The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-24 00:00:00

AN EXTRAORDINARY BICYCLE RACE.

THE RECENT GUNPOWDER
EXPLOSION IN LONDON. Another great bicycle nmtch took place on Monday. II
Stanton, of liornsey-rise, received half an hour's start from
The interest taken in this calamity by the public J. Keen of Surbiton, in a long distance journey of 106 miles,
has far from died out. Sunday last btilarg ;fie, y relight Lillie Cretins, west Brampton. The race is thus
the scene of the explosion was visited by thousands' of den: by the SitEadiftd: -
persons of all classes of society. It will be remewhered It was exactly five minutes past eight when Stanton
that the district church, St. Stepheit the ;Malilir, starlet', foLil h. at once began to show that his thirty
which is taste fewshundred fards.firom the brhige that ininetes,,sKart- ahoul4 be Ivo' tar- having, for he got
was blown up, was severely damaged. .„'llua rsicpref over.eight,mijcs and one lap when Keen started, and
the district, the Rev. E. H. Nelson, M.A., on Sunday +salon it Was apparent that stamina, not speed, would
preached a sermon bearing upon the subject from the win. Tim -difference of style was vary- masked;
teit—tiThou shall wit be heist for tjsc terrpr
.hy Stantoli With the
,Idues_ wheel took high1 lurching
night, or the arrowed Wit ffnh,ltdity.* atridns,bhile Keen, Attffig iitariatt and straight in his
,eaddles worked his bicycle in the:twist beautiful regus
lam mann*, &ingot on a bee line; slitanton, -notwith-
standing his lurching, went at a nreat pace, and covered
pver 1411iles ip tire hop-, whereas Keen, going more
evenly- ii lac; took 1 hour 36 sec. for the same die-
' tau.. tilaparus determined go as far as he could
-without stopping, and to make fast time for 50 miles,
did notvet uff.his, machine till the 48th mile, having
been working it at the rate of nearly 16 miles an hour
'for 11 htnrit4 thin. 3 sect Keintook his first rest at 41
miles, when he stopped I min. mei changed his
rested 7401**12.itsys-roAit tfer lath
Mike l'houte 52, thinA9sein7-Atreifterf'sthpfses 15 biiii:
f4r4llollo'7'B'goed ctit Of'lll4,filluttlin toil liomegood
tea. thl getting up- again he-seen:led M froth es- neer,
anti ranted over the linkt•tr Mites in CP mita-ties,
Slut then- he etoripell agrairr'it Mtn pl 9 tine: at "70
harV-4ri4 legs itifd'tobk Wirtne‘teilj and
Washed his Pico tinditrroir qe w now-etids hn`hini
doing the distance in good time if he dilly -kept up, as
so far he had ilone'Svoticlerfutthwe-an& appeared'arine
the worse rlieen stojnied at 52 sidles 'for 41 nrirt;ss
see., and had some dinner also, bat his- friend§ had
hoped by CMS-time-hi would 'at least haVe kept up his
distance, instead of, as the times showed, have. hist
11 miss.j at 63 miles Keen stopped again for 10
min.- 30: -see. and had a good 'shah and changed
his machine, but he appeared to have lost heart,
IM the two men soon after got together,'Keen work-
ing away behind Stanton and unable to pass him.
At bi miles Keen had a long rest of it's Min. 35 sees,
and the public thought he had given tip, and they too,
gave him up, but when on again began to move
with his old speed, and did the next eight miles in the
half-hour, a speed gord enough, il'h.elorun, te have
pulled him almost a victory, but at 711 miles he fell off
in riewe, and had another stopriage of 5 min., and again
at 83 miles another 5 -min.; Stanton- all the While
careering along, seemingly quite at his ease, at times
keeping Ins hands on his hips and leaving the handles
to take care of themselves. His friemis cheered him
warmly, which, no doubt, gave him a helphitd kept
up his pace. At 76 tailes Stanton got off his machine,
and had a rub and a walk to case his legs for four
minutes, bat the next 13 he kept on without rest. Ile
Still stuck hi his big-machine, though a smaller one was
in readiness to ease him if -necessary. At 89 miles he
stopped 9 sun., and hail another walk and some cham-
pagne, which brightened him up at once. At 95 milts
his last stoppage was ll min., and he got on again
for the last time, and had the ten miles to finish
against time, for Keen had stopped; and it was now a
question of the 106 miles in eight hours. In the last
mile his friends cheered him on to beat time; it was
exciting work —he had 6 min. 47 sec. to do it in, and
bar accidents it was a moral, for he did it in 5 min.
40 sec.; and thus he not only beat Keen mile by mile
in the distance, but he eclipsed his Bath performance
by one hour, and performed the most extraordinary
' distance oh record of any man, or animal, or machine,
1 106 miles in 7 hours 58 min. 51A see."

The Times ulleaday lows I—.•

•
"'The effects of the exile:loft upon bealth has
slowly developed. The sheek sham hail it °half effeet
in aggravating existing illnesses or in retarding the
recovery of the sufferers. Dr. Collins anti Dr: Allen
have each re -"riled the death of a gentleman, and the
death of a child of 20 months sehus weir a patient of
Dr. Holland's has also, been naentioned. The tepe4
of Mr. Bell, district medical 'officer, is that old people
and childran slifft.,red less than people ip middle life.
H7l:teifiniiveier.ff st,goed..disall,tind cases 54
hyti6rira,/ stillinpsyt and ;11e12.0.103. iIIEIRITaIt are If OW
friatuently conning undet" potiee, YeStetday, Mr.
Bell eras sent for to see a servant, livuig near the
tifetelbotmetplitrolfil stPtion, 'who •' lad hail rept:Med
tuld.fretpiettVeptleptifollneattitcks; rinfritlib said 144
e nee tine explosion she had constantly lieird organs
p ing.esultestins rimming in her .km 4 ./Palpfsasi.an
heartovarticularly,in those.v.iao were previously
linown to be suffering final' organic dimple, it now
common, and is accompanied by a tsndsnoy to passive
loeal congestions and hiemorrlaages. A patient living
is Townshend-road, and suffering from fatty heart., has
been ever since in a dangerously excited. state, and cu-
not be kept calm without sedatives. A well-known
writer, whtrinean aged-limn, is being treated foeconcussion
of tins spine with paralysis. II is bed was piaced 'against
a wall, anal the wall WAS driven in !midst it. In a caw
drepsy.from acute inflammation of the kidneys, the
roof was lifted off the sufferer's cottage, and the cold
has innate hint much worse. People who at first congra-
tulated tineunselves on their strength of mind in regard to
the accident complain now of palpitation, depression of
spirits, i nal Olity to take:food, or slee plessuess ',l ,re than
one man of business p 1 nfiddle age complains of pains in
thekead awl cheat, and the sleeplessness which is on,
common is usually accompanied by severe pains in the
temples, and sometimes in the eyes. Dr. Holland alai
Mr. Bell have attended several eases in which delirium
Or a tendency to insanity has been developed. Air.
Britton mentions several instances in which the
' recovery of mothers from their confinement has been
retarded and disease has supervened. In one instance
the shi.ick an 'ant have been followed by erysipelas:
In two eases, labourers who went to work after the
explosion have returned for medical advice. In one
of these Dr. Holland found the man, on whom a door-
post kad fallen, to have bad his ribs broken. The
same gentleman is attending children who cannot
sleep but jump and start at every sound, aml treated
on tine morning of the explosion two bad stains in the
leg and throat and two fractures of the collar-bone."