Evening star., 1897-01-09
ABOUT BICYCLE RACERS

Everybody Is interested in the purse that
was given to the winners of last week s
big race at the Ice Palace. The amount
Is kept a secret, though 1t was not n ear
SO large as was expected, due to the linn
tied attendance during the week. The
agreement between the contestants and the
manager of the Ice Palace was that 25
per cent of the total receipts were to be
set aside for the purse money, leaving the
management 10 per cent to defray all ex-
penses. 1t seems as though the race was
losing contest all around the sum real
lied being far below expectation. Instead
of being higher, the total purse money was
below that offered at Madison Square Gar
den, where Teddy Hale secured 81 200 for
first prize. This was the first lime that
such a race had ever been held In this
city. and 1t was supposed that the novelty
would attract great crowds.
Some of the riders protected themselves,
and had their expenses partially guaran-
teed- Waller. Maddox, Ashiuger, Forster
Alberts and Shock refused to come down
per cent of the total receipts was divided
equally between them Lawson, the Ter
rible Swede. being new at the business,
knew nothing of this. and dill not come in
Tor his share Neither did Hunter the
plucky English rider, who got fourth
place His prize was less than that Of
Forster. wien the guarantee fund was
added to the latter's prize money. Plum
mer and his men lost very little, however,
as their expenses were guaranteed while
IN this city. and the other solo riders re-
ceived certain compensation. previously
agreed upon, for their services.
Strange as 1t may seem, there was not
a contestant in the race who would not
rather have gone into a six-day-go-as-you-
pledse race, instead of riding eight hours
per day. The difference is that while the
men ride certain period a day IN the last
named race, in the first named they ride
%hen WI they please, frequently all day and
all night without rest. A six-day-ao-as-
you-piease is calculated to draw bigger
patronage than six-day eigh. .-hour race
ana this was the statement made by most
OF the riders at the beginning of the race
Some stated that they had never seen a
race such as the one of last week ever
gwen Where 1t proved financial bonanza
Cn tne contrary. most of tner, resulted in
iaHures- Inc reason given Is that the Dub-
lie likes to see the men ride long distances
ana When the mileage reaches over the
i'ooo marx the interest increases
Acting under this advice MANAGER Tour
ers Is already considering the adyisabiIitv
Ut hoidlng a six-day go-as-you-please race
Ihe latter part of the coming spring ,The
re ,S may possibly come off in March, while
the Ice Palace is still open or it NAV he
arranged to come off just after the close of
.he skating season. Nothing definite has
peen settled. though there is more or less
tba IL Is calculated to erect a track from
pdlcoAy OF the north end, making apnroxi
1nateiy, an etght-lap track to the mile
Ihls would mi ke it about the largest tenn
porary indoor track In this country ena
would prove to be decided ADVANTAGE to
the contestants, in which case the num
per OF competitors would be limited to not
more than twenty or thirty.
Ed FlGmnler was far from satisfied 1;.,
.he results or the race. He placed three
uien N the race. and he confidently ex-
Pected them to finish In one-two-three or
der He was sadly mistaken. His first
man, Dudley Marks, did not stay in tho
race much over ODE hour while Chan
IeEe. tie rider who Plummer Thought was
tne ,n star man in the race, dropped out af-
Ter few days riding. Had ChappeIIe
stayed IN the race he would have been
able to secure fourth place. through
S1 Sne number Of accidents that befell the
hftl prize. In the predictions of The Star
made the second day of the race, it was
stated that the English crowd ought tn he
sitsShed II II got one place. and the fifth
"~S named This prediction was pretty
We'll borne out in all respects PIuumar
thouSht that he lost money by coming to
washington. and possibly he did com
paged 10 the sum he might have made
mad ne taken his aggregation to some
other city. With only one man of his Iarye
crowd In the race he was put to as much
trouble as though he had three or four.
rlders managed to get their fun while ped
a1ng along Forster was the Joker of the
crowd ard he kept all in good spirits. He
seems 10 De general fayorite, which Is
uue 10 his 1ovial disposition. The favorite
time Tor playing jokes on one another was
at the dinner hour. This occurred between
and O'Clock every day. when the au-
dlence was out, and the work of cleaning
up the place for the evening performance
mad begun. As soon as one rider would
seize part of his dinner some of the other
riders would make a sprint, and not caring
10 los" any time the rider who started
his dinner would either throw his food
away or would hold on to it and sprint
with the bunch If he held on to II the
sprant would be continued until the rider
became tired Of carrying the food and
would throw it away. Then the bunch
would be satisfied. and would wait for some
one else to take food This was eating un-
Ger dilllcuIties- The men would watch each
other ike hawks and nothing would escape
their eagle eyes, and as soon as the train
er appeared alongside the track with food
In his hands. they knew pretty we'll for
wnom II was intended. There Is a story
that Forster took two lamb chops at one
time. and to tease him the Others sprinted
sticking one in his mouth and holding the
Other in his hand he hit up his pace, and
continued with the buIch. He could not
be made to throw the food away and when
the bunch got tired and Stacked up in the
pace he proceeded TO enjoy his morsel at
leisure Every Gay after eating his dinner
Waller would light a cigar. and smoke 1t
with big enjoyment while making the
rounds Of the track.
Tom Linton's great ambition is to get a
race with Little Michael. the Welsh won
der, VINO has been electrifying this country
with his wonderful riding. Ever since
Plummer and his string have been in this
country they have been attempting TO
get match race between the two, but this
Is a harder matter han was at first an
ticipated- The English trainer has been
pushing 10 an agreement, but Tom Eek
VINO IS training and managing Little
Michael. seems to be somewhat unwilling
TO come to decision about match race
lie has promised. 1t is said, over and over
again 20 give an answer at a certain time
but each time he has failed to keep his
agreement PlCmmer has written several