The state herald., 1893-04-07
AN ELECTRIC TRICYCLE..
rhe Storage battery Problem Robbed Of
- Hall Its Digicnltics--st. Louis

Happenings.
81. Louis, Mo-, March 31.--A tricycle.
went spinning over the boulevards one
line afternoon this week, aud every
body who saw it turned TO look at it
cnriously. 1t had no pedals, and the
riders feet We're at rest, having moth
ing to do with its propulsion, but with
That exception 1t was Hike all tricycles.
The young man riding it was me-
chnnic employed in II largo bicycle es-
adjustment, 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 1t to carry him
through rough usage, and is careful to
Keep his tricycle. on the very smoothcst
streets, but he is confident that he will
have within year Il battery that will
stand any kind of work. If he succeeds
his fortune is made, for every street rail
wa7 in the country is looking for that
very thing.
The question of nnncxing the sub
nrbs OF st. Louis to the city proper will
be before the people MS soon as this
| campaign is over. There Is strong
party in favor of it already, and us the
plan cannot be consummated, of
course, till majority of the citizens of
both the town and the suburbs ure
agreed that it is good one n CAM
paign of education will be begun and
carried on till the Legislature meets
again. The city has now over half u
million people, and the suburbsit is in
tended to annex have about u hundred
Thousand more. Besides the popula-
lation, the city would gain enormous.
~ in taxable property, and about five
| square miles of territory, while the
| jewellers of the suburbs would get the
public'improvementi 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 win be ready for oc-
cupancy by the fall. The Mayor who
| is to be elected next week will be In
auguratcd in the present huilding, but
he will move into the new one before
he has served II year of his term. From
an architectural standpoint, this build
Ing will be without Il superior in the
country. 1t has been erected by plans
which the city got through money
competition among architects Mt home
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 stree. rail-
way lines built in the city this sum
| mer. All of them will be electii
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, ind
will bring, it is expected, fully half u
million dollars. Thousands of people
go out to the park every day, winter
and summer. II is one OF the city's
sights. None of them would fail 10
ride around the beautiful forest after
the proposed line is bnil;, and railway
men say that the company which gets
the franchise will easily make ej per
cent on the half-million investment.
This will be the first experiment the
city has made in selling franchises by
| uuct ION