The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-08-20
A LEGLESS CYCLIST.
He Is a Sc0rcher and Can Give Points
in Riding to Many.
Edwin jenkins Finds Riding q Wheel
Much Easier Than Walking.

The almighty bicycle presents some
startling novelty every day. 1t seemed as
If the possibilities had been exhausted, but
here Is the most remarkable of all
1t Is a paradox, n man who has had his
legs cut off and yet rides the bicycle and
rides 10 we'll
There is an old song which says, ut
takes nine ta!lors to make a man" But it
doesn't take one whole man to make
good bicycler, as this narrative demon
stratcs.
Some triumphs of Workmanship have
been accomplished hy men who lacked an
arm. There are two or three ono legged
riders in New York, and you may catch
sight of one of them every now and then
on the Boulevard the Riverside drive or
one of the asphaltcd avenues.
Their pedaling, of course, is all done
with one foot, and In an adjustable wire
sling attached to the other side of the ma
chine hangs tho crutch, which Is indispen-
sable after dismounting.
But science has even eclipsed all that. A
Welsh surgeon, whose skill will never there
after be questioned, has turned loose upon
the world wheelman who has no legs at
all, but gets there just the same
ties who have examined the case pronounce
1t one of the most remarkable feats ever
accomplished Ordinarily IL would be safe
to assume that gentleman who had been
deprived of both his legs would be pretty
lucky II he could hobble about on crutches
or get some inexpensive person to push
him around in a wheel chair.
The very last thing to be expected OF
such man would be riding of the bike
But he's pretty fine figure of a bicycler
for all that
The name Of this most remarkable wheel
man is Edwin jenkins. He is. as might
be supposed, If the question were thorough
ly canvassed, n Welshman.
Mr.. Jenkins had the lamentable misfor-
tune to have both his legs badly crushed
on Oct. 13-an unlucky day-in 1894. He
was taken to Swansea hospital, and the
doctors there decided that he must lose
both legs. The amputation was below the
knee, and the process of healing went on
very rapidly.
Then the hospital doctors provided him
with pair OF artificial limbs constructed
after new patent. They were of some
service to him in walking, but his pedes-
trian performance was more or less clumsy.
When tho bicycle craze attained full
swing in Wales, jenkins, who by this time
was sound and well again, decided that he
would get wheel. 1t took him an amas-
ingly short time TO learn to ride. He was
phenomenally alert, and his patent legs
seemed to accustom themselves to the task
of pedaling moro readily than many real
flesh and blood legs do
After the learning period, when he had
to have somo one tO assist him and hold
him up from falling, he determined to GO
without help. Ard he did 1t. He can
mount and dismount without anybody's
aid
And there is one very decided advan-
tage, he says, about this new variety OF
bicycle legs. They do not tire like ordinary
bone and muscle. Iio can ride practically
any distance, being, save for the lack of
his original logs, a rare good specimen of
physical man.
His verdict is that it is far easier to cycle
than To walk, and ho urges all people who
are similarly afflicted 10 got pair of pat
ent legs and an easy running wheel and
"live happy ever after. - New York Jour
nal.