Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-08-18
THE BIcYCLERs DID IT.
By NJ Quad.
Copyright, 1893


! why am 1 out of a job?' repeated
the motorman with a catch in his voice
and a nervous look around. Well
that's dead easy of explanation. l got
| the bounce from headquarters, and
! don't imagine l shall ever turn on the
| current again. If | was offered my
| place back tomorrow I'd hold il over
| for awhile
Have too many collisions?'' was
| asked.
1T was the bicycle folks who brought
about my downfall" he sorrowfuIIy re-
/ pied. But for them I'd be on the
! front platform right now and feeling Is
clipper as you please. The climax had
| been slowly coming for two years. and
I'm glad it's over. 1 got along all right
with all the teams and all the pedes-
terians, but the bicyclers were my bane
as they are the bane of every other
motorman. They kept at me till my
nerve petered out and l could no longer
make time on car. Lord! but how
| have suffered!"
Being asked how many bicycIers he
had run down, he mopped his face with
his handkerchief and replied:
Il have never touched one, and that's
| the singular part of it. It was the
| dozen close shayes a day for every day
| in the week, without about 20 on Sun
days. l believe l have come within an
inch Of running down about so riders,
and 500 times | have had my heart
! jump into my throat and almost suffo-
cate me. You see, the average bicycler,
whether man. woman, boy or girl, dom
give flip for anything on wheels.
They'll take chances to freeze your
blood and depend upon luck to get
| through. I've been humping my car
| along at IL miles an hour, and had 20
riders come whirling out of a side street
| and cross in front of me. 1t was as #
| the devil was after them, and rather
| than put on the brake, they'd let me
come SO nigh grinding 'em under the
wheels that my hair would curl for
hours. I've had 'em run slap into the
| side of the car a hundred times over.
and always through their own care
! lessness, but ! never run one down."
And all this has shattered your
nerves?"
Say, old man, watch that hand for
a minute! It's all a-tremble. and I'm
feeling all the time as if somebody was
going to hit me. That's a case of
nerves. You see, the close shaves | had
by day always made me dream at night.
Lands alive, but the number of BIZ
cyclers I've run down in my dreams
would count up thousand! I've seen
corpses and blood-spots and broken
wheels until l awoke with a yell and
wanted to run away. 1 don't believe
there has been a night in the last six
months that l haven't picked up rider
in my dreams aud heard 'em yell out as
| the wheels ground over 'em, and I've
| had visions too horrible to tell of. All
| last week l was behind time. Every
time l got up speed | grew afraid OF
running somebody down. The conduc-
tor scolded, the passengers kicked and
the manager gave me PA hours to get
my nerve back. On my very first trip
yesterday morning 1 licked the hind
wheel of bike with my cow-catcher.
and after that I went all to pieces.
Maybe a lay-off for a few weeks will
bring my nerve back, but if it don't I'll
go to driving an ice wagon. They are
the only things on wheels a bicyclist
will turn out for, and if they happen to
run over anybody there's no great fuss
| made about it,