Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-05-30

A Mile Of Btcycls Riders Passing
Through Fifth Avenue.

THE GATHERING OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE.
AND THE DINNER.
Prom the New York Times. May 20.
The third annual meet Of the League OF
| American wheelmen, otherwise known as BIZ
cycle-riders, was had In this city yesterday, and
| many OF the riders displayed themselves In a
parade. The league was formed In Newport on
May 80, 1880, and has rapidly Increased in men,
bership. The report Of the corresponding sec
| rotary, read at the business meeting of the or
| ganization yesterday morning. showed that in
the past year 9l2 members of bicycle clubs had
applied for admission and 22S persons not at
tached to any clubs There are now 9. l3i men,
bers in the organization. The majority OF the
| states In the union are represented. Massachu-
sets has the largest msaeership. numbering
SIS and New York comes next, with 500 Out
| side Of America. England has IL members Rel
GUM I and Germany 1. The New York city
clubs are the Citizens. New York. lxion and
Harlem wheelmen. The hrst-named has the
largest membership. while the last is distin-
gu'shed by being composed Of boys. The meet
ing yesterday took place In Riding hall, at No.
| 214 east SAITH street. The following officers
| were elected:-President, N. NJ. Beckwith. Cit
isens club. New York; vice president, W. H.
| Miller. Columbus club, Ohio; corresponding sec
Rotary, Frederick Jenkins, Citizens club New
York; recording secretary. A. s. Hubbard. Mn.
| Waukee club; treasurer, w. V. Gilman Nashua
On. h. club. The reports Of the different of.
| hcers were heard. and, after very hot debate,
the Wheel, of this city. was chosen to be the Of
nciai organ OF the organization. There were rs
| clubs represented In the meeting, with a total
vote of COL.
The parade was the feature of the day. It
was expected that ZOO men would be In line
| and there were about $50. The line was formed
| On the west side of Fifth avenue the head of the
column being at Goth street. The 9TH regiment
band was stationed at this point and pjayed a
| number of lively Airs while the procession was
passing by. The procession was divided into
| three divisions. and presented great variety of
| uniforms. About 10000 people were gathered
| along the sides of the avenue and they were re-
warded by seeing pretty picture. As the men
ranged themselves by their wheels, facing to-
ward the middle of the street. the line stretched
away nearly to 18th street, and when the pro-
cession got under way,it required three-quarters
OF an hour to pass any given point. After q long
| delay the parade began at O'Clock The men
moved out In double file. the president, Mr..
Ing the way. With the president was his staff,
| composed of Messrs. Miller. Parsons, Sholes,
| Gilman, Hill, Pope Pratt, and Weston.
| al! officers or former officers of the league
| After Them came the first division, commanded
by F. g. Bourne 1t was composed of the fol-
lowing clubs: New York, IS men. In uniforms
| OF cadet gray; Massachusetts,, SO men. in uni
| forms OF dark blue and white caps; New Haven.
Is. dark blue; Philadelphia, Is. dark blue;
| Essex. OF Newark. IL. dark blue with brass but
| Yonkers, 10. brown; Connecticut, Is. olive
green; BROOKLYN, 70, cherry and black: Cincin-
| matt. blue and black. Buckeye. blue and yellow,
Cievelana' blue and cardinal, In one squad num-
waukee, Q, dark gray; Ariel, Chicago. 5, dark
blue; Pequannock. bridgeport IS. blue fan
| mel coat and cap. blue stockings, gray trousers:
ghorndike, Beverley. Mass..) /, green;
scranton nrsnro 8, dark blue; Mount Vernon,
men. Peekskill) z. blue cloth coat,
blue cap and stockings, gray trousers:
Orange, NJ, Wanderers. 6. seai-brown cordn,
roy; total, l1S. The second division was com
posed as follows, under the command Of W. R.
land Vt. 9, blue with silver buttons; Lancaster.
Pa. 4. gray flannel; Hermes, (Chicago), 20. seal
brown; Mountain, (Johnstown, Pa, ) 1, gray
cap, coat and trousers, and lilac stockings:
brunswick, 1New Brunswick, NJ black and
County Wheelmen. (Hoboken.) I2. seal brown
| corduroy; Boston Ramblers, 9. dark green with
| silver badge on cap; East Bridgewater. Conn,
g. dark blue; Citizens. 40. blue corduroy with
white helmet; Ixion 10, black and blue; Elmira
6. cadet gray, blue stockings and gray helmet:
Alpha, bethlehem. Pa, %. seal brown and gold
American Star, philadelphia, } IA blue flannel
American Star, (Smithville, NJ 10, blue fan
mel; Lennox, NY, ii, blue flannel coats and
l ~.
jersey, black stockings gray trousers, red and
black caps; Lehigh University, g. cadet gray
| with straw-colored helmet; Poughkeepsie. IL
gray flannel; Binghampton, z, black, with silver
puttons; pennsylvania, 90 blue and OLD gold;
Loweu, 4, black and gray; total, 22S. The third
division, led BY George Z. Bidwell. had the fol-
lowing: Capital (Washington), H. blue flannel
with white caps; Buffalo. 3, black flannel with
silver cord on caps; Rochester. f. dark green;
Providence, 2, black; Kings County, a., seal
brown corduroys; Plainfleld, 10. blue: Paw
tucket, s, dark green; Frankford, Penn, 81.
dark blue; Troy, Is, black; Harlem Bicycle. is,
seai-brown corduroy; Newburg, 5. no regular
uhiiorm; New Britain, Conn, black and gray:
beers OF the league not attached to any club un-
| about 125.
Before starting the line was reviewed bv the
fresioent and his staff. The line Of march was
around the grass-plot at the Fifth avenue en-
trance to Central Park, up the avenue to 10th
street, TO Seventh avenue, to Central Park. down
the west drive to 59th street, back to 72d street
the Riverside drive. and up to Mount Tom.
Arriving there. the wheels were stacked. and
the forces formed in group on the hillside to
De photographed. While they were forming the
Duglers of the various clubs played fanfares and
MIR. Oliver, the staff hugler, did some difficult
work, which drew forth rounds of applause
! from his house. which is near BY, and photo
graphed with the group. After this the league
disbanded to prepare for the dinner at the
Metropolitan hotel. During the parade num-
Der of the wheelmen INDUCED in the cheerful
exercise of taking headers" and some of them
failed to hob up serenely from below" Twenty
BICYCLES were broken in this process, but no one
suffered anything worse than q good shaking.
Some Of the wheelmen, who rode the COM
Portable and exceedingly stable tricycles, smiled
softly when their friends took q tumble"
At the dinner, which took place at the Metro
politan hotel in the evening, about 500 persons
were present letter from President Arthur
was read In response to the toast America"
Park Commissioner Viele responded to ''Our
PARKS" and Hubert 0. Thompson and ex-M Mayor
Ely to ''The Empire State" Among the other
guests were Prof. Hall. state geologist. and Law
son n. Fuller. John Kelly, who was expected,
failed to appear.