Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-11-15

hicles will be in line to make the start.
If the number be cut In half the proba-
blities will be more nearly met. IL that
product be again divided evenly 1t will
then probably be larger than the num-
Der of motocvcles that will finish at the
Grant monument in Lincoln park on
Thanksgiving day. The memory of the
manner in which they wearied by the
wavside and piled up in the ditch in the
Paris Bordeaux race last year suggests
this prophecy. However, the certainty
of this ninety-eight mile race on No
vember 2S is by no means assured, as
witness the following official announce
ment: IF the weather is bad and the
roads muddy The machines will be tested
in an enclosed space"
The horseless carriages which started
from the junction of Midway plaisance
and jackson park, last Saturday morn
ing, were propelled by gasoline motors.
Both were four-wheeled vehicles, one a
two-passenger buggy, the other four
Both were equipped with rubber tires.
The four-passenger Benz machine-ot
German invention and make-carried a
lot of cumbersome, heavy machinery,
and made so much noise in its rattle and
"chuck, chuck, that a few days ago il
was ordered out of Washington park by
park policeman. 1t also smelled to
heaven. For more than $50 yards to
leeward of its course the circumambent
air was filed with the pungent, offensive
odor of gasoline. 1t was stabbed over
night at livery near the starting point
and the stablemen report that even old
dray horses, thoroughly accustomed to
every alarming city sight and sound,
snorted and tried to Jump out of their
skins as the noisy and ill-smelling thing
passed them. The only accident that
befell this machine was the slipping of a
rubber tire, which was soon replaced.
A curious feature of the working of the
Benz motor was its Unsuitable appetite
for ice. large galvanized iron tank
covered the working machinery, and
this was filled with chunks of ice, which
every little while were crushed and
shoveied around the engine to ''cool it
out" The supply of gasoline was re-
newed at several stages on the journey.
Every new invention suggests or de-
mands another. If the Benz machine
which was the winner in this prelimi-
nary test-shoud eventually supplant the
horse, it will be necessary to invent as
supplementary parts refrigerating
plant and deodorizing plant. This
opens up another wide field of invention,
and some other enterprising daily paper
should hasten to offer prizes for the pro-
duction of the necessary appendages to
the horseless csrriage. Horse-breeding
may be abolished, but think of the oc-
equations opened up by this prospect
The Duryea two-passenger motorcycle
invented and manufactured at Spring
field, Mass.-was lighter and less noisy.
II soon came to grief by the breaking OF
its driving chain. When this was re-
paired after a delay of three quarters of
an hour, its journey was continued I'M
til, in turning out to pass farm wagon,
the machine stuck rut concealed in
the grass at the roadside and smashed a
wheel. The remains were shipped back
by freight to Chicago. This is the
plain, unvarnished tale of the prelimi-
nary contest in the great race between
motorcycles, which, it was confidently
asserted, would strike the death knell
of the horse. We do not, as yet, "hear
dem bells a-ringing."