The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-10-06
"A cOLORED INVENTOR.
He Enters Into Composition with
Street Oars and Herdics.
Cncie cherry's Fenrfully and Wonderful
Iy-nIndo NIachine-It Is More Use.
full Than tho Bicycle and
Faster Than Horses.
IspeciN WASHINGTON Correspondence. !

tSpecial Washington Correspondcncc.l
Everybody who reads about the M
tional capital knows that wo have
many miles of smooth asphalt streets
always In good repair and that it Is us
pleasant to drive over them, as easy
and enjoyable, rs n baby's ride back
and forth over n nursery floor; pleasant
or, indeed, because our city outings arc
through verdure-lined and leaf-crownctl
thoroughfares, us well rs through n
wilderness of forest-lilke parks. These
miles of asphalt have been the delight
OF bicyclers for several years past, and
visiting wheelmen fall in love with the
city at first sight, ever thereafter wish
ing that they might some day have tho
good fortune to reside here. But of all
the wheelmon you ever saw the great
est is Cherry, and his machine is the
wonder of the mature, the delight of the
children and n mechanical miracle to the
casual observer.
No one who has seen Cherry's ma
chine can ever again say that the Afri-
can race does not possess inventive
genius capable of great development.
The machine is unique and so Is Cherry.
He is an enterprising, energetic gentle
man, descended from the Didos and
Hamiicars of antiquity, for there is
black pigment beneath his skin, which
has never been impaired by contact and
association with other races and in
other chimes. He resides in n suburban
villa or cottage, which is not imposing
nor in any way suggestive OF wealth,
either intrinsic or intellectual There
is no air of refinement or cultivation in
tho neighborhood nor upon the prem
ises. A stranger, upon an introduction,
would not be likely to recognize in
Cherry remarkable man, but he is.
Matthew A. Cherry is something of n
carpenter, blacksmith and harness
maker; in fact has adapted himself to
nearly all trades from time to time, in
solving the problem of progress and
poverty. He could not strike an aver
age between the two. for he has seen so
much more of poverty than of progress
that the comparison would Mt once be-
come contrast. Having moro than the
average amount, if not superior quality.
of brains, Cherry has been thinker and
has wrought his thought into 4angibil-
ity and visibility. He studied the early
velocipede. then the bicycle, wondered
why something useful might not be
evolved from the idea of the inventor.
and finally reached conclusion where
by he could make the machine q means
OF livelihood. The smooth streets which
render locomotion SO easy and pleasant
induced him to believe that he might
become common carrier of common
people and common goods. He noted
that for several years past immense
vehicles, called herdics, were competing
with the horse cars on Pennsylvania
avenue-a thing which they could not
successfully do in any other city. He
made three-whecled machine, tried it,
and failed of his object. A tricycle. was
not large enough to carry more than
one person, and one passenger would
not pay him for his expenditure of time
and muscle. Therefore he concluded to
make a fourwhecled velocipcde, and
made it. In the center of the machine
he placed his treadlcs, placing over
them n light saddle for himself At
either end of the new common carrier
he aXed light but comfortable double
seats; and the wonder was completed
for the accommodation of four passen-
gers. Mounting his strange vehicle,
and putting his feet into the treadle
stirrups, Cherry bends his back to the
work before him, and away speeds the
common carrier of most modern inven-
ton.
Genius is always trammelcd by the dill
atory thought and appreciation of the
public. 1t is usual to wait until inven-
tors and heroes are In their green
graves before their monuments are
builded and cpics arc written in their
praise. Thus has it been with Cherry
for several wecks;' but he has patiently