Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-13

seen that he was wavering in his seat, and
an instant later he plunged forward onto
his face. The tremendous speed at which
ne was going carried man and machine
over each other, the bicycle coming down
on top of Roper. who did not move after he
struck the ground.
The men at the training quarters who
had witnessed the accident rushed down
the track toward him. He had died SO
suddenly that he had not had time to shut
OF the power, and the wheels of the ma
chine Were flying round at fearful rate,
tearing up the track. while the Goals had
IaIien out of the door of the firebox, which
mad come on the under side in the fall, SO
that 1t looked as if both man and machine
were on nre. The machine was lifted from
MN: but the men who did it were unac-
qualnted with its workings and Cere un-
able to shut off the power. AS soon as it
was set up with the wheels on the track
~ ~ was all that they could do to hold it. and
~ was some minutes before they could fir.d
the throttle, shut off the steam and open
the satety valve to prevent the danger of
an explosion. AS soon as the machine was
quiet roper was picked up. and it was seen
that the man was dead. A physician was
summoned, and pronounced that he had
died from heart disease There is no dues-
tlon that he was dead before he struck the
ground, as there was no injury upon him
mat would have been sufficient to have
caused his death 1t is probable that the
tremendous speed at which he was going
ana the excitement of his success We're the
cause of the attack. He was a mechanical
engineer, Seventy-three years old living at
2E Eustis street, Roxbury
me AFFAIR Is a particularly sad one as
the trial In which lie met his death was
the consummation of idea which has
cost him years of study and hard labor
The machine on which he was riding had
Deen tried and altered as defects were
round, over and over again, and he had
Just succeeded in getting 1t 10 suit himself
AS lar as can he learned, 1t was a success
rod
great speed this morning without showing
any OF the strainng or twisting which has
always been the trouble with bicycles OBJ
Grated in any other manner than nv foot
power. The mile which he did in 30 ID
represents only fraction of the speed
winch could he attained by the machine
as the track Is SO small that he was I'M
able to let it out anywhere near its fun
power, ana On the turns shut off the power
entirely, and coasted around until he came
INTO the straight again. 1t is the opinion
OF many good judges of pace who watched
the trial this morning that in the straight,
Where he was able to speed up pretty well
ne was going at speed of nearly mile "A
minute, and that he could have attained
quite that on straightaway course
mere was no one at the track this morn
ing VINO was familiar enough with the ma
chine to give a detailed description of it.
out IL is apparently of about three or four
horse power. The firebox. boiler and water
tank are all contained in an oak box about
80 &C iee' hiSH, TWO Ieet long and ten
eleven inches wide, placed inside of the
frame of an old-style Columbia bicycle
with the bottom about eight inches from
the ground and the top little above the
top OF the frame, the whole machine
Weighing in the neighborhood of 200 to 80
pounds. The application of the power Is on
tne right side of the machine, and is much
the same as that in use on marine engines
except that the piston works in a horizon
tai direction instead of vertically a s is the
case with most marine engines and that
the END OF the crank, instead of running
IN bearing, is free, with the eccentric rod
applying to the free end, the other end of
course being fixed to the rear wheel
1t might be thought that this would give
good deal of a twist if the power were
applied very hard. but this apparently is
not So Tor in spite of the rough handling
Wnich the machine had this morning all
thls part OF ii was in perfect condition al
though on the other side where II had fall
len II was a good deal smashed up Both
the piston rod and the eccentric rod run
through several guides, which were at
tached to the lower side of the frame of the
bicycle, SO that the whole is firm and com
pact. The throttle is the outside of the
machine, Just above the cylinder so that
II the cord connecting with the handle bar
by which it is usually operated fails to
work, IT can be shut off by direct appli-
cation The machine is coal burner and
mas funnel, projecting backward almost
on straight line SO that the smoke is
thrown out behind the rider. The running
OF the machine works automatic pump
which Is provided with a cutoff which on
crates when the boiler is full Ii has also
a draught regulator, by which the fire can
ne blown up to almost any height The
machine usually carries 10 pounds of
steam, but the pressure could be run m
to 100. 'P