The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-27
BICYCLES FOR WAR USE
WHEELMEN ARE OFFERING TO
ENROLL THEMSELVES
War-WOuId Make n FOrmidR bI e
FOrce-Rapid-Fire Guns Mount
ed on Tricycles Can BE Fired
From the Machine-SuperiOri
of the Wheel to the Horse.

Correspondence The st. Paul Globe.
NEW YORK, March 24-The League
of American Wheelmen comes to the
front as an important factor in a war
of the future. The secretary of war
has received word from the chief consul
CT the Indiana division, L. A. W., Wal
lace Sherwood, that the latter is ready
to raise five companies Of wheelmen,
each company to be composed Of fifty
men, who will be thoroughly drilled in
bicycle tactics and be willing to go to
any part of the country that is threat
ened by an enemy, or if necessary to
go abroad to fight.
Following the offer of Wallace Sher-
wood there have come similar offers
from various parts of the country. The
great army of wheelmen seem brimful
of eagerness to turn their bicycles to
use in defending the flag. All the
offers have been placed on file in the
war office, their number showing that
in case of war the government would
have an ample force Of this new type
of modern auxiliary on hand.
The usefulness of the cyclist soldier
has been admitted by all military au-
thorities. Experiments made with
troops of bicycle-mounted infantry in
this country have shown that an army
will not be properly equipped without
a corps of wheelmen to act as scouts,
to form flying squadrons. and to per-
form many important duties previously
| done by cavalry.
Usefulness in War Times.
In order to thoroughly test the ques-
ton of the cycles usefulness in war
times, Lieut.. Moss, of the United States
army, made tour through the West
with a corps of men, and his report to
the war department showed conclusive
| ly that the cyclist, unhampered by the
necessaries of a cavalry regiment,
could make astonishingly rapid prog
| reSs through a country where roads
| were in fairly good condition.
An attache of the United States war
| department has just prepared and sub
mitted to the Washington officials
| statement showing the fighting effec-
tiveness of a force Of cyclists equip
| ped with the special guns made for use
| by the wheeling division Of a modern
| army.
| 1t is shown that the ordinary blcyclist
with a magazine rifle strapped to his
| wheel, ready for action Instantly
makes a valuable man for quick work
| in war, while the fire of a squad of
these cycle soldiers supplemented by
| that from rapid fire guns that can be
| transported on tricycles, Is formidable
factor in a fight.
The rapid fire gun favored is one
combining the features of the Maxim
and Nordenfeldt weapons. 1t is capable
of being mounted on the rear of a tri-
| cycle between the two wheels, and can
| be transported with very little addition
! al effort on the riders part, as it's
weight is light The rapid fire guns
would be stationed at intervals along
the line of dismounted bicyclists, the
tricycles serving as gun carriages. The
rider will dismount and, kneeling, fire
the gun at the rate of 1000 shots In two
minutes. It requires no effort of the
| imagination to see what terrible fire
| could be maintained by troop of
cyclists armed with magazine rifles
and number of these rapid fire guns.
An Automatic Feed.
J The gun has an automatic feeding