The Bessemer indicator., 1893-04-08
AN ELECTRIC tricycle..
Ihs Storage Dattsry Problem Robbed Of
Hail Its Dimcultiss-St. Louis
HnnnenlnRs.


- HALF Its Dimcaitiss--st. Louis
HappeninEs.
ST. LouIs, Mo-, March 31.-A tricycls
went spinning over the bouievnrds one
ine afternoon this week, and every
body who say It turned to ..S ..oa u, it
c;ar,ously' c;aa., 1t hs1 no pedals, and the
lect were at rest, having moth
Ing to do with its propulsion, but with
that exception it was like all tricycles.
The young man riding 1t was =. me-
chanic employed in a large bicycle es-
tablish'nent, 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 Is battery thpt viii
stand any kind OF work. II he succeeds
his fortune is made, for every street rail
way in the country is looking for that
very thing.
The question of annexing the sub
,,rbs of st Louis tc the city proper will
be before the people us soon as this
campaign is over. There is strong
party in favor of it already, and us the
plan cannot bo consummatcd, of
course, till majority of the citizens of
both the town and the suburbs are
agreed that it is n good one, cam
paign Of education will be begun and
carried ON till the Legislature meets
again. The city has now over half Il
million people, and the suburbs it is in
tended to annex have about u hundred
thousand more. Besides the popula-
lation. the city would gain enormous
ly in taxable property, and about five
square miles of territory, while the
dwcllers of the suburbs would get the
public'improvement B. especially water
supply, and the police protection they
want.
Architect George R. Mann, who has
in charge the building of the new City
Hall, announces that the roof is on,
and several Offices will bc ready for oc-
cupancy by tho 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 standpoint, this build
ing will be without 4 superior in the
country. 1t has been erected by plans
which the city got through money
competition among architects at home
ind 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
c:tv nearly ;~o million dollars.
There will be several new street rail.
way lines built in the city this sum,
mer. All of them will be elcctri.
lines, of course. That goes without
saying in st. Louis nowadays One OF
the most important of all these will be
the railway betting Forest Park. The
franchise is to be sold at auction by
the city, the plan having been pro
posed by municipal engineers, and
will bring, it is expected, fully half q
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 tc
ride around the beautiful forest aftet
the proposed line is built, and railway
inen 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.