The San Francisco call., 1899-07-17

tinued until about 10 o'clock
L this morning, rendering the
roads very muddy, Mr.. and Mrs.
John D. Davis. the transcontinental
automobilists. did not leave Hudson for
Albany until / o'clock. During last
evening a machinist replaced with new
steel parts the defective brass petit
cock and controller, the breaking of
which at Red Hook Saturday seriously
DELAYED progress. A thirty -mile-an-
hour gait was taken by the motor in
leaving town, and as the worst Of the
roads have b zen passed quick passage
to Albany is expected. At Rossman' s,
five miles north of the city, is hill that
no wheelman can ride, it's average
grade being about forty degrees, but
the motor climbed it with apparent
ease. Large crowds of enthusiastic
spectators witnessed the departure of
Mr.. and Mrs. Davis,
ALBANY, July 16.-Bad roads rem
dered almost impossible by heavy
rains and steep grades at almost every
mile tested the power of the automobile
to the utmost this afternoon. In spite
of it all, however, and in spite C an
other slight accident, Mr.. and Mrs.
Davis reached Albany just before mid
night and were greeted by delegation
of newspaper men and bicyclists.
Our trip from Hudson has been a
trying one" said Mr.. Davis, but the
motor is now working smoothly and is
down to it's bearings We will make
speed from nov on If the roads are
fairly good. We got our best speed of
the trip to-day, taking into account the
horrible condition in which we found
the roads over which we had to travel,
and if the way is as well prepared as
1 am told there will be no further
trouble.
I'VE left Hudson this afternoon" he
continued, for the purpose of getting
into a territory where there are ample
telephone and telegraph conveniences.
1t had been raining heavily all through
the night, and we were warned to eX-
pect hard travelling, and we got it.
Just out of Hudson there is a two-mile
stretch of clay road that was like glue.
1t clogged our wheels so that we had to
stop frequently to scrape it off. Then
We had to overcome slipping on grades,
and we did that too A party of wheel
men who escorted u.s. made bets that
we could not climb Rossman Hill and
were the most surprised men in the
world to see the automobile mount it
easily in spite of the mud.
"Of course there was an accident for
troubles never come singly. Just be-
fore reaching Stuyvesant the nut con-
trolling the exhaust valve in the rear
cylinder, broke from the pin and got
lost. Our mechanic, Mr.. Fisher made
a new one out of a battery screw, but
we lost fully three hours by this mis-
hap"
Talking about luck" continued Mr..
Davis, Mrs. Davis firmly believes we
are hoodooed by our starting on the
18th, and she actually got me to rub
against humpbacked man at the de-
pot to break the spell. 1t seemed to
work all right, for things have gone
smoother ever since, no matter how
much you may laugh about it. 1 want
to add while speaking of Mrs. Davis,
that she is standing the strain of the
trip wonderfully we'll and will be over
feeling tired when we get to going
smoothly as we expect hereafter.
What do I think of New York State
roads? They are about as bad as could
be made as far as we have come. We
Wet several miles out of our course on
the advice of farmers, whom we met at
Coxsackie. and did not find much of
an Improvement after ALL The mud