The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-10-19

they were to divide %~ ~
the honors and ~
Doodle in their, ". A. ROWE
races for the championship Of the world IL
Lynn, Hartford and Springfield, will b,
generally believed by the wheelmen, anc
shows that the sport has at last fallen to tn,
level Of all other popular sports.
Heretofore bicycle racing has been the ont
athletic sport which has been supposed
free from the influence Of the pool box ant
from hippodroming.
What ''put-up jobs" there have been II
previous years have been confined to few
out-and-out professionals" who never had
any standing among honorable men. Nobody
cared whether these fellows raced to win OF
not, and the great body of amateurs and
amateurish professionals were animated by
the true Olympic spirit They struggled fo1
the prizes but they wanted honors laurel
wreath also. They did not "throw" races to
deceive their friends.
It is still true that most bicycle races are
wheeled on their merits, but the exposure Of
Rowe will shake public confidence in the
sport
Rowe has hitherto been regarded as a
square rider.
This sturdy Lynn lad came to the front
when the Springfield tournaments were in
their full glory-the period when every man,
woman and child in that city who could raise
30 cents was pretty sure to be at the race
track if not sick abed.
Rowe wrested the championship of Arneri-
ca from George M. Hendee in 1885, in races
whose fairness was as positive as anything
can be in this tricksy world. The title
of champion came to him clean and bright.
for no shadow of suspicion was allowed to
tarnish it while Hendee was its defender.
There is only one particular in which
Rowe's record has been vexatious to wheel
men, and to explain that it will be necessary
to tell how the leading professional racers are
supported, in way not generally known to
the public.
Whenever youth has shown on the race
track that he has unusual speed, the various
manufacturers in the trade have quickly
offered to keep him supplied with racing
wheels free, each manufacturer desiring a
chance to boast that the fastest riders
use his machines. Gradually. from
supplying its wheels to the racers, the rivalry
among the manufacturers led to their retain
ing in their service the speediest men they
could get, by offering them salary and
other inducements.
Foremost in this business are the manu-
facturers of the columbia" who have for
several years hired Rowe and from two or
three to dozen other men to ride their
wheels They have paid these men salary,
~ f1, a1,,I1
and have hired trainers to look after the men
in practice.
It might be supposed that this custom
would lead to trickery in racing.
It did in one way. The racing wheels
had to be guarded from malicious
injury as carefully as trotting horse, and
on the race track the Columbia" men would
try to pocket" or Greece out" the 'sVictorr
and Humber" riders or vice versa
But the practice insured square racing.
Every man was bound to win if he had the
requisite nerve, muscle and speed He must
race "for blood" He was closely watched
by the manufacturers agents, and if he
failed to do his best he would lose his salary,
and become hopelessly discredited in the
trade.
With the incentive of the reward Of
fered by the Columbia manufacturers,
he, in 1886, made track records which
were the best in the whole world
for the distances from quarter mile to
twenty-five miles. His mile time is 2:29 As
and his quarter mile IS is seconds, made on
the Springfield track
H. G. Croker of Newton, Mass, cut down
the times for seven, eight and nine miles at
Leicester, England, this year, but no one has
yet been able to lower the other re-
cords. However there is one wheel
man who could have lowered them in
1886, If ''Senator" Morgan, Henry E. Quicker
and other such authorities know anything
about the sport. George M. Hendee. it may
be asserted with the utmost confidence, was
in that year triae superior to Rowe in
wheeling against time, though owing to
Hendees lack of heart Rowe could beat him
in a race
Both Hendee and Rowe were at that time
the hired riders of the Columbia firm. This
company wanted to have all the world rec
ords credited to its wheel Hendee was the
man chosen to win them. If he was not the
fastest rider who ever bestrode a wheel, he
was certainly Americas fastest. The speed
lest track in the world was at Springfield
With pacemakers to spur his courage and cut
the wind for him, Hendee was to speed on
that track and gain glory for himself and his
employers.
But the other hired man had some
thing to say about that II Hendee was
the fastest rider. Rowe was the one
whocould most surely outspurtall competitors
in a race Rowe did lose heart when pressed
hard on the homestretch, but had that logged
pluck which never is beaten before the goal
is reached.
Rowe could strike his pace and maintain
it. Hendee could be bluffed. A braggart
could daunt him with a word, or break up
his gait by a desperate and unexpected squirt.
The manufacturers not only wanted world
records, but they wanted to hog all the vic
tories on the race track, and SO Rowe was
their most valuable man. They yielded to
his demand, bitterly disappointed Hendee,
and gave Rowe the opportunity which he
improved to hustle old Father Time
That is the one act in Rowe's career which
has displeased wheelmen, for everybody likes
Hendee