Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-28
GOSSIP OF THE RACERS

William F. vogel. q STRIPPING Of twenty
years, who halls from Buffalo, left the
New York Herald Office few days ago to
ride on lis wheel to Denver, Col. He says
he Is going on a wager of $500, and Is Civ
en- to October . to complete the journey.
The total distance Of the route he travels
he figures at three thousand miles.
The father of Walter c. Sanger died last
Sunday morning and the great Milwaukee,
rider was compelled to leave the circuit for
his home. Sanger will be seen no more in
races this season, but may go for some of
the unpaced records later in the year.
billie Hamilton, the former holder of
the mile record of 139 1-5 said. when
asked what he thought of the new figures
of Plat Belts, the Englishman: He may
have done 1.37 3-5, but am not going to
believe it. They never credited me with
my record, and in England they steadily
refuse to accept any time we make over
here as worlds records. do not see that
we are compelled to acknowledge their
times with the one timer when ours are
timed by three men who are compelled to
take oath to the correctness of their tim
ing" England has never accepted records
made legal by the L. A. w. of this coun-
try, and Hamilton's position is that taken
by all other loyal Americans.
The question of the ACCESSIBILITY of di-
vorcing cycle racing from the L. A. w. is
likely to be raised again at the next ma
tonal assembly of the L. A. w. The Mil
waukee board of L. A. w. consulS is stir
ring up the subject, this time on the
ground that the work of the league should
be directed in other channels, such as road
improvements, erection of sign boards and
matters of much more Importance and ben
eft to cyclists than racing. This is the
view that President Potter of the L. A. w.
has always taken.
During race meet at Amherstberg, On
tario last week a ten-year-old colored boy
was killed in the final heat of the novice
Fauquier of Windsor won the heat, and
the boy who was attending him threw his
blanket at him when he rode by. The
blanket slipped off his back and got tan
gled up with the back wheel, which stop
ped him very suddenly The other con-
testants, coming Immediately behind him.
lad to swing wide. and one of them ran
into the crowd and struck a small boy, kill
ing him.
OF the five national championships run
thus far men from the west have cap
tured three, or a majority. Lougheads
win of the quarter and the mile and Kiscr's
win of the half-mile gave the west the
lead Hoyt gained the two-mile and Bald
and Church the two-mile tandem. Loug-
head. Bald, Cooper and Gardiner are con-
sidered the big five" of the racing game.
A private percentage table maintained on
the meeting of the five men in races on
and off the circuit yields the following re-
suit: Loughead started twelve times
against his big competitors, and has gain
ed a percentage in these meetings of 500.
Bald. in thirty-six starts, three times as
mary as Loughead, has a percentage of
$50, and Kiser, in twenty-three starts,
stands $50. Cooper is fourth in the great
field of five, with thirty-two starts and
percentage of .377, and Gardiner, with
twenty-five starts, tails in with .325.
Lucien Lesna, the great European rider,
is training for the race of his life at the
Charles River Park track. Lesna will
compete in the hour race to be held at
that track, for which the purse is 5000
McDuffie is training at the same track and
for the same race.
Every win at the national meet in the
professional class was win for the west.
Loushead captured two championships. He
halls from SGrnia. Canada. Kiser took the
half-mile championship and the mile open.
His address is Dayton, Ohio. Mertens of
st. Paul won the mile 2.O5 class race. Nc
Farland of San Jose, Cel., took one of the
handicaps. and Stevens of Ottumwa, Iowa,
took the other. Mertens also won the five
mile national championship. The western
amateur failed to make showing.
The American Wheelman says edi.orially:
The quartet of riders which constitutes
the professional class in the California
outlaw organization is a quartet no longer.
1t has been reduced to trio by the recan-
tation of the fourth man, who is now at
the feet of the L. A. w. racing bo;rd beg
ging forgiveness and reinstatement. The
OtHSr tIiEec SnOuiQ not OBJECT 10 tnlS feQuc-
ton In their numbers, however, as it in
sures each one Of them a prize every time
they ride"
Ill luck seems to follow John S. Johnson
this season. The great record-breaker and
racing man entered the field July last,
and met with a serious fall on his first
entry In the races at Dayton. In that fall
he broke a couple Of bones. Johnson was
pare, and previous to the national meet
met with another serious fall, which inca
pacitated him for the championship in q
great degree.
prize limit in the professional class will be
raised. 1t was impossible to take so rad
fcal a step this season, as race promoters
who have lost money in the past would
have objected and refused to give meets.
Now that the great majority of race meets
have been successful, and now that the
race-meet promoters have demonstrated
that large prizes bring large gates, Chair
man Mott believes that some change should
be made in regard to this prize-limit rul-
ing.-Philadelphia Press
Bald, Kfser and Cooper say that they
are through with the match racing game,
for them from this time on. The best two
In three races in Michigan, most of which
were run on the percentage plan, did not
pay. owing to the three races which
usually had to be run for the same purse
This kind of racing is very wearing and a
like amount of energy In the circuit con-
tests would yield much handsomer re-
turn
One of the professionals had the medals
given for national championships assayed,
and he declares the value to be as follows.
The gold medal for the first is worth SIS. 3G:
the silver medal. $1.36; the bronze medal,
% cents
Bald won all his heats at the national
meet and made some very sensational
rides. His failure to win one first caused
ripple of surprise. He finished second in
five starts. breaking his chain in one start.
the half-mile national championship, and
gaining a back position in the other
Tom Linton, since defeating Stocks at