Evening star., 1897-01-16

properly handled. In his opinion, the
most necessary thing for a six-day rider Is
grit, and plenty OF It. There is q time in
and weak-hearted. You give up all hope
and want to quit. There Is where your
grit comes in. Stick to the ride, even If
you know it will be the last one you will
eyer enter. and then you can be certain of
doing something. This Is the most trying
period in the whole Of the race, and once
this crisis is passed. everything Is COM
paratively easy sailing. Your second
strength, as 1T were, comes to your aid.
and you are able to do more hard riding.
though 1t is at the expense Of your reserve
strength.
I'm race, especially the first you ever
enter, this feeling Is terrible. With expe-
rience you are able to overcome it, and
with bulldog tenacity you stick to your
work. I remember, In the first longdis-
tance race Of the sort, felt that way, and
wanted to quit. but thought that If such
were my condition. the other riders must
be in the same way, and stuck it through.
I was stiff and sore and feeling bad all
over, but I managed to hold on.
There comes time when even your re-
serve strength becomes exhausted. and
then the rider is left In a predicament.
Srimulants have to be resorted to, and as
the effects of the small doses at the be-
ginning wear off, the quantity has to be
increased in order to feel any effects. At
the Madison Square race I took twenty
drops of cocaine in milk. The effect of
this quantity of stimulant was something
terrible, yet I never thought anything of
it at the time. Almost all of the riders
took 1t, and poor Rice is now in the hos
pital, crazy from the effects of taking the
drug. He will come around again, but the
effect is more lasting on him than on me.
never use the deadly drug outside of
race. Twenty drops taken by itself would
be enough to kill q person, but taken in
can OF milk the latter neutralizes the
effects of the poison. The rider is like a
new man. All stiffness and pains leave his
body, and he can ride miles upon miles at
the moN rapid gait without feeling the ef-
fects OF the strain The other riders can't
keep up with you at your terrible speed,
and you can leave anything on the track.
Then Becomes Crazy.
''You have a happygo-lucky feeling
while under the influence. and don't care
like streak Of lightning. Nothing can
stand In your way. When the effect of
the dose is worn of you are left in pitia-
BILE condition. and would collapse If an
other and stronger dose was not given.
and Immediately you are transformed
again. The increase on the dose has an
effect, and the repeated use causes the
rider to lose his head and become crazy.
/ was crazy for three days at Madison
Square. I could not see the other riders.
The only thing that 1 could see were apple
trees in my way on the track, and would
else 1 would run into them and knock
them down. I never knew where the other
riders were. but still, in the condition that
l was in, l was very successful in avoid
ing any collisions, and in keeping clear of
them when they passed me or 1 passed
Them.
Poor Rice was in the same condition,
only his hallucination assumed different
form. He imagined that 1 was after him
with knife. and was yelling to the others
to take the knife away from me. as was
going to kill him. Even after the race he
entertained this same idea. 1 was still
crazy at the end of the race, and was
taken to the hospital. but after nearly
weeks treatment l came around all right,
in spite of the fact that some of the papers
said l was in such bad condition that my
recovery was not looked for"
In view of this, it seems as though long
distance racing Is not as rosy as some
would think. Even though the purse for
the winner may be large, the damage
done to the constitution Is irrepara Bile
should he win. There are many who do
not even get smell Of the prize money.