Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-04-06
AN ELECTRIC TRICYCLE..
The Storage Battery Problem Robbed OF
Half Its DificultIes--St. Louis

Happenings.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, March 31.--A tricycle.
went spinning over the boulevards one
fine afternoon this week, and every
! body who saw it turned to look at it
curiously 1t had no pedals and the
riders feet were at rest, having moth
ing to do with its propulsion, but with
that exception it was like all tricycles.
The young man riding it was me-
chanlc employed in large bicycle es-
tablishment, and the storage battery
by which it was propelled he had in
vented himself, improving on one that
has been abandoned. He says that he
has not got his invention to the point
where he can trust it to carry him
through rough usage, and is careful to
keep his tricycle. on the very smoothest
streets, but he is confident that he will
have within year battery that will
stand any kind of work. If he succeeds
his fortune is made, for every street rail
wa in the country is looking for that
very thing.
The question of annexing the sub
urbs of ST. Louis to the city proper will
be before the people as soon as this
campaign is over There is a strong
party in favor of it already, and as the
~
course, till ma jority of the citizens OF
both the town and the suburbs ar.
agreed that it is good one, Il cam
paign of education win be begun and
carried on till the Legislature meets
again. The city has now over half u
million people, and the suburbs it is in
tended to annex have about a hundrst
thousand more. Besides the popuia-
lot M al IN,
ly in taxable property. and about five
square miles of territory, while the
jewellers of the suburbs would get the
plbliuinprovcmcnt especially a water
supply, and the police protection they
want.
Architect George II. Mann, who has
in charge the building of the new City
Hall. announces that the roof is on,
and several offices will be ready for oc-
cupancy by the fall. The Mayor who
is to be elected next week will be in
augurated in the present building but
he will move into the new one before
he has served year of his term. From
an architectural standr oint, this build
ing will be without III )erior in the
country. 1t has been erected by plans
which the city got through o money
and abroad, paying several thousand
dollars for them, and while there has
been no jobbing in the building there
has also been no false economy. When
completed the hall will have cost the
city nearly two million dollars.
There will be several new street rail
way lines built in the city this sum
mer, All of them will be electric
lines, of course. That goes without
saying in st. Louis nowadays. One of
the most important Of all these will he
the railway betting Forest Park. The
franchise is to be sold al auction by
the city, the plan having been pro-
posed by municipal engineers, and
will bring, it is expected, fully half II
million dollars. Thousands of people
go out to the park every day, winter
and summer. 1t is one of the city'S
sights. None of them would fail to
ride around the beautiful forest af, sr
the proposed line is built, and rail way
men say that the company which gets
the franchise will easily make 25 per
cent on the half-million investment.
This will be the first experiment the
city has made in selling franchises by
auction.