The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-06
RACE ATTENDANCE 10000
AN ENORMOUS CROWD OUT AT NEW
BY OVAL LAST NIGHT.
some of the Crack-a-Jacks Particf-
pate-A One-Legged Winner
Australian Pursuit.

last night. WIN TIC NdPoNAty VI TIC us
pit-like structure was not tested. there
seemed to be hardly a vacant seat in the
vast enclosure. Before o'clock the crowds
began 20 come in and from that time until
the races were one-third over the stream
of incomers never ceased The quality of
the races was much higher than those of
last week, particularly in the professional
races The influx of high-class talent during
the past few days served to make them
more interesting throughout.
Freeman the Oregon sprinter, was on the
track for the first time in this city and
showed fine form. That he did not win the
two-mile open was not his fault. When the
pistol went off he had both feet off his
pedals and his trainer was busy trying to
get the clips over his toes. He started out
gamely, however, and would have won had
| the race been ten feet longer. AS it was
| he came in second by six inches.
| The first race was the one-mile open,
| amateur Chas r. Pease, of Indianapolis,
won the first heat in easy style, with
Walther, of Dayton. second. Charles Kolb,
of Goshen, and Schofield, of Indianapolis,
| finished first and second in the next heat,
| while Louis Gordon and Frank Robbins
ran first and second in the third. In the
finals the talent was surprised, for Robbins
| won the race run out, with Gibson second
| and Pease who was thought to have the
event "cinched," third.
| The half-mile professional brought out
Bowler David Acker and Walsh for the
first heat. Acker won, with Bowler and
David following in the order named. The
| next heat brought out Freeman, Hall, Law
in, Watson and Murbarger. The men set
out after the French style, at a slow pace,
and for the first quarter hardly seemed to
be going fast enough to keep their balance.
AS they passed the tape for the last lap,
however, the pace quiekened wonderfully
and after a hard sprint Freeman finally
got the lead and won easily from Watson
and Murbarger. The slow pace set by the
men in the second heat rather Disguised
Referee Hunter, and when the men faced
the starter for the final he set the limit
sped at 1903, indicating that the French
style of riding did not appeal strongly to
him. AS a consequence the men started out
at a fast pace. Freeman was thought to be
able to win easily, but he waited too long
before leaving the rear end. BY the time he
broke through the bunch, Bowler and Wat
son were flying toward the tape at rec
| ord-breaKlng pace. Freeman's legs flew
| around like the spokes in a fly wheel and
the way he cut down the lead of his COM
petitors furnished one of the prettiest
sights ever seen on a cycle track in this
city. When about fifty yards from the tape
he caught the rear wheel on Bowler's ma
chine and the two men fought it out al
most to standstill, Bowler winning by
such small margin that it seemed to many
| that Freeman had either run him a dead
heat or had Won The time was we'll within
| the limit set by the referee being 101 2-5.
THE MILE AMATEUR.
The one-mie amateur handicap brought
| out big fields of starters, eleven entering
| for the first heat. Pfeffer, of INDIANAPOLIS
was scratch man, with Harry Gibson, of c n
| cinnati, at 20 yards Bates at 40 yards and
the rest at different marks up to 200 yards
| The heat was won by Arthur Schofield of
indianapolis, from the 150-yard line, with
Bates second, Donovan, of Goshen, third
and Heller, of Fort Wayne, fourth. Gibson.
who would probably have won the heat,
was left at the post by the starter, who fired
| his pistol before the man was mounted. He
made one circle of the track under these
discouraging circumstances, but was ordered
off by his trainer, who saw he had no
chance. The second heat showed Pease on
the scratch, with Gordon 20 yards. Busch
man 40 yards and the rest at different dis
|
was won by Frank Robbins, with Runck
second, Walther third and Woodruff fourth
| The final heat was won by Arthur Schofield.
at $50 yards; Donovan. of Goshen, second,
at 100 yards Robbins, of Middletown, o.,
third at 40 yards Runck, of Cincinnati,
fourth, at so yards.
! The two-mile professional handicap
brought out a field of eleven good ones
| Freeman of Oregon, rode from the scratch
with Bowler at 30 yards and the others at
various distances up to $50 yards Frank
| McWaters, a one-legged rider, of this city,
was entered with an allowance of 600 yards,
which made one complete lap and 100 addi-
| tional yards The pace set by the men with
the big allowances was faster than Free
man had barganed for, and at the finish he
was unable to more than overtake the
| bunch. McWaters, in the meantime. had
| been pegging away industriously with his
one leg and when the final lap came it was
| found he had still nearly lap to the good
| Try as they might the able-bodied men
were unable to cut down his lead to any
great degree, and he finished a winner with
head up, by fully half a lap Sam Murbar-
ger came in second, Hail. of Omaha third.
and Freeman fourth
Hall Brothers, of Omaha with Murbar-
| SCI anu IlOuSS OI lIuIdIdpODS, rOUe an oX-
| hibition half-mile on quad in forty-nine
| seconds fiat. This was followed by an anna
| teur exhibition quarter-mile by Callahan
! Gazette. Walther and Gordon on a quad in
~ 1-5 Little Harry Gibson, the Cincinnati
| midget whose resemblance to Michael was
| noted last evening by all of the Eastern
| men present at the meet, went an exhibit
| ton mile in 147. paced by a quad and a
| triplet Gibsons action back of the ma
! chine resembled that of Michael very forci-
| bly,. and when in the pickup his triplet team
missed and raced by he jumped from behind
| the quad and made plucky ride down the
| stretch to close a considerable gap. This
| loss in the pickup cost him many seconds,
but gave indications more clearly than any
thing else could have done of the real abil-
| ity of the lad.
AUSTRALIAN PURSUIT RACE.
The Australian pursuit race was not the
shining success predicted for the contest or
what it would have been had the racers
known fully the rules of the contest and the
officials been little better posted AS
matter of fact the Australian pursuit race
properly managed and with good uEpaced
riders as contestants is the race of the
future. it being true test of the ability of
the men. Last night four men were entered
for the contest, Watson of Indianapolis.
Walsh of Boston, Aker of Philadelphia. and
Bowler of Chicago. These four men were
placed at equally distant points around the
track, being 10 yards apart The rules of