The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-12
WHERE THE cYcLrsT RULES.
one Place That New York's Truck
men Are Helpless

I-
men Are Helpless.
The Bowery has had it's day as the
famous New York street." saws Stephen
crane in New York letter. Broad
way will long hold it's own as the chief
vein OF the city's life. but lately the
western boulevard which slants from
the Columbus monument at the south-
west corner of Central Park to the river
mas vaulted to startling prominence
and Is now one of the sights of New
york. This is caused by the bicycle.
1t is the great thoroughfare for bicyl
Giles. On these gorgeous summer DAYS
they appear in thousands. All man
Kind is a-Wheel apparently and a per-
son on nothing but legs feels like a
strange animal. A mighty army of
wheels streams from the brick wilder
ness below Central Park and speeds
over the asphalt. In the cool of the
evening 1T returns with swaying and
flashing Of myriad lamps
The bicycle crowd has completely sub
jugated the street. The glittering
wheels dominate it from end to end,
The cafes and dining-rooms of the
apartment hotels are occupied mainly
by people In bicycle clothes Even the
blli-boards have surrendered. They
advertise wheels and lamps and tires
and patent saddles with all the flaming
vehemence of circus art. Even when
they do condescend to still advertise
patent medicine, you are sure to con-
frcnt Autograph of a young person
in boomers who is saying in large type:
Yes, George. find that Willowrum
always refreshes me after these long
rides
1t is interesting to note the way in
which the blasphemous and terrible
truck drivers Of the lower part of
inf q icf
truck-driver, of course, believes that
wEeelman is a pest. The average man
could not feel more annoyance if nat
ure had suddenly invented some new
kind of mosquito. And so the truck
driver resolves in his dreadful way to
make life as troublous and thrilling for
the wheelman as he possibly can. The
wheelman suffers under a great handi-
cap. He is struggling over the most
uneven cobbles which bless a metro
polls. Twenty horses threaten him,
and forty wheels miss his shoulder by
an inch In his ears there is a hideous
din. 1t surrounds him, envelopes him.
Add to this trouble then, a truckman
with a fiend's desire to see dead wheel
men. The situation affords deep ex-
element for every one concerned.
But when a truckman comes to the
boulevard the beautiful balance Of the
universe is apparent. The teamster
sits mute. motionless, casting sidelong
glances at the wheels that spin by him
He still contrives to exhibit a sort of
somber defiance. but he has no oath
nor gesture nor willy scheme to drive
a three-ton wagon over the PROSTATE
body Of some unhappy cyclist. On the
boulevard this roaring lion from down
town is SO subdued, so isolated that he
brings tears to the sympathetic eye
There is new game on the bou1e-
ward 1t is the game of bicycle COP
and scorcher When the scorcher
scorches beyond the patience Of the
law, the bicycle policeman, if in sight,
takes after him. Usually the scorcher
has a blissful confidence in his ability
to scorch and thinks 1t much easier
to just ride away from the policeman
than to go to court and pay a fine. So
they go flying up the boulevard with
the whole mob of wheelnen and wheel
women, eager to see the race sweeping
after them. But the bicycle police are
mighty hard riders and it takes a f1ier
to- escape them. The affair usually
ends in calamity for the scorcher, but
in the meantime fifty or sixty cyclists,
have had a period of delirious joy
Bicycle cop and scorcher is good
game, but after all it is not as good as
the game that was played in the old
days when the suggestion of a corps OF
bicycle police in neat knickerbockers
would have scandalized Mulberry
street. This was the game OF fat po-
liceman on foot trying to stop squirt.
A huge, unwieldy officer rushing out
into the street and wildly trying to
head off and grab some rider who was
spinning along in just one silver flash
was sight that caused the populace
to turn out in a body.
The girl In boomers is, Of course,
upon her native heath when she steers
her steel steed into the boulevard One
becomes conscious of a bewildering
variety in boomers. There are some
that fit and some that do not 1T. There
are some that were not made TO fit
and there are some that couldn't fit
anyhow.
ARE INVADING ENGLAND.
american Cycle Makers Threaten
sdoJshn Bull. nl