The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-08-03
THE SEXTUPLET WON.
Race Between Bicycle and the En-
pire State Express.
The Train, However, Was Not Running
at Its Full Speed.

The sextuplet bicycle team on July 2S
accomplished tho wonderful feat Of beating
the Empire State express near Syracuse,
In tho presence Of hundreds Of spectators
who looked upon the spectacle with amaze
ment. The riders showed as much bravado
as parachute jumper leaping from the
clouds.
Although they had trench four feet
wide In which 10 speed their ponderous
machine, they kept it under headway for a
half mile and hnisho, four lengths ahead
of No 9a0. The train was not, however,
under full Roadway.
They had been riding the machine since
spring'in anticipation of this event They
had practicod at Kirkwood park, where it
Is smooth and level, and also in the early
morning on plank roads. In this way they
became accustomed TO the humping and
jarring Of riding over an uneven surface,
and William III. Bcx who stecrcd the ma
chine, had become SO expert that he could
guide 10 over almost any kind of road
which would permit of passage
The officials Of the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna aud Western and the New York
Central were interested in the experiment,
and section gang spent several hours
leveling up tho passage between tracks
two and three from the row of poplar trees
opposite the old baseball grounds in
Geddes.
The stretch was not as long as the men
would have liked, 10 being cut off by oul-
vert at the pumphousc, through which the
wooden brine pipes pass. On this account
the undertaking was particularly hazard
Gus, 1t being necessary 10 station n num-
ber of men on either side of the track 10
catch the sextuplet as it came up to the
mark under headway.
Several times I'm practice the team had
come very near plunging into the six foot
trench. On one occasion nearly all the
pedals on one side Of tho machine were
smashed. Arrangements were made to-
day whereby the Oswego special on the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
tracks, which came near running infb the
sextuplet Saturday, came through little
ahead Of time and was out of the way be-
fore the Empire State loomed up around
the curve
Here several men were stationed with
white flags Assoon as the Empire show
ed around the curve the sextuplet was
pushed off, and the men slowly got under
Roadway, rapidly increasing their speed,
however, until the train came almost
abreast Of them. Then they let out at full
Roadway and slowly cropt TO the front.
The engineer and passengers of the train
had been informed that a race was on, and
heads were out of almost every window
There was great cheering and excitement
along the line. A gang of boys followed,
and two or three of them narrowly escap-
ed being caught under tho wheels Of the
big machine.
1t was expected that Arthur Yates, the
official photographer Of the New York
Central, who was present, would get
good picture of the race, nut the sextuplet
finished SO far ahead of the train that he
was unable to get u good negative. An at
tempt was made with another train which
reaches tho spot az 3:f5 p. IN. This time
Mr. Yates got four good pictures. All the
pictures show the train and sextuplet un-
der full headway. York World.