The herald., 1896-09-12
WuEELMEN UNDER THE BAN
Local Wheelmen Barred by the L. A. W.
for Sunday Racing
esentative-ststement Of Charles
P. Gates

When Sunday racing was inaugurated
by the professional wheelmen at Santa
Monica it was believed that those par
ticipating would come under the ban
of the l.. A. w. The riders themselves
expected this, and they have not been
disappointed, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing Associated Press dispatch re-
ceived last evening:
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11.-R. M.
Welch, Pacific coast representative of
the racing board of the l.. A. W., has
issued the following list:
Transferred to professional class-W
Il. Harmon, Los Angeles; J. E. Willough-
by, Watsonville, under clause B.
Suspended-Phil Kitchin, Charles w.
Stimson, F. A. Bell A. D. Tompkins,
James w. Cowan, Los Angeles. pending
investigations; Godfrey Schmidt, w. u.
Harmon, Los Angeles, for willfully COM
peting in unsanctioned races, until Sep
tember 6, 1897; T. @. Hall, Los Angeles,
for officiating at unsanctioned races. un-
til September 6, 1897; J. Phil Percival,
Thomas McAleer James Ryan, Los An
geles, for officiating at unsanctioned
races, permanently.
CHARLES F. GATES STATEMENT.
Below is published the statement of
Charles F. Gates, over his own nature,
in regard to the fight in whic.. ne par
ticipated at Riverside. The statement
is published in it's entirety, including
the wholly unwarranted insinuations
against the press on the part of Mr.
Gates, and he and the other wheelmen
will have to settle the questions of verac-
ity involved among themselves. Fol-
lowing is the statement:
LOS ANGELES, Sept. II, 1896.
Editor Herald: A half-column attack
was made upon me in The Herald this
10 %1r 4uxy
assault upon my person that occurred
In Southern Pacific train at Riverside
on Wednesday night.
This man Knippenberg has tried to
railroad me out of this city, and has
been guilty of all kinds of petty perse-
cution. aided by S. Harry Laverty, who
conducts small weekly paper devoted
mainly to vilifying me and a few other.
When first came to Los Angeles from
San Francisco, suffering from consump-
tion, was fairly overwhelmed by Knip-
penberg and his crowd, who wanted me
to join what they called "the push" and
help them in a journalistic way to con-
troll cycling matters in the southwest,
including this division of the League of
American Wheelmen. l got along with
them all right until acted upon my own
Judgment and refused to do their bid
ding in injuring those they did not like.
1 steadily went about my own business
and have been acting as the southwest
ern correspondent of eastern wheel pa
pers. some of which l have been con-
nected with for a long time. dating, in
fact, back to the time I lived in New
York state and was racing and building
bicycles. Last year, as cycling editor
of the Times, I refused to do blackmail
work for this crowd, and when necessary
I criticised them. Naturally Knippen-
berg, being anxious for newspaper no.
tnriatV md 6ntforir,or ~
which he has written himself, has been
very bitter against me, and at Riverside.
after he had got drunk with several
companions, he was brave enough to
try to insult me. Anything to start a
quarrel, was his policy, and after he had
called out some friends of mine who were
sitting with me, he came into the car
With his heelers and asked me If had
said that was glad his team was beaten,
and that If they had won, 1t would have
been no glory, for their riders were paid
riders. l had made some such remark
when Riverside man had tried to class
me with the Knippenberg crowd, and !
was not ashamed of it. 1t is pity that
the Athletic club should stoop so low,
even with Knippenberg's advice.
When this drunken rowdy began CALL
ing me those horrible names that are so
common in Los Angeles vocabulary, I,
of course, struck him. not supopsing that
l was to be attacked by towards from
behind and all sides.
o As to the charges in this mornings
Herald, will not bother with them. My
friends know that am honest and above
reproach. and for my enemies have the
proper weapons of all honest, law
abiding citizens.
AS to the assertion that Kitchen did
not strike me when / was down, my
witnesses in the trial will prove that is
false. as well as the rest of the story of
the towards. who had to combine and
get stimulants to attack one peaceful
newspaperman, who will not be bought
nor bluffed, even though the heavens
fall and the columns of every paper in
Los Angeles be used to injure him. This
is all. The courts will now take charge
of the matter.
CHARLES r. GATES.