New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-25
THE BICYCLE IN ACTUAL WAR.
AN ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT SUCCESSFUL
EXPERIMENT IN TIIESSALY.

AN ENGLISH CORRESPONDENTS SUCCESSFUL
EXPERIMENT IN TIIEssALY.
From The London Daily Mail.
A representative Of "The Daily Mail last
evening encountered a whilom sporting editor
Of a contemporary looking unusually sunburned
and pleased with himself generally 1t was
Wilfred Pollock, just returned from actlnG as
special war correspondent of THE Morning
Post" with the Greek Army in Thessaiy. Ana
his special cause for satisfaction a claim to
a new record with the bcyce-viz. to have been
the first correspondent who had ever been
through a campaign, practically from hrst to
last, mounted on palr or WheeS ihSteau vi
upon a horse. go
But the roads ia Greece are almost impossible
for a bicycle, one would imagine from the vari-
Gus accounts of the war;
are pretty bad. Of course, but to the BIZ
cycle no carriage roads are Impossible
Sometimes / had to get of and walk mile or
two. Sometimes it was L that did the carrying
and not the machine. But this was seldom. and
never for any great distance On the other
hand the Zigzag cuttings up the many mountain
masses are so we'll graded that it is quite posi-
BILE to ride up them If the surface be good and
the wind friendly. Riding do"n-ahd my ma
chine had no brake-one had to remember that
the corners of these twists are not banked. and
the khud as they call ii in India. often oilers
many hundreds of feet of sheer drop
"Of course you took your bicycle out with
you?" ,,., ,oo,,
"Unfortunatey no. Every one who had been
IN Greece said it would be useless. And So
Of course it would have been had the war been
confined to the mountains of the frontier. where
there are no roads. but only precipitous bride
paths As it was the level roads Of the country
between Volo and LarsSa. and pretty Sood
conviction that the Greeks would be driven back
induced me- after my arrival in Thessaly. to
telegraph to my agents in Athens to procure me
q bicycle with all speed About three weeks
afterward on the first day of the affair at Matt,
n second hand. second-grade machine duly
turned I'D in I.arissa. AS matter of fact, how
over il proved thoroughly good English stun,
and carried me all through without anything
ann, ching a breakdown.
IA nd the Greeks didn't steal ii ?'
"No Fortunately for me, the bicycle is still
almost unknown in Greece But my toolbag
vas stolen on three separate occasions. And
before they stole the bag itself they took
ont of if the nice little tin box contain
;nr the outfit for repairing the tires No
admit this elegant little case tightly sealed
as il was. appealed more to the thiei than
tho more prosaic spanner and oilcan. However
a lieutenant on the Dryad gave me a piece OF
rubber strap and some naphtha solution when
thev use with their tOrpedocs. Going out to |olo
next morning left the machine in the tender OF
tho locomotive all among the Goals, 50 mat theIc
vas annie time for bag and all 10 tax TO ltsell
wings Only the naked bicycle was left at We
leStino. ..-...;.,,. -. hon
"Rv this time my success in outstrippihS o'her
CORRESPONDENTS in the several races to Telegraph