The Wheelmen's Gazette, Vol 4, No 2
Articles in this issue
- An account by Orville W. Lawson of the Louisville Cycle Club of the Indiana L.A.W. wheelmen's fifth annual state tour, departing Indianapolis on 8 July 1888 with roughly thirty riders from four states; rain forces a rail transfer to Cincinnati for a three-day layover before the party continues by boat and wheel through Kentucky — Maysville, Blue Lick Springs, Lexington (including a visit to Henry Clay's Ashland estate), Shakertown, Harrodsburg and Bardstown — finishing with a fifty-three-wheel procession into Louisville.
- The magazine's regular 'Monthly Summary' of state-by-state club and racing news, covering items such as the Oakland Wheelmen's race meeting, the Maryland Bicycle Club's fourth annual reception, and the L.A.W. National Assembly meeting in New York on Feb. 18, at which Charles H. Luscomb of New York was elected President.
- A short calendar of upcoming meets: a tournament at Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, on May 24, and the Illinois Division's meet at Ottawa on July 4.
- Reports that after a wheelman scorching on the sidewalk outside the Indianapolis State House injured Judges Coffee and Berkshire on Feb. 12, Indiana's Chief Justice Elliott ruled on Feb. 23 that riding a bicycle into a pedestrian on a sidewalk constitutes assault and battery, since sidewalks are reserved for pedestrians.
- A short seasonal poem by Chris Wheeler welcoming the end of winter and the return of cycling weather.
- A first-person essay signed 'Stamson' recalling how he took up cycling in the early 1880s after watching a friend glide past on an old Standard, despite his wife Mrs. Stamson's objections to 'such a ridiculous thing.'
- A description of the H. B. Smith Machine Co.'s new Star Safety bicycle, noting its lever-driving mechanism adapted from the full-sized Star, its 30-inch front and 32-inch rear wheels, and that it is driven from both sides rather than by chain.
- This installment's 'New English Patents' lists cycling-related patents granted in England between January and early February 1889, including J. K. Starley's patent for parcel- and luggage-carrying velocipedes and Richard Presland and Ernest Glover's patent for applying electric light to cycles.
- A one-act comic dialogue, reprinted from Bicycling News, in which a pompous doctor prescribes more cycling to a tired patient who turns out to already ride a butcher's delivery tricycle fourteen or fifteen hours a day.
- The magazine's humor and miscellany column of one-line quips and short anecdotes, including notes on blind boys being taught to ride at the Pittsburgh Asylum by Dr. Campbell and German mechanic George Moulton's newly patented electric mechanical walking boy.
- A short comic verse about professional racers ('the profesh') coming to town for an eight-mile track contest, only for the manager to skip town with the proceeds on the sixth day.
- A serialized comic short story by Campbell Rae-Brown, narrated by a sociable (a side-by-side tandem), recounting how it was bought in Coventry by young Charles Lopes and later used to help him elope with Clarinda Figsby, racing her furious father — mounted on a commandeered milkman's tricycle — to her sister Mrs. Funkleberry's house at Walham Green, London.
- An instructional piece by William Alva on trick cycling, including the story of an Italian named Scurri who took up one-wheeled riding after breaking his bicycle's rear wheel and went on to popularize the unicycle in circuses.
- A roundup of newly elected officers at cycling clubs across the country, including the Boston Bicycle Club, Detroit Bicycle Club, Indianapolis Wheelmen (President Josh Zimmerman), Philadelphia Bicycle Club, Rhode Island Wheelmen of Providence, and the Aeolus Cycling Club of Chicago.
- Notes on other periodicals, including Amelie Rives' upcoming serial 'The Witness of the Sun' in Lippincott's, the folding of London's Magazine of Sport, Frank R. Stockton's serial 'Ardis Claverden' in Collier's Once a Week, and the page counts of the Stanley Show numbers of several English cycling papers.
- Illustrations of four bicycles exhibited at England's Stanley Show: the 'Rosebury' Military Safety, the 'Nottingham' Sociable, the Light Phillip's Triplet Quadricycle, and the 'British Star' Safety with its new frame.
- An instructional article on how to mount, balance and dismount a bicycle, including the recommended 'over the handles' dismount technique.
- A brief illustrated curiosity about a monument recently erected in Germany in memory of a bicycle rider, paired with a couplet from Eliza Cook.
- A dialect humor sketch, signed 'c. a. p.,' in which the clubhouse caretaker 'Uncle Kerlumbia' — whose boy Bill cleans members' wheels — dispenses racing advice and superstitions to the club's wheelmen.
- A satirical opinion essay signed 'Kay Bee' on 'weighty' topics of the day, including competing Indiana legislature bills on bicycles versus cattle on the highways, an anecdote about a young bicyclist named John Tobbins, and a mock argument against women's suffrage.
- A humorous mock-glossary of racing and wagering slang, such as 'The Rail—A scolding wife' and 'Dead Heat—110 degrees in the shade.'
- A quoted warning from a physician specializing in hernia, cautioning wheelmen against wearing tight belts while cycling and citing two cases of hernia caused by exertion in hill-climbing.
- A two-panel cartoon showing a well-dressed cyclist seized by two ruffians, then turning the tables by mounting his bicycle and speeding off while dragging his tormentors behind him.
- A short love poem, in ornamental script, signed 'B. L. D.'
- A poem by Chris Wheeler in which the author refuses to trade his old high-wheel 'ordinary' bicycle for the new safety-bicycle fad.
- A poem signed 'C. P. S.' personifying evening as a gray-gowned figure soothing a weary day.