The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-07-23
THEY DIE YOUNG.
"ScOrcherS" Attract the Atten
tiOn Of Medical Men.
Death of Charles w. Wakefield
of Pittsburg,
DUE TO sSCORCHING.'
Dangerous Illness of Lawson
the ssTerrible Swede,'
Is Thought to Proceed From
the Same Cause.

Chicago, July 23.-The death of Chas.
w. Wakefield, one of Pittsburg's star
road racers, and the probably fatal ILL
ness of John Lawson, well known to
Chicagoans as the Terrible Swede,"
are creating considerable interest
among local physicians. who hold these
to be cases of the fatal consequence of
"scorching." There is a growing no
ton that few more such cases will
appeal SO strongly to the lawmakers
of the country that they will soon leg
1Slate to prevent 1T.
Last June the general assent bly, at
Springfield passed an act to prevent
long continued and brutal bicycle rid
ing, which act made it a miSdemeanor
to conduct a race of more than II con-
secutive hours riding. Specialists in
nervous and heart diseases claim, how
ever, that this law will have but slight
beneficial results, for they say dan
gerous results are almost sure to fol-
low from excessive use of the wheel for
even II continuous hours
A number of Chicago's medical spec
1alists were seen yesterday, and they
all agreed in the verdict that fast and
long-continued bicycling was the
cause of Wakefield's death and of the
serious illness of Lawson.
DR.. Lewis ]. Mitchell, registrar of vi
tai statistics in the city health depart
ment. said: Il have no doubt that the
excessive use of the wheel was the
number of cases have come under my
personal notice in which young men
who were habitual scorehers have died
suddenly. Investigation in each of
these cases has shown the victims
lungs and heart to be in terrible -condi-
ton. The majority of these racers are
sique to start with. The strain of hard
riding will tell sooner or later, how
ever, on their hearts and nervous sys-
TENS and death will come suddenly.
Cn1-in nff 0A
these long, hard rides is the weak con-
dition in which they leave the con-
testants. Some ailment which would
scarcely affect an ordinary man will
tell heavily on these exhausted riders"
DR.. w. A. Evans of the Columbus
Medical laboratory was of the opinion
that the sudden death of racers was
due to heart trouble, brought about by
their great physical exertions. He
THE proba bi1ity is that all or nearly
all of these deaths are due to the
heart. The heart muscles increase in
size and power according to the work
that it had to do. This means that in
training, as the leg muscles get larger
and frmer, the larger and firrner be-
comes the heart muscle. The trail
over all of this extra heart power is not
used, therefore it 'atrophieS from dis
USE Some inconsiderable circumstance
may overstrain these weakened fibers
They break. The break may be large
enough to see. 1t is usually micros-
copic. There may be a temporary fiut-
ter, palpitation, pain in the heart I'M
usual exhaustion, and then the heart
stralghtens up. If it is more severe
the heart loses it's rhythm and stops
entirely, for the continuation of its
work is dependent on the continuation
of its rhythm. The free-labor muscles
furnish fair index to the heart mus
Gle. The moral is, DO not build up anv
in USE"
DR.. Ernest B. Sangree, professor in
TT ant ~ ZTor ,le,.I
university at Nashville, Tenn was in
the city yesterday. He believed over
exertion of any description is injurious.
and that of excessive bicycling espec-
tally so. He said that he believed Law
sons health was broken by his terrible
efforts on the track He said further:
Overexertion with the bicycle is as
harmful as overexertion at any other
form of exercise. The tissues of the
body are used up more rapidly than
they can be reproduced, and poiso A.aus
waste products are manufactured more
rapidly than they can be thrown out
of the body. Short races are not as
dangerous as the road races and the
long distance races, for although the
exerton for the moment may be great
er, it is not SO long continued and
therefore the destruction is not SO great
and nature has a better chance to re-
store things to their physiological con-
dition These races are dangerous for
the young, but they are incomparably
more dangerous as years increase and
no man over 35 ought ever to dream of
putting himself against the youth of
from 20 to 30"
DR.. Robert A. Babcock, specialist on
nervous diseases and heart complaints
said he felt confident that bicycle rae
ers suffered i'll effects from their hard
work. He said there was a terrible
strain on both the nervous system and
on the heart.
'Dilation of the heart is almost sure
to follow the extra muscular exertion
ard the Increased depth of respiration
said DR.. Babcock. I'm these six dav
races the heart action is increased and
the heart is robbed of its actual rest.
obtained during the pauses between its
contractions. Again. the riders have
but little sleep. and that fact has a bad
erect on the heart. 1 understand the
contestants are insufficiently fed and
are often administered drugs. OF course
these facts all tend to weaken the heart
and death may come suddenly
Dr. Babcock further said undue BIZ
cycling not only had a bad effect on the
heart and nervous system, but also was
very dangerous for persons afflicted
with diseased kidneys