The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-22
RACING The EMPIRE EXPRESS
A SEXTUPLET BEATS A FAMOUS
TRAIN
A Wonderful Feat Performed by the
Riders ON Stearnes Bicycle-In a
Run of Half Mile the Wheel Was
! Winner by Four Lengths-The Trial
(, Was Made Outside of Syracuse.

On the afternoon of July 25 the riders
of the Stearnes sextuplet tried the much
talked-of and hazardous experiment of
racing the famous Empire State express
on the New York Central. For some
time the six men who have been practic-
ing on the big pacemaker have had an
ambition to do the trick which a rival
team has been promising to do, but
which has never before been done.
Instead of taking the sextuplet to
Kirkwood Park for their usual two
hours training they rode the huge ma
chine to the western limits of Syracuse,
near the Solvay Process works Here
there is long stretch of rail, and wheel
men have been in the habit of riding Tor
several miles between the tracks, where
there is wide and level path. Here the
test was made. The timetables had
been consulted, and every thing seemed
propitious, for not even a freight or
way train was scheduled to pass through
at 2:05 O'Clock, when the Empire State
was expected. A man was stationed
with white flag to signal when the
lightning express came around the turn.
The seXtuplet team had in the meantime
been riding on the path, and was conf
dent of holding its own, if not beating
out the train. The flag finally waved,
and the sextette was pushed off, slowly
getting under Roadway. Every man was
bent over his handlebars and the six
pairs of legs were going up and down
with mathematical precision. OF a sud-
den the spectators sent up n tremendous
shout Instead of one train two were
coming. The men had forgotten that
the D., l. and w. trains ran out on one
Of the tracks for distance, and the Os-
wego special was coming neck and neck
with the Empire. The sextette riders
did not at first appreciate the situation,
but the rear man looked over his shoulder
just in time to see the two trains thun-
dering down upon them He threw his
whole weight on one side, hurting his
mates from their seats directly in front
of the D l.. and w. engine. 1t looked
as though every man would be killed.
but they rolled and scrambled off the
track, and the trains whizZed by. n lot of
scratches and bruises being the total
damage Later on in the afternoon the
seXtette made a highly successful trial
against the fast mail, holding this train
nip and tuck for about half q mile.
Arthur Yates, the official photographer
of the New York Central, got two re-
markably fine pictures of the last race.
Not discouraged at the last failure, the
Stearnes seXtuplet team took another try
at the famous train on the afternoon of
July %, and accomplished the feat in the
presence of hundreds of spectators, who
looked upon the spectacle with amaze
ment. The riders showed as much BRAY
ado as a parachute jumper leaping from
the clouds, and though they had trench
but four feet wide in which to push their
ponderous machine they kept it under
Roadway for good half mile, and finish
ed four lengths ahead of No 900, the
stack of which was pouring a large vol
ume of smoke as the fireman shoveled in
coal in vain attempt to get up steam.
or course the train was not under full
Roadway at the point at which the at
tempt was made, and, therefore, it was
no impossibility which the six strapping
big fellows attempted. They had been
riding this same machine ever since
spring in anticipation of this event, not
only at Kirkwood Park where it is smooth
and level, but in the early hours of the
morning out on the Cicero plank road.
In this way they became accustomed to
the humping and EARRING of the riding
over an uneven surface, and William
BeX, to whom was assigned the task of
steering the machine, had become SO ex-
pert that he could guide it over almost
any kind of road which would permit of
passage. So confident were the team of
DelnS able 10 ride the seXtuplet in a mar
row space that when the attempt was
made last Saturday the path had not been
prepared at all; yesterday, however,
the conditions were much more favorable.
The officials of the d., l.. and w. and
the Central were very much interested in
the experiment and n section gang was
ordered out in the morning and the men
spent several hours in digging out and
leveling up the passage between tracks 9
and =, from the row of poplar trees oppo-
site the old baseball grounds in Geedes
on out for about a mile to the old stone
pump house and the high tower with red
reservoir, which is the most prominent
landmark in that vicinity. This stretch
is not as long as the men would have
liked to have it, being cut off by q Gull
vert at the pump house through which
the wooden brine pipes pass. On this
account the undertaking was particular
ly hazardous, it being necessary to sta
tion number of men ON either side of
the track to catch the sextuplet as it
came up to the mark under Roadway.
Several times, in practice, the team had
come very near plunging headlong into
the six-foot trench, and ON ..one occasion
nearly all the pedals on one side of the
machine were smashed Arrangements
were made on the afternoon of the 2Sth
he's alxx ~