Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-05-27

W uCI IIRuU lu66l
ing of the Thompson Street Bicycle clu
had been opened in due form, Presiden
Toots announced the following new mot
toes to be hung on the walls:
at is better to take tumble than t.
meet a cable Car head on"
"If you must swear, then swear will
dignity and lay the blame on the other fel
low"
"The lamppost was here before tn,
bike"
lyon owe tito humanity to make lone
turn around the corners"
"No religion will jump bike over al
open ditch"
Providence never helps the bikist WHIT
goes out with his lamp unlighted."
"The punctured tire comes to the just Al
well as the unjust.
The secretary then announced the fol
lowing replies to letters sent out within tn,
last month:
A colored man in Alabama wrote tina
up to year ago the razor backed hog wa
the fastest thing on legs in the whole south
and that after IS years of useless effort tn,
colored population had given up trying tt
catch him. Then the bike was introduced
and now the hog lies right down without
a squeal and becomes roast pork.
A colored man in Illinois wrote that be
fore the bike came he was baldheaded
humpbacked, lopshouldered and suffered
with catarrh, sore throat, nearsightedness
and rheumatism. Sixty days of riding
had made such change in him that a
constable who was holding warrant fol-
his arrest on a charge of abductng her
passed him by several times daily In &C
days more he expected to get away from
his wife and seven children and begin life
all over again.
A letter from Ohio announced that the
writer had been so troubled with insomnia
that sometimes he had not slept for 80
nights at time. He had tried stealing a
ham from a butcher shop and going to Jail
for month"; carrying off ten rods of side
walk for firewood, shooting craps, borrow,
ing money and running in debt, but moth
ing helped him until he began to ride the
bike. After getting out Oh the road five
times he fell asleep and ran into toll
gate, and since then his SAUNDERS are SO
sound that his wife has to lick all the
children in rotation and pour pail of
water over him before he can be aroused.
A colored man in West Virginia wrote
from county Jail in the nature of an ap-
peal. He was bikist and had been sent
up for three months under misapprehen
sion. He didn't complain of that, as ev-
erybody, even the president of the United
States, was liable to be mistaken for an.
other man and sent to jail any day. But
the only harsh thing was that the jailer
refused to furnish bikes for the prisoners
or let them out to borrow wheels. The
law might deprive man Of his liberty,
but did the lawmakers intend to deprive a
man Of the privilege Of riding bike2 1t
could not be, and he hoped the club would
take action at once. Every Jail and prison
ought to be provided with bicycle track,
and every such instioltion should be pro-
vided with from one to ten machines for
the use Of the prisoners.
Judge Tarheel Jones then arose and call
ed up the case of Sunlown Green, against
whom charges were preferred at the last
meeting for abandoning his wife and Gre
ating public scandal, to the detriment of
the club. The judge had been appointed
committee of one to thoroughly investi-
gate the case, and he had performed his
duties conscientiously He had found the
cause of the trouble to be that Mrs. Green
did not ride bike She was very de-
vout person, and she could not mix the
bike and her religion. Her husband had
no such scruples, and he rode hence clash.
The wife had carried things to such a
point that the husband had been compelled
to leave home to enjoy any peace of mind.
Here was question affecting the domestic
peace Of thousands of homes. If the hus-
band rode bike and the wife didn't,
shouldn't she sacrifice any feelings she
might have for the sake Of the good it was
doing himp Should she meet him with a
club at his home coming, and should she
express wish that he would break his
neck as he set out for spin? Should she
either ride or sacrifice her feelings? The
Judge commended that she should and de-
sired a vote on it. A vote was taken, and
the judges position was upheld by an over
whelming majority. He then moved that
the charges against the member be dis
missed, and this action was taken without
objection.
Professor Slayback Harper, who was one
of the organizers of the club, arose to ask
for information. Ever since he was 10
years old he had always carried razor
down in his hind pocket, the same as most
other colored men. That razor was his
weapon of offense and defense. 1t had been
with him as he danced, as he skated, as he
sat in church or walked about. The ques-
ton was now being agitated, "Should a
colored man carry razor while riding
bikeP" He couldn't say who first put the
question, but it was one which must be
promptly met and settled, It was his pri-
vate opinion that it was the idea of white
man who wanted to get away unscathed
after running into coloretl bikist. 1t was
q question for the club to decide. If it de.
but he wanted it distinctly understood that
In place Of razor he would carry an ice
pick or a file.
The question being before the meeting
half dozen members arose one after an
other to discuss 1t. But all were agreed
that the razor and the colored man should
be one and inseparable and that no excep.
ton should be made. 1t was decided,
however, that all razors carried by MEM
bers of the club should have the name Of
the club engraved on the handle, and they
should be welded only in case of last re
sort.
Major Calabash, chairman of the COM
Inittee on bicycle etiquette, then submitted
the following:
I'm case any member of this club has
money to lend he shall give the preference
to fellow members.
''In case Of the death Of any member all
other members shall attend his funeral In
full dress suits and take particular pains
to assuage the grief Of the widowed and
the fatherless.
Sin CASE any member gives strawberry
festival or an Ice cream soiree he will be
expected to invite only those who ride the
bike. NJ
Members may or may not raise their
hats to females encountered on the street