New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-23
LONG RELAY RIDE ENDED.
GENERAL MILES'S MESSAGE Is HERE.
II REACHED ITS DESTINATION AT 1 ;oS O'CLOCK
THIS MORNING AFTER BICYCLES HAD
CARRIED IT THROUGH HUNDREDS
OF MILES OF MUD.
OF MILES OF MUD.

OF MILES OF MUD.
A wet, bedraggled wheclman, with mud on his
clothes. mud on his wheel and mud on his back
hair, came rushing down Broadway early this
morning spashng the water in every direction
from the puddles 1t was II. l.. Quick, the last
of the small army of whcclmcn who for 1our
days have been forwarding dispatch from 1en-
.ral Miles in Chicago 10 General Howard on Gov
ernors Island Quick left Tarrytown at 9;4l
D. M, and in spite Of a patent non-silppins
arrangement on his tire, he had such
hard work getting through the mud
that il was IL :26 p before lonkers wac
Ached Just the other side Of that place his
two companions. William Campbell and \. B
Rich broke down, and Quick came On alone cN-
ccpt for the escort of few enthusiastic wheelmen
from local clubs who stayed out III the wet 10 iee'
him ls the woN
From Yonkers to Kingsbrdgc the going was
little better Across Washington Bridge there
was a momentary relief from mud. and the
Eeyenth-ave roadbed proved that IL
could be depended even after weeks RAIN
storm. In the Boulevard, below OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
twenty -ffth-st the mud began TO fly again, but
once on the pavement. the route down Broad
way was hard but slippery, and Quick reached
lis journeys end at :05 O'Clock this morning.
The run down from Albany was made wlt'
little los of time. but the difficulties were too
great to permit the making up of any OF the nine
hours lost before reaching Albany. The message
left Poughkeepsie at 4 :?5 p M; Peckskill, :04;
Sing Sing. AS, and Tarryt0wn, 0:41. On the
last relay coming into Tarrytown, Harry Eve
land, who was carrying the dispatch,
tainted on his wheel His companion. George
C. Smith. seized it and pushed forward, leaving
Eveland TO recover as best he could. AT Tarry-
town William Campbell took the message. and
accompanied by A. T. Rich and II. L. Quick pushed
on down to Ncw-Iork.
A hundred riders had shared in the undertake
ing Of carrying the bit Of paper from General
Miles in Chicago TO the hands Of the military alde
who waited at No. 81 Park Row. From Lumsden,
the first rider who bore it away from
the steps of tie Pullman Building, TO
ouck. who came rushing down over
the slippery Broadway pavement this morning, at
long succession of crack riders had struggled
along through darkness and dampncss. covered
with mud. drcnched TO the skin, but forcetfnl
of everything except the firm determination 10
redal pedal pedal until their part of the journey
was ACCOMPLISHED. Sometimes they spun along
at a thrce-minute gait, as dld Charles DorhtSle
who rode ten miles IN thirty-one minutes ana IN
the dark at that. sometimes ploughing through
slough of despond and mud at an oX-teams pace.
sometimes compelled to leave the machine
mired and broken, and ran on foot TO the NEXT
relay, occasionally compelled to swim river
where the swollen floods had carried the bridge
away.
rroken sprocket chains, bent pedal pins, buckled
wheels and punctured tires were some of the Incl
dents Of the race against time. thanks to the un-
precedcnted and altogether execrable weather en-
countered. While levees and bridges were gong
down and railroad companies were posting scouts
along their lines 10 look for washouts. the wheel
man stuck M their task. plunging and sliding along
that apology for highway, the American country
road.
One of the things which the undertaking was
TO illustrate was the general depravi'y OF Aher'-
can roads, and this IT most certainly
accomplished, when compared with similar
European feats One man, U. T. Milis 'ae. se"'
rode a bicycle s7s miles from John OGroats TO
Iand,s End in little over four days, about the
time it has taken Oo men 70 accoipnsa '" ~
sanl-mile ride.
France furnished another contrast last week.
when Stephanc rode over mountains ana pains
from Bordeaux TO Paris 35o miles, IN tmi'y
five hours Another thing which 1t has pfoVeu Is
the absolute untrustworthihcss OF the Ai"ciican
climate The managers OF the race cohoui''"
weather reports a. far back as the memory VI man
aoes and picked out tie present part OF tle hoh''
of ,Iny as the one period when the weather was
sure to he pleasant, and yet as the aiair Has
turned out they could not have iound
,,,orso term of four days
if they had seachcd the calendar through ioi
that particular article. -, ,,;od
Yet third ppirt which has been emphasizes
By the occurrence is the enthusiastic inTiHI1;' iHI;
which the rural American takes IN any eAnipi
tion of speed and endurance. III the stories ol
riders are to be believed, the fences along the i
countrv roads were loaded down with eNcited
yhn
midnight each with a lantern IN one fmhu anu
an umbrella in the other TO see the mud-splash.n
SSaT nsS g s n smaf sG se 0T Shrsnas h
some Gases, had been waiting Tor hours 10 L SLt"
the "scorchers' come in. At Conneaut, ONO
the only Of malicious interference oCcurftu,
Some ruffian stuck a knife into the pnenmatlc
tires of both the riders and letting the wihu ou'
of them. Other machines were secured, however,
The schedule arranged called for an average
speed of ten miles an hour. Ter the nlSt ltM
stages the men kept well up to the schedule, al ~
Indiana and Ohio began 10 clog their wheels ana
they fell behind. At Perrysburg. $50 miles OUT
they were six hours and went! srD Gbjrago ~a
they were only four hours and three minutes |
behind. At Buffalo all lost time had ncen made made
up except one hour But across Now-HDrk STATE |
Saturday the rars descended and the floods came
and beat upon tie poor fellows wallowln. aione
their wet and weary way, until they Ist e eisli.
hours more and came into Albany at 80 0cIo'K |
Yesterday morning, nine hours duc hve mEuies |
late 49,
In view of the tremendous difficulties en- |
counterrd. the completion Of the undertaking With
i'm the running time made must be regarded as |
triumph IL would have been Impossible 10 cover !
the distance in any such time were it not Tor me
rheumatic inflated tire. Not only has the use oi |
fhis air-cushOn enabled riders 10 cut their time
down nearly the figures Of the trottlnG tracks on
good roads, bat it enables them, as in the prem
case. 10 ride over roads which would be impass- |
able TO machines with solid tires.
>
ATTEMPTED WIFpMURDER AND SUICIDE.
f,ordiner Me- MAY GA little old wooden buid-