The herald., 1896-08-16
Winds Up in a Championship
Wrangle
COOPER WINS AT FIVE MILES
But Is Disqualified for Scrapping With
Bald
Becker of Minneapolis Gets Away With the
National Championship-W Shoes
Wins at Two TILES
Associated Press snecial Wire.

LOUISVILLE, Ky, Alv.. 15.-The l..
A. w. national meet came to a close
this afternoon in an ugly wrangle over
the five mile national championship. 1t
was a scrap from beginning to end There
was no end of jockeying and at one
time Cooper and Bald had their hands
off their handlebars grasping at and
pushing each other, imperiling the lives
OF a dozen or more contestants. Cooper
and Callahan finished in the first divis-
ion, but were disqualified, the race go
ing to w. E. Becker of Minneapolis, With
E. S. Aker Philadelphia, second; Nat
Butler third.
This race was the last on the card, the
last of the meet. 1t was called in the
face of an approaching storm, but be-
fore the race had we'll begunIt became
stormier even than the warning elements
overhead. Nearly all of the big men
of the game started for the trial heats
were omitted and the entry list left to
the election of the riders. Tom Butler and
Zigler stayed out but Cooper, Gardiner,
Bald, Coburn and the others made a
representative string. A triplet manned
put in to pace. When the men broke for
the big machine Callahan waited and
hooked on, although the big machine got
away so slowly tha half the field bunch
ed in front of it before there was any
semblance of the usual formation in a
paced event. Gardiner went to the
front with Bald, Cooper and ]. Coburn
and dropped back. This was but the
signal for one after another of the con-
testants to go up ahead, some catching
successfully and some failing to make
good their game. While this was go
ing on Cooper and Bald came together
Cooper elbowing his great antagonist,
while the Buffalo man adopted similar
tactics and reached out viciously for his
successful rival. Trouble kept up
throughout the balance of the ride and
the grand stand manifested it's displeas-
ure by kissing every time the bunch
came around. The consequence of the
firal sprint was that Cooper won with
Becker a length back and Callahan in
third place. Aker and Nat Butler, un-
placed, finished as named, but when all
the protesting and wrangiing was over
Cooper and Callahan had been disquali-
fed and the championship went to Beck
err. Aker taking second and Nat Butler
third. Gardiner and Bald came in as
named in Buffers rear. The time for
the five miles was 1918 2-5.
Up to the time of this unpleasant af-
fair, the feature of the day and of the
meet so far was the victory of Sanger in
the two-mile handicap for profession
ais. If any one doubted wooden
Shoes popularity he should have
have heard the crowd cheer him when
he scored his first and only victory of
the meeting and seen his enthusiastic
friends shoulder him and carry him
from the track. The Milwaukeean had
played in hard lines, but he retrieved
himself, riding the event in his old-time
form and winning in a driving sprint
that carried him aroud the bunch as
though he was trying to run cycles
around them. Sanger had the scratch
with Kennedy, Callahan and Eaton just
ahead of him and these four succeeded
in getting together early in the game
Callahan paced for the first half mile
and then Sanger came up. The result
was that he caught the big bunch
ahead. The field at once slowed down
and the men loafed along for nearly a
mile, with Van Herrick out in front,
e. c. Johnson and then Callahan San
ger got down to his work just as the bell
tapped, swinging along with his high
gear and with an increasing stride and
brought him at evens with the head of
the bunch before the final jump started.
The big fellow had been beautifully poe
lSeted on the back stretch and his ad-
mirers in the grand stand went wild
with enthusiasm as his manouever was
successfully worked. Callahan was still
at the head of the bunch, with Kennedy
tapping his wheel from the outside and
as Sanger went by Kennedy left the di-
minutive Buffalo man and went after
him.. The big fellows jump was too