The San Francisco call., 1895-05-18
Hundreds of Wheelmen Par
ticipate in a Deafening
- Demonstration.
REVENGE OF THE .BLUEcoATs
The City Prison Thronged With
Wheels and Their. Luck
less Riders.


has been declared between the police au-
2 thorities and the wheelmen of this city,
and the streets are thronged with cyclists
who are expressing their dissatisfaction at
the method which has been. followed by
the city authorities in enforcing an ordi-
nance which was formulated nearly tnree
years ago, and having never been enforced,
has become almost a dead letter The or
dinance, which was drafted at the request
of the Sacramento wheelmens contains the
: following clause:
Every person riding bicycle in any public
. street or thoroughfare within the corporate
j." limits of the city of Sacramento in the night
:. time must have lamp and a bell or norm at
tached thereto, and must keep said lamp
. lighted, and must ring said bell or sound said
horn. loudly and continuously Immediately be-
fore reaching and while trayersing every pub
lie street crossing; and every person failing to
SO do sois guilty of misdemeanor.
= On the strength of this ordinance, which
has never been enforced, a number of per-
sons were arrested last night without any
previous warming. and conveyed to the
:. police station, where they were compelled
to make a. cash deposit to ensure their ap-
:.pearance in the Police Court this morn
ing. :: -:
:, When their cases were called in the
latter tribunal they all entered plea of
guilty and were fined $5 each. This was
. deemed an arbitrary proceeding by all
Sacramento wheelmen, and as the or
dinance does not specify the size of the
lamp, bell or horn. the cyclists have been
complying with the ordinance this even
ing to the letter. and the consequence is
that the city is scene of deafening. pam
demonium.
The streets are thronged with hundreds
of riders who have attached immense COW
and dinner bells to their wheels, while
others have procured horns of enormous
dimensions or ear-splitting whistles which
emit skrieks: equal to those supposed. to be
uttered by lost souls when precipitated
from the. battlements of heaven. All of
these Instruments are to blow or ring con-
tinuously, and the din is deafening,
. One of the features of the indignation
parade is a tandem wheel, the riders of
which have procured a horn seven feet
long and of equivalent diameter, which
efnits a noise equal to foghorn. The
head rider supports the instrument upon
his shoulders and. the back rider blows
continuously at each street-crossing.
All the wheels are decorated with lam
terms Of exaggerated dimensions, many
riders. having Chinese lanterns rigged on
poles and fastened to the handles of their
machines. One bicycle is decorated with
a locomotive headlight.
: In the meantime the police are retail
ating by arresting every rider who peglects
to give the requisite warning on approach
ing any street corner, and the police sta
ton is being crowded with wheels, and it
is claimed that many OF the arrests made
arearbitrary and unwarranted, yet despite
the arrests the:din seems to be increasing
instead OF diminishing. Several wheel
men claim that they have been threatened
with arrest ona charge OF disturbing the
peace, and say they will contest the mat
ter in. the courts to the bitter end AS the
ranks of the riders contain many of the
leading business and professional men OF
the city the fight promises to become ex-
ceedinglY warm, although the police are
displaying discretion in one thing-they
as yet have failed to capture any but
riders in the ordinary walks of life. A
prominent. wheelman in speaking of the
demonstration said.
This is lrota :preconcerted movement
but:purely spontaneous. We do not wish
to violate the law. On the. contrary, it Is
entirely satisfactory to all, But the metho d
pursued in enforcing this. ordinance is
arbitrary ia the extreme, and seems. to be
devoted exclusively against the wheelmen
OF SACRAMENTO. If l mistake not, there is
acity+ ordinance which demands that hack
DRYERS shall display lighted lamps on
theiryehicles; yet when wheelnan was
arrested by a seemingly incompetent
police representative this evening, hack
drove by with. both lamps unlighted, and
mo move was made to place him under
arrest. >:
= "We consider that the wheelmen of
Sacramento should at. least have been
given warning beforehand that the ordi-
nance was TO be enforced, and we deem the
action of the authorities in arresting and
filming cyclists S. for violating an ordinance
tnat has been dead letter for such a long
period an outrage. We. are law-abiding
taxpayers, and should be given some
consideration"