooth surfaces.
- A comic verse signed 'Georgius' in which a parading dude escorts a maiden home only to be set upon by the household bull-dog at the garden gate.
- Judge Stowe's ruling in Estep v. Hailman (Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, Pa.) holds that bicycles are common vehicles with a right to the roadway, but denies the defendants a non-suit because they had crossed a horse's path on Forbes Street, Pittsburgh, frightening it into a runaway.
- New York theatre notes flag Harrigan and Hart's new comedy 'McAllister's Legacy' at the New Park Theatre, a Symphony Society concert of Beethoven and Wagner at the Academy of Music, and Edwin Booth's four-week engagement opening January 19 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre.